The relative beauty of Cleopatra

Cleopatra It has always been known for its great beauty and even inspired numerous works of art for thousands of years, even seducing two of the most powerful Roman leaders, Julius Caesar and Marco Antonio.

Two centuries after the reign of Cleopatra, Dio Cassius, a Roman historian, describes a woman of incomparable beauty. However, the Greek historian Plutarch maintains that there is no good reason to be certain that her beauty was as impressive as they say..

There is no bust that can be unequivocally attributed to Cleopatra's body, but we do have images of her appearance as, for example, on ancient coins. The figures shown in these images depict Cleopatra as a woman with a prominent, manly nose, but this may be due to the fact that they were trying to show a certain masculine resemblance to help their political propaganda and thus favor their role in the government as a young queen.

Also keep in mind that what we understand by beauty today can be very different from what it used to mean that same concept. An example of this we have in the Greek representations in which a woman is shown who in modern society would be advised to lose weight. Because of all this, questioning whether Cleopatra was beautiful would be futile as the concept of beauty is relative and depends on the eyes of the culture with which it is viewed.

[Tweet "the concept of beauty is relative and depends on the eyes of the culture with which you look at it"]

Dio Cassius and Plutarch They agree through their writings that Cleopatra had a sweet voice and had the ability to please and persuade everyone around her through a great speech. maybe we should not look for its beauty in the physical but in the intellectual, in its character and apparently also in his tone of voice. Thanks to his wit, charm and daring, not only did he captivate two of the most powerful men in the world, but he has also managed to remain the ideal of beauty through the centuries.

I was born in Madrid on August 27, 1988 and since then I started a work of which there is no example. Fascinated by both numbers and letters and a lover of the unknown, that is why I am a future graduate in Economics and Journalism, interested in understanding life and the forces that have shaped it. Everything is easier, more useful and more exciting if, with a look at our past, we can improve our future and for that… History.