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They passed down the same mitochondrial DNA for generations nonstop for a long period of time. That type of DNA is passed down only by mothers. In almost all cases a male and his offspring do not share the same mitochondrial DNA, but this rare exception happened for generations consecutively. Theres probably a huge amount of people in the world that can be link genetically to them.
I know. Doing my family line, I reached a few points on several branches, where numerpus sons were repeatedly named after the father. The women's names were often limited to acceptable Christian names, and I started thinking I was caught in a paperwork or computer loop. Ie John and Catherin Smith begat John who maried Catherine and was father of John and Catherine Smith. This goes on for generations several times. It took side reference research to realize I was actually making progress and NOT stuck in some loop. 😂
The Egyptians liked things to stay exactly the same. In ancient times a Greek mercenary was bragging to a couple of Egyptian librarians that he could trace his family back through twelve generations of nobles. The librarians showed him a record book that recorded over 300 generations of their ancestors who had the same name as them who had worked as librarians in the same library.
I once saw a comment where someone said “Most people have 8 great grandparents, cleopatra has 2. They talk about her beauty but realistically it’s lucky she was able to be born with fully formed lungs” I finally get it.
Thanks for this comment...I went back and checked the tree and it seems simple when you comprehend it that way. Mind you, those two great grandparents seem quite closely related already.
Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III were her great grandparents 3 times. But lets not forget about her grandfather Ptolemy IX also being being her great-grandfather, along with Cleopatra Selene. So 4 great-grandparents? Technically? And Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III are also her great-great-grandparents twice, on top of being her great-grandparents three times
I have a feeling she was really beautiful and exotic for the time period. Europe has a equal system of incest with its royalty and so does almost every society. For the greatest men of rome to fall in love with her and actually abandon rome for years on end to be with her tells you it was more than political. These guys could have the most beautiful women in Europe but they found cleopatra to be so captivating.
When you hear this, it sounds complicated but it all (almost) comes down to: Boys are named Ptolemy and girls are named Cleopatra. Ptolemy marries Cleopatra. Not complicated at all.
I like that they just kept naming their children all the same things and just tacking a number on it, how is it possible for 300 years they only used like 4 names, I'm almost impressed. You've gotta love consistency
"He married his full sister, _apparently_ they were in love" "He married an outsider because there were no sisters to marry" "Cleopatra would go on, to no surprise, to marry her older brother" The shade lmaoo i swear these videos are the best it just keeps getting worse and the narrator gets increasingly fed up with the bullshit
Cleopatra was the firstborn so she didn't have a older brother, just younger brothers and a younger sister. When her parents died and she became the new Queen she was 16 her oldest brother was 12, and by rule she was married to him.
I think she may have been average looking, but as a pharaoh her beauty may have been exaggerated, or cosmetics did the work. Also, her intelligence may have made her attractive.
Plus the power and the glamour of royalty. Look how European princesses are usually described as beautiful when most of them are downright unattractive. The most beautiful European princesses are the wives of the princes, not the women born to the purple.
Also who would dare to describe a ruler anything other than beautiful and people might have just assumed she was beautiful because we often associate beauty with power, especially when women are concerned!
I dont think, that harsh romans or who else wrote about her really were into "her insides were beautiful" without saying that she was kinda ugly. I dont think anyone cares about inner values when describing people as beautiful. Noone does it today and certainly not back in the day. Imbreds could be beautiful as well. Look at all of us....we are highly imbred as well all over the world. Otherwise we would have been much more people throughout history, but we werent. Just going back 1000 years, which would be 36th generation down from you, it would be 100 billion people....that was clearly not the case. The chances (if you take the word inbred like that) of us having had sex with a relative is pretty high...if you go back further, the chances are of course 100% of you sleeping with someone related to you. Usually they didnt inbred (if they could) for 2-3 generations, in which case the chances of deformation dwindle rapidly. Otherwise we wouldnt be here 🤣
Just because we've found out that she wasn't super conventionally attractive doesn't mean that back in the day she wasn't super hot to her fellow ancient Egyptians*. (I'm aware that she was ethnically Greek! But, she was the queen of EGYPT and was politically very important to the country she ruled so I refer to her as Egyptian for this reason) Our standards of beauty change drastically over time and I almost wonder if "inbred-looking" features were admired back then (as a sort of status symbol) because it implied you came from a bloodline worth preserving? Idk. Just thoughts.
