Cleopatra's mother 'was African' Scientist found the remains of her birth mother!

descendant of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great.

But remains of the queen's sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother had an "African" skeleton.

Experts have described the results as "a real sensation."
They were real people and not the semi-mythical figures portrayed by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Archaeologist Neil Oliver


The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

"It is unique in the life of an archaeologist to find the tomb and the skeleton of a member of Ptolemaic dynasty," she said.



"That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra's family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe."

They lived at a turbulent time when the Roman empire was extending its power across the Mediterranean.

Cleopatra established alliances with the Roman leader Julius Caesar and, after his assassination, with his political supporter, General Mark Antony, to whom she was married.

"Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony - they are all iconic figures from history," said archaeologist Neil Oliver who presents the BBC documentary.

"It's almost impossible to remember they were real people and not the semi-mythical figures portrayed by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It was like a splash of cold water in the face to be confronted by them as human beings, " he continued.

"When I stood in the lab and handled the bones of Cleopatra's blood sister - knowing that in her lifetime she touched Cleopatra and perhaps Julius Caesar and Mark Antony as well - I felt the hairs go up on the back of my neck."

"Suddenly these giant figures from history were flesh and blood," said archaeologist Neil Oliver.

There was plenty of sibling rivalry between Princess Arsinoe and her powerful sister Cleopatra - many believe the queen ordered Mark Antony to murder her sister.

The film examines the life of Cleopatra - who had an affair with Julius Caesar - including her murderous intentions towards Arsinoe.

Here is the reconstruction of cleopatra's face, she looked more black than european, sort of like a black creole person of mixed ancestory, or just what you would call mixedrace.

You’ve got to remember that her family had actually lived in Egypt for 300 years by the time she came to power.”

And just because Cleopatra was Greek, does not mean that she was “white.” The concept of White as an racial connectivity has only existed for the last few centuries and not in Cleopatra’s time. Ancient Greeks would not consider themselves white and neither would Cleopatra. She was not the queen of a European nation. She was an African queen.

I read this in 2009, its very inspiring to know because
growing up as a child my father use to read me these stories
from across africa, and he use to talk about how beautiful
cleopatra was and she was black and very powerful woman.

also some white scholars did a research on cleopatra and her family dynasty and here is what they found. she was half black…. they did a paper work on her and her family and Cleopatra, Arsinoe, and the Ptolemy’s were descendants of King Tut…an ancient black egyptian king! They did a scan of her sisters head and it her skull resembles Sub-Saharan African aka Black people… I know she was also Greek, … We know she was brownskinned with Greek and black features but DNA doesn’t lie!

Hello she was ancient Egyptian..of course she was black!!!!
not only is Cleopatra race in question but her father Ptolemy XII is as well if Im not mistaken his mother was egyptian during those times egyptian were black.

In my opinion, Cleopatra is as “black” as Naomi Campbell and Elizabeth II.

Egypt or the proper name Kamet was a AFRICAN NATION. All the Nile Valley Civilizations were. Africa is the 1st Civilization in recorded History

I'm not surprised…I already knew…but will the rest of the world accepts this?

Alexander the; Great was dark skinned-African.

Africa is not a country, unfortunately. It’s a continent. A very diverse continent.

Just because Afghanistan and Korea are in the same continent does not mean that Afghans and Koreans are the same ethnicity

@ektron what part of Remains of the cleopatra’s sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate her mother had an “African” skeleton, that you do not understand???

Thats what the article is about, finding one of her parents which indicates she was birthed by a black lady.