The Real Face of Cleopatra

1. Johnny
   December 16th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

   Nobody has a nose that long. Otherwise it's pretty neat when they do these recreations of peoples faces.

2. jimmy
   December 16th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

   would not hit it.

3. LisaL
   December 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

   A bit long and unnatural in the nose.
   Seriously though, a year to come up with that? Meh..

4. CelticCatEyes
   December 16th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

   I agree with the nose comments, but she is lovely, and power, make-up, and overall attitude could take this face from slightly above average to sultry and otherworldly. Its been admitted that Cleopatra was a genius with her make up and other skills...

   I can never relate the computer generated face to the real world, they are just too cartoonish for me, but I have a friend who has similar features (who is stunning), and with the mixed ethnicity, she has genetic variability on her side.

5. jpyke
   December 16th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

   And the result is creepy mid-90's computer graphics.

   Did they tap the guys who made the "Mind's Eye" videos for this?

6. sise
   December 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

   That's not Elizabeth Taylor AT ALL!!!

7. Ali S.
   December 16th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

   I remember in the old Asterix and Obelix comics that I used to get as a kid that whenever they met Queen Cleopatra they would always say, "She has such a pretty nose, so pretty."

   Instead of a graphic representation of her they really should've had a clay or plaster model of her face built as it would be a lot more easier on the eyes versus the shininess that we associate with CG renderings.

8. Thraxamer
   December 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm

   From what we can tell from the coins and statuary left behind, Cleopatra (aka Cleopatra VII Philopater) wasn't much of a looker. Her nose was a -very- prominent feature, if we're to believe what was left behind in art and in description. She was the product of several generations of Hellenic inbreeding, as a part of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

   Given that her dynasty was very outspoken about their inbreeding (following the familial model of the pharaohs, doncha know), I wonder what evidence led this team of scholars to believe she was anything other than Hellenic.

   Of course, it's would be a mistake -- even with her Greek background -- to call her "European" or to claim that she had "European" heritage. In the broadest sense, these people -- Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Carthaginian -- saw themselves as bound by the Mediterranean. The uncivilized barbarians lived in Europe. That may seem like a fine point, but to call her heritage "European" projects a false identity onto her, one dictated by modern national identities and one that she would not have claimed for herself.

   Back to Cleopatra herself: What is amazing is the level of intelligence, charisma, and political savvy that she possessed. She was also, in a time that arguably equated good looks more directly with the favor and endorsement of the gods, quite the seducer, despite her plain appearance. She must have been an amazing woman.

9. redphone
   December 16th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

   Thrax, she was in a position of great power. Wouldn't have mattered what she looked like, she's still going to get lots of tail.

10. liphttam1
    December 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    She has a split chin faceing one side!!! Wierd I noticed that before the nose.

11. shawnisboring
    December 16th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    So she looked like a first year cgi students project?

12. Jenny
    December 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    what the hell is up with there bring no detail at all, whatsoever?
    what exactly did they spend the year doing?
    just looks like a bland cartoon...

13. name
    December 16th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    ew no way. I don't think she looked like that. facial reconstruction can only do so much, a lot of it is up to the person doing the reconstruction. take kennewick man for example, i really doubt he actually looked just like captain picard

14. juanjux
    December 16th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    Thraxamer:

    Wow, so you are saying that Greeks or Italian, the people that created most of modern European culture are not "truly" Europeans, that they can't claim an European heritage.

    I don't know where you live and what sense of "European indentity" you have over there, but people in Europe (in ALL europe) consider Italians and Greeks as Europeans.

15. Evilbeagle
    December 16th, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    Cleopatra's contemporaries never considered physically stunning. It was her intelligence and charisma that drew people in. However "bad" this reconstruction is or isn't, I thought she would have turned out far more unattractive.

16. Byrd Brain
    December 16th, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    Jimmy: while I empathize with that sentiment, I believe that FARK is thatta-way...

    Redphone: You just said what his last paragraph said. Thanks for playing.

