Did Archimedes Really Invent the “death Ray”? These coin portraits, surprising though they may be to those who have grown up with a ‘Hollywood Cleopatra’, are the only certain images we have of her. The coins were minted in a variety of places in the eastern Mediterranean, from Alexandria in Egypt to the port of Patras in Greece. Cleopatra VII Philopator often referred to simply as “Cleopatra” was known for her outstanding beauty, as countless works of art depicted her as an attractive temptress, with many modern beauty parlors named after her. Coin portraits of Cleopatra’s father, much rarer than those of Cleopatra herself, show him with a prominent nose and sloping forehead, so these physical characteristics may well have been family traits. But was Cleopatra really the famous beauty she is often depicted as? This is perhaps the closest we can get to the real Cleopatra and the character behind the face on the coins. Mark Antony bestowed on Cleopatra a number of eastern cities and territories, and coins were issued in those places in the name of the new ruler. Dio added that men were seduced just by looking at her as she had the power to subjugate everyone. He recorded that she possessed a charming voice and a knowledge of how to make herself approachable to everyone, even a love-struck Caesar who was already past his prime. But the coins present us with another kind of story – of two ambitious political figures weaving a future together: Antony the Roman triumvir and Cleopatra the queen of kings. The belief that she was a woman of great beauty is not shared by all, after images of her in her prime surfaced recently. You can unsubscribe at any time. On some coins depicting her by herself there is no name attached at all – those distinctive features told people who they were looking at. Over her shoulders she wears a mantle, covering her gown. On some coins her mantle seems to be held in place by a clasp that includes more strings of pearls – a treasure that perhaps held great significance at the time (a gift from Caesar or Antony?). Not as romantic, but possibly a face of Cleopatra that the queen herself would have recognised, and of which she would have approved. Often she is associated with Mark Antony, whose portrait appears on the other side (and occasionally on the same side, next to hers), but she is always described as a queen in her own right, and not just Antony’s consort: “Queen Cleopatra, the New Goddess”; “For Cleopatra, Queen of Kings and of children who are kings”. Egyptian portrait of a Ptolemaic queen, possibly Cleopatra, c. 51–30 BC, located in the Brooklyn Museum. Please enter your number below. There seems to be a problem, please try again. It was recorded that she was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language even though her native language was Koine Greek. Professor Kevin Butcher from the University of Warwick is the co-author of The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan, (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Cleopatra VII Philopator often referred to simply as “Cleopatra” was known for her outstanding beauty, as countless works of art depicted her as an attractive temptress, with many modern beauty parlors named after her. Yet she needed more exceptional qualities to have conquered both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony: according to the Roman historian Cassius Dio she was “a woman of surpassing beauty… with the power to subjugate everyone”. In 31 BC she and her lover, Mark Antony, had been defeated by their rival Octavian, and in the following year they committed suicide in Egypt.