Exactly. And a bigger interesting nose is still considered beautiful today. Especially if your loved ones shared it. Big eyes? Yes. Low brow bone? Sultry! But it’s wrong to inbreed obviously in the end is just a form of Stockholm syndrome
I think having someone else around to hall buckets of bath water also helped with the 'beauty' part of her appearance. Not to mention royals were probably not underfed like everyone else. Sweaty and rough looking skeletons are not pretty. It probably contributed to much of the belief that royals were chosen by god/s over the ages. A healthy person among the starved would look beautiful and 'blessed' in comparison. At least that's my theory...
@@Kanelle88 Afaik the "slaves" that worked for for the egyptians, weren't actually slaves. They were workers and did not starve. They had a "better" life then a farmer for example. (i'm not really sure, how accurate my information is)
Wow, her family tree was like a bowl of spaghetti. I've also heard that it's very possible Cleopatra's mother cheated on her father with someone outside the family lineage, and that's why she didn't have many deformities compared to those around her.
If true, smart move on her part. Many speculate King Henry didn't put his last wife's head on the chopping block because she bore him a son. Most, however, speculate that she made trips to the wood pile lol.
Yes quite possibly.....I think they might have figured out the inbreeding wasn't such a good idea....alot of them 😉 so and so begat so and so and so on and so forth....but the way countries used to be....and family.....constantly murdering each other to rule....just surviving your family was obviously a bit of a miracle 😉
@@jayklink851 first off all, he didn’t kill his last wife. He killed his second and fifth wive. He let his second wife get killed bc he said she was sleeping with her brother and other men. Which is probably a lie. Nobody really believes it. He just wanted her out of the way bc he already found someone new to marry and wanted a son
Sooo is this where the Disney movie Hercules got the quote from pain “the time all the boys were named Jason and all the girls were all named Brittany “ 😂 omg that makes it way more funnier
That is a lot of inbreeding. Very informative, a lot of people assume Cleopatra was Egyptian, but as you point out, she is from Greek kingdom, but even the ancient Egyptians married in the family, and Akenaten is a great example of what inbreeding does.
True, the Ptolemy dynasty was fanatical to only marry within their own family to keep their bloodline “pure.” As odd as it seems, this was common within the majority of ancient royal dynasties.
@@Saral_Lekhi he's talking about the cleopatra mother the one who would be her great grandma i think, your talking about the last pharoh, and the last female pharoh the legendary Cleopatra the 7th,
You have to keep in mind also that Pharaohs weren't limited to just one wife. The Great Royal Wife was the main wife (and was usually the Sibling of the Pharaoh) whose sons were automatically next in line, while the other wives were labeled as lesser wives whose sons essentially served as backups in case the Great Royal Wife either fails to birth sons or her sons die before their father. The Great Royal Wife was the only one that was recorded in the dynasty's history, and it wasn't always her biological son that became the next Pharaoh. Cleopatra was likely spared from the majority of the consequences that plagued incestuous dynasties solely because of this system.
That actually makes a whole lot of sense. Across human history, in many different civilisations around the world the theme of the “divine bloodline” has come up with power passing from parent to child. Pharaoh, King, Emperor. And what was common in all of these cultures? Concubines, lesser wives or harems. It actually does seem that the royalty in these cultures figured out that inbreeding was bad, and figured out a system where they could claim the incestuous royal coup produced an heir, but if they couldn’t there were always the illegitimate children of the concubines that they could fall back on. Kinda clever now that I think about it.
Except that the previous pharaohs were married to multiple women simultaneously, while the Ptolemies were married to one woman at a time. True the Ptolemaic kings had mistresses, but no children from those unions ascended to the throne.
Ptolemy XIII have a mistress, but the son from that union (Ptolemy Apion) is denied royalty and were relegated as a ruler in one of the border provinces. Non inbred Ptolemies does exist, but they are not of royal blood and were never recorded to hold in line of succession. Ptolemy XII marrying his sisterwife's daughter is even a proof of this, as he maneuvered so the so called royal dynasty remain pure.
Normally I would say yes. However, I think that there were a lot of illegitimate children passed off as the pharaoh's. She spoke 6 languages and had a witty, captivating way of luring people in. She would not have been that smart if severely inbred. I think some of that was for show.
Not true , that she couldn’t have been that smart. Inbreeding brings out both the worst and best traits so it is quite possible that while you can inbreed a mentally deficient person you can also inbreed a genius
It is possible because Strabo said that Ptolemy IV was the son of Agathocleia, the mistress. The only confusing part is that Agathocleia was actually the mistress of Ptolemy IV and not his father, Ptolemy III. He could be trying to say that Ptolemy V was the son of Agathocleia considering that she and her family plotted and killed the Queen, Arsinoe III who is said to be the mother of Ptolemy V. However, Agathocleia was related to the Ptolemies.