    Juanjux: you totally missed the point of what he was saying. Europe as we know it, the collective identity (if such a thing exists) of Europeans as they know it NOW did not exist THEN. Those living in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean saw that part of the world as the center of civilization and to say to them that they could be lumped in with the barbaric tribes to the north of them would be a great insult. Fast forward a few thousand years and that is no longer the case. Anyway, reading comprehension is a must, not a luxury, in the werld-wide webs. Try it sometime.

17. Sofar
    December 16th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

    Ideals of beauty change over time.

    It's weird to think that there were facial characteristics in the past that have pretty much died out. Take my cartoonish bulbous nose, I've never found another with my nose.

18. Peeves
    December 16th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

    Sort of looks like the woman that played her in the tv series Rome. Is this new? I had always seen images of her looking similar to this. I didn't think anyone thought she was traditionally European looking.

19. TwoDragons
    December 17th, 2008 at 12:30 am

    I was told that Cleopatra was plain-looking, had bad teeth, and was obese. Most of the images of her were typical of the Egyptian art styles of the time: they took a lot of poetic license. Few self-respecting Egyptians or Greeks wanted to enter the afterlife looking like their real-life images, so all the statuary and trappings were done in a more "perfected" style.

    And yes, this computer model is underwhelming it its rendering. Too cartoonish!

    --TwoDragons

20. ted
    December 17th, 2008 at 8:14 am

    The coins I've seen show her with a Wicked Witch of the West nose, sans wart.

    This reconstruction is just a childish flight of fancy.

21. chickmagnetstuff
    December 17th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    I cleopatra's very beautiful well I can't see it in that.

22. lewen
    December 17th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    Am I detecting a borderline hairlip

23. Rocky Rook
    December 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    Reminds me of the time McGyver reconstructed the face of a woman by placing tips of pencil erasers and putty on her skull.

24. juanjux
    December 17th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    Byrd Brain,

    I know how to read, thank you very much, maybe you should try to read again:

    "
    Of course, it’s would be a mistake — even with her Greek background — to call her “European” or to claim that she had “European” heritage
    "

    And while you're at it, and before give lessons to anybody, study a little of history, read a few clasics (you can start by Julius Caesar or Herodotus, they're easy to read), and understand that Italians and Greeks called the land where they lived EUROPA and called themselves (you can search on any clasic source you can find, for example on the accounts of the now famous battle of Thermopylae) and its barbaric friends EUROPEANS (Herodotus, book IV, XLIX), as oposed to Asians or Africans.

    And while you're at it take a look at the geographical origin of some of the peoples that composed the greeks.

25. Naturalhi
    December 17th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

    Why does it matter if she was European, African, Italian, Greek, etc. We get so boggled down with what someones ethinicity or race is/was as if to say your less of a person if your not of a certain race or culture. When you look at it all, as much as we want to think we have no links to each other we do. If we didn't you wouldn't see such features in different groups around the world. So you too could be my cousin. LOL

26. disgruntled
    December 18th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    "And the result is creepy mid-90’s computer graphics.

    Did they tap the guys who made the “Mind’s Eye” videos for this?"

    /begin rant

    I used to work for the company that made this monstrosity (I left a long time before this), and I never thought I would see the day they appeared on Neatorama. I just felt a little bit of puke come up into my mouth.

    Anyone with any talent left Image Foundry Studios (which actually does architectural visuals when they aren't attempting bad facial reconstruction) as soon as they had the chance. Those who couldn't leave for greener pastures were soon made redundant when they moved the whole operation off to India. Clearly they haven't improved since.

    If you check out their website you'll see that their talentless director compares HIMSELF to Benito Mussolini.

    /end rant

27. Nick
    January 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Looks nothing like the ancient marble busts of Cleopatra. Ancients never described her as beautiful. Most flattering comment was that she had a beautiful voice.

28. vivian
    February 13th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    One question---
    How do you recreate a face without using at least part of the skull? Cleopatra has not been identified.
    It looks like just another fantasy pic of her.

29. dana seewald
    August 11th, 2009 at 3:18 am

    her nose wasn't that big and it was an asian nose. she was half asian half white-

30. dana seewald
    August 11th, 2009 at 3:20 am

    and no she didnt wear corn roles lol

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