re: Gal Gadot cast as Cleopatra, and people aren't happy about it

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hat's not to say Egypt was never ruled by "black" people (quotations due to the context of this thread. certainly they were SSA). as far as i know, there was one "black" (Nubian) dynasty in egypt, the Kushite Empire. it lasted about 100 years and when they were defeated basically all remnants, monuments, etc. were destroyed. so yeah, this argument that their blood line remained within the royal lineage is...difficult.

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The Kushite occupation also occurred about 1600 years before Cleopatra lived, and as has been said, she was part of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which had only been around for about 300 years.

As has also been said, Cleopatra might have been the first of her line to learn the Egyptian language, which somewhat refutes the idea that they intermarried with the local population. They slaughtered the old dynasty and aristocracy, so I doubt that the local population would have been able to provide a suitable bride or groom for the Ptolemaic rulers.

This is a coin that was minted in 32 BC by Mark Antony. His image is on the obverse side, while this reverse side depicts Cleopatra with thin lips and a hook nose. If anything, Gal Godot isn't quite Mediterranean enough for the part.



The whole "Cleopatra was black" notion comes from some archeologists who unearthed what they claimed was Cleopatra's sister, though this claim is not well supported. DNA tests were performed, and this mummy was asserted to be of "African" descent, which is a vague description in and of itself. Northern Africa was not only conquered by Alexander's armies. The Carthaginians, whose empire ran all along the north African coast, were originally Phoenicians, and they also didn't mix with the local populations.

E.g., bonus coverage, here's a coin minted during the time of Hannibal.