@@porkpork2169 yeah, first generation inbreeding often doesn't result in the deformities especially if it's half siblings or first cousins. But successive generations? It becomes exponentially worse.
I knew she wasn’t physically beautiful, but she was extremely intelligent, spoke several languages fluently and they said her voice was mesmerizing. She also knew the art of seduction. A lot of people think that looks alone are what captivate, but charisma, personality and that IT factor is what truly attracts people.
I think the seduction part is male conjecture. It fits the patriarchy to paint Cleo as a seductress. Because a woman can't be succesful unless she seduces a man, right?😉Julius Ceasar didn't marry Cleo because she seduced him; it was political strategy. The two agreed that her brother was unfit to rule. And the only way to stop the Greek elite from standing in Cleo's way, was with Roman support. When Cleo married Julius, nobody challenged her claim to the Egyptian throne. Without Rome's backing, she would have been assassinated.Cleo ruled because she was the most capable. Julius Gaius did not become Ceasar because he was the kind of man who allowed a teenager to sweep him off his feet. And Cleo did not become Pharao because she was a good seductress. She was a highly capable, highly intelligent and a politically savvy, individual. Very practical, too. She was the only one in her family who recognised the importance of good PR; She spoke Egyptian, her family did'nt bother. She actively took part in religeous ceremonies for all the people to see. That is politics and mob-control. And that is what made Julius great in Rome when he became dictator: PR. the grand heroic general who rid Rome of the corrupt Republic and ensured 'strong' leadership. All smoke and mirrors and still he crossed the Rubicon.When he met Cleo, he must have thought:" now this is a political ally on my level. Plus I need her because of all the grain we import from Egypt. She is loved by her people. If I marry her; Egypt will see me as her consort instead of their dictator. While in Rome, they will see her as my conquest and subject instead of a separatist rebel. Win-win situation!"
EXACTLY. Men everywhere wanted her and she was average in comparison to queens of her time because physical beauty only goes so far, she had captivated men through her charm, intelligence and personality...THAT is what truly hooks a man long term.
It’s really amazing how easily people have breezed past how inbred she really was. Therefore this in that alone is one of the more insightful pieces I’ve seen on cleopatra. Sometimes we prefer our imaginations to reality.
I think this whole debate ignores the fact that pharaohs had concubines. The only time it's mentioned is when it's said that it's possible Ptolemy XII's mother wasn't actually Cleopatra IV but was possibly a concubine. It's not acknowledged that even if a child was born of a concubine, their official mother was the First Wife on record, which is what we pull our history from. I think this occasional genetic influx from outside the gene pool is what kept them somewhat fertile over the years instead of solely producing sterile children or stillbirths.
Good point. AND the most logical argument imo. Given all these political marriages they probably had the same view of marriage that so many aristocrats have had through the ages - that you marry for gain then can sleep with whoever you want
@@susie9893 DNA Tracing has shown that this was actually extremely rare, lol, women back in the ancient times were loyal! At least when it's time to have children to be honest.
Although she’s now more known for her beauty, originally there are accounts saying that she wasn’t actually that pretty at all and men probably fell in love with her due to her knowledge and wit.
@@susanandrew5240 it actually happens more often than you think. In Korea for example, high class prostitutes would be given a rigorous education and learn to play musical instruments like a high class woman would in order to stay engaged with their clients and not just be a pretty face to get bored of.
@@ladyville3 Yup especially since in those days that's what they had to do to survive, nobody wanted to live in exile especially when they could live with everything pampered and lots of power not just political power either. They were born into these powerful families and were raised by their parents to hold onto this power anyway they could they were also revered as closet human beings to god and gods, even kings and queens in the royal english french spanish etc families they say kings(and therfor queens once king passed) are anointed by god, even if it was not true and they were picked by their marriages,bloodlines, and relatives/governments of power. Because of what they believed and were told that thy were chosen by god they believed they could get away with things like killing each other and they could once they held onto power to make it go away, similar to how many rich people get away from long punishment sentences and even convictions alone just by the sheer amount of money they have which can buy them connections bribes and legal teams that none other without their money can do
You didn’t mention the reason they were inbreeding. Context: The reason the Ptolemy royals practiced incėst was, upon conquering Egypt and becoming pharaoh, Ptolemy I adopted Egyptian religious customs as instructed by the Egyptian priestly class, these customs included sibling marriages, something uncommon in Macedon. This was an Egyptian royal custom, perhaps common Egyptians also practiced some form of inbreeding, as first cousin-marriages are relatively common in present Egypt and also the countries of the near east today.
@@muratcomert8030 yup.. a man who regretted his choice to live in Sodom, where he "vexed his righteous soul from day to day". Jesus spoke of future judgment coming suddenly as in the days of Lot, and warned solemnly, "Remember Lot's wife".. thanks to the Bible we are warned
It seems like ancient statues flattered the depicted ones and coins showed them unattractive. The truth lies probably in between: You can have prominent features and also be attractive. Cleopatra had so many enemies amongst the Romans that they would have held her bad looks against her if she really had them, but... they did not. However, Plutarch wrote: ""For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased..." So her appeal my have been a combination of "average attractiveness", education, wit, intelligence, charme, make-up, power and sexual aggressiveness.
Yes I think that was it. She most likely had the “it” factor. In Mexico we have a word called Guapa, GUAPA is a woman who is attractive eventho she is not typically pretty. They know how to make themselves look attractive by the way they dress, speak, carry themselves with confidence, they usually have good hair & know how to style it, they work on their bodies & r skilled at makeup, perfume etc. Cleopatra considered herself a goddess so she dressed in a very beautiful and dramatic way, she adorned herself in gold and showed off her body. She made people believe she was more than just a mortal woman. She also made everything around her beautiful & pleasurable- she transported people into a different world when they were with her- the best food, music, incense, soft rugs, pillows, dancers etc. she made her men feel special, like gods on earth & she was most likely very talented at sex. I think her sexual talents r a huge factor, especially if women in Rome were too religious & uptight at that time. In plain words Cesar & Marc Anthony were 😻 wooped! And she had youth, she was 22 when Cesar was around 50. That combination mixed with her intelligence was surely mesmerizing.
@@aliciadelsordo5511 yes, pretty is Bonita. Bonita is someone naturally pretty, beautiful features. Guapa can be pretty too I guess, but it means attractive more, if that makes sense. 😆
Exactly! And when you look into transvestigation of celebrities, you see that the female version of "sexy" is a ten year old boy in drag (Taylor Swift). And we bought it!
What's interesting is that in the ancient Egyptian perspective, marrying a sister/brother wasn't all that absurd, particularly for the pharaohs. The gods often married siblings (Shu+Tefnut, Geb+Nut, Osiris+Isis, Osiris+Nephthys, Nephthys+Set), and the royal line were supposed to be genetic descendants and/or reincarnations of the gods. So all that inbreeding is just business as usual...
I think it actually worked the other way round As in, egyptian royalties wanted to inbreed and then fabricated the legends of how their gods practiced incest as well as defense mechanism.
Well. You have to remember.... In Egypt, they used tons of makeup, including thick eyeliner, dark red lip color, dark, tightly curled or woven wigs, lots of beautiful jewelry, etc., so with enough makeup, she could have passed for pretty, or even somewhat attractive. Some of the writings from the time, called her beautiful and charming.
I don't know why is it so hard to accept that those types of facial traits were just considered pretty at the time. People's general taste changes over time (I mean just compare the 90s and now!)
Wow 😯 what a mess! I knew Cleopatra married her brother but I really did not know anything about the rest of the family. Yikes 😬. You had me 😂 when you said Cleopatra might have been thought of as a beauty because her deformities may have been better when compared to others. Thank you for a great job covering this.
I don't think that's it. She went to Rome, and the Romans detested her and called her all kinds of names. Had she been deformed they would have said so. I think it may be a situation like that of the Hawaiian royal family. They too practiced brother/sister marriage and uncle/niece marriage. The defective offspring were thrown into the volcanoes as offerings to the gods. Only the ones who looked normal were kept. Bad dog breeders do the same, to be able to sell the puppies. Of course, some defects can't be seen, bad hips being a prime example
This is simply monstrous, how was possible that no one tought of these unions as insane (at the best!). After all there was a reason for all these pharao's dynasties, they were so inbreeded that in few generations went extinct...and then another one repeated the cycle
I think it had to do with the idea that pharaohs were gods, and therefore couldn’t marry regular people. And there was no way to understand genetics as it is now understood. I also wonder if any physical characteristics and/or disabilities that we now to be signs of incest would never have been pointed out as negative or problematic simply because no one dared insinuate there was anything wrong with them.
They would have known that inbreeding caused horrible problems in animals, so it wouldn’t have been from a lack of information. However, if they were anything like the European royal family, also inbred (though not to this horrifying degree), they believed that they were different from commoners, as God made them “special,” and set them apart to rule. They probably assumed that God would also protect them from any negative results that might happen if they had “only” been commoners. It’s just so creepy!!
