[ad_1]
Gal Gadot, an Israeli of Ashkenazi (European) descent and a former Miss Universe contestant, is scheduled to produce and star in another film about Cleopatra (VII), promising to capture the myth rather than the reality of Cleopatra. Tall, pale, and athletic, one doubts that much of the film is spent on Cleopatra’s linguistic or medical achievements, just to say so. My connection to the Cleopatra stories comes from teaching a Black Athena subject to Afrocentric students in California (See Black Athena and the Incredible Whiteness of Being). Then as now, there are many things that can be said about who should play Cleopatra, and I hope to strike a balance. Most of the students in my class came with the vision of Cleopatra as a beautiful black queen, whose African status had been stolen by white Eurocentrists who sought to deny blacks a place in history. How do you logically argue with a belief? I chose not to start with the lineage. Instead, my question was, why Cleopatra?
It is well known in classical scholarship that Cleopatra was Greek. When Alexander the Great was dying in 323 BC. C., it was said that his generals had asked him to whom he would leave his empire. His answer: to the strongest, and indeed, the Empire was divided between three of its generals, with Macedonian Ptolemy gaining control over North Africa and southern Syria until 30 BC. C. So, I introduced Cleopatra VII to my student as the simple Jane that historians suggested she was and as a loser: the person who after 15 Ptolemies (including his son Julius Caesarion) lost Egypt to the Romans when Octavian (Augustus) captured Alexandria.
READ MORE: Cleopatra and the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty
Instead, I suggested to my students that they choose to raise true African heroes like Queen Kushita Nubia Amanasheketo, followed by Queen Amanitore. The Nubian kingdom of Kush lasted for more than 1000 years, from 850 BC. Until 350 d. C., retaining its independence from Rome longer than Egypt. Additionally, Kush ruled Egypt for a time forming the 25th Dynasty. Finally, Kush was conquered by the Axumites of Ethiopia in 350 CE. It was famous in ancient times as a source of gold and as the best source of “Egyptian” cotton.
Queen Amanishakheto ruled a nation silently, but effectively. Having reigned from 10 a. C. until 1 d. C., his government seems to have coincided briefly with Cleopatra 69-10 or 12 a. C.
However, I was still left with the question of addressing my students about who Cleopatra was. Instead of insisting that it was Greek and white, I read it based on the work of Shelley Haley, a black classicist, who next year will be president of the Society for Classical Studies in America. Haley initially studied the classics as a haven to seek equality, eventually gaining the confidence to question Cleopatra’s identity. We know that part of Cleopatra’s lineage was uncertain, including women of Syrian and Persian origin, possibly even a concubine. We know that Egyptian elites took over Nubian concubines, however it is quite possible that she was purely of Greek lineage. Today, it is enough to read the tabloid press to understand that fame is often based on notoriety, just as it is often based on actual achievements. Despite losing her kingdom, Cleopatra had some notable achievements. She was the only Ptolemaic ruler who spoke Egyptian rather than just Greek and knew many other languages as well. In addition, he wrote medical treatises on hair loss and developed a special type of soap. So unlike tall, athletic Gadot, she was something of a nerd.
READ MORE: Lecture: A Photographic Odyssey of the Legacy and Glory of Ancient Greece
Coming back to color, anyone who spends time in Greece or anywhere in the Mediterranean knows that people tend to have olive skin and it appears like all other shades as well. The internet is already full of people arguing over why Cleopatra is being played by an Israeli Ashkenazi and not an African or Arab actress. This simply raises the even more obvious question of why a Greek actress was not cast as Cleopatra. Since Gal Gadot has used his fame and fortune to claim his right, perhaps one of the Greek brothers Antetokounmpo could play Ptolemy.
* Louise Hitchcock is Professor of Aegean Bronze Age Archeology in the Archeology and Classics Program at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of ‘Minoan Architecture: A Contextual Analysis, Theory for Classics, and Aegean Art and Architecture’ (with Donald Preziosi), and is the co-editor of ‘DAIS: The Aegean Feast, Aegaeum 29’, as well as the author of more than 80 Articles dealing with the archeology, architecture and theory of the Aegean. His current research deals with Aegean, Cypriot and Philistine connections. The Australian Research Council funded her excavations at the Philistine site of Tell es-Safi / Gath, where she was an area supervisor.