I think around that time or years before the Hebrews were one of the few in that surrounding Mediterranean area to teach against incest and other harmful practices, hence why up to today why people believe the ten commandments and the other laws they were given are truly from God
@ Alessio De Carolis it is unfair to judge these ancients by modern knowledge and ethics. There is no doubt that if the tolls were reversed they would be horrified at our lack of understanding in engineering and our societal norms.
I doubt Cleopatra was ugly or looked deformed. She lured both Julius Caesar and Marcus Antony to her bed and had kids with them. She was likely exotic-looking and knew how to use her body and personality. She was intelligent and knew how to manipulate.
@midnightkitty7 Egypt y'all can have ugly Cleopatra let's be clear Ancient Egypt was pure African people not Egyptian and Mediterranean dark 🌑 skin bs 💯 true facts
The fact that media that I grew up with didn’t specify how screwed up Cleo’s family tree is and how I somehow never knew she had ancestors she was named after is crazy
@@stephaniefogelvik4756 or schools should just include information like this (when teaching ancient egypt) because it’s interesting. although please tell me the name of a book that talks about this stuff? 😅 mhm yea.
The Berlin Cleopatra is - like most ancient busts - an idealized depiction of Cleopatra. Look at statues of Gaius Iulius Caesar and Octavian/Augustus: Caesar didn't have the physique of a teenager at fifty and Augustus didn't have the body of a body builder with a sixpack. Same goes btw for Egyptian portrayals of Pharaohs, those depictions were also idealized, one notable exception though are statues by Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) which depict him with a beer belly and a postural defect.
There's a crazy broad that calls in to George Noory every so often talking about how she was Cleopatra in a past life and knows everything Cleopatra knew. I just want one caller or guest to ask her "which Cleopatra were you"? That would be a priceless meltdown to behold.
Oh wow that was an incredibly helpful visual - thank you! Side note, children often weren’t /actually/ those of siblingspouses, but just passed off as such for like uh, sacred dynastical reasons. Basically, they knew repeated inbreeding was bad, but it was tradition, so the royals found a workaround to appease the people whilst avoiding what would inevitably be death to a line otherwise.
So it's quite possible these family trees are effectively forgeries. Mistresses have been a long tradition of royalty and I wouldn't be the least shocked if many of these marriages had outside genetics brought into the mix. Why it was tradition to in-breed remains a mystery, but surely it's an archaic notion, that obviously lacked any scientific merit. This idea that royal blood was "divine".
This is just not true. Incest does NOT guarantee offspring are defermed. The Ptolemies were all lunatics and many members are believed to have suffered from genetic diseases. The Ptolemies were that inbred and many were also totally functional as happens in real life.
Well inbred or not Cleopatra was both extremely bright and said to be very charming. She was very well educated by male standards, being a polyglot as well as a known mathematician. It probably also helped that she was Queen of the bread basket of the world at that time.
Things haven’t changed that much in those lands. From Morocco to Pakistan they still marry their cousins over and over again, to keep their belongings and lands in “family” hands. Remember most marriages are arranged by the parents and it looks more like a comercial transaction
I think that is just a prejudiced stereotype your trying to perpetuate. I'm fairly sure it is not illegal to have a sexual relationship with your sibling in the U.S.A
@@stealthwarrior5768 it is illegal in most states, there's laws against incest. Also, thats not just a stereotype in Pakistan, it's a way of life and i know first hand it is. My mom became friends with a guy from there who was forced to marry his 16 year old cousin, they had babies and everything.
@@stealthwarrior5768 In Pakistan, incestuous marriages makes up more than 50% of the married populace. It's also seen in the Pakistani diaspora abroad - like in the UK. Unfortunately it's somewhat true, rather than prejudice.
I guess the question “I wonder if the baby will look more like the mothers or more like the fathers side” was a question never asked nor needed in THAT family 🤣🤣🤣
You managed to describe and show the lineage so well. What you do is amazing. I love the characters coming to life. I'm in Scotland, you should do a bit of Scottish history.
Remember all this when you decide on a Cleopatra costume for Halloween… If you aren’t so inbred that your mom’s your sister and your dad’s your uncle, you can’t pull it off 😂
Paganini...I want to see a full body recreation of Paganini. I asked about it in another video but they only did the bust. I have a grim curiosity to see how his unusually long bones and unique physical appearance would come out! Contemporaries wrote about how he was strange looking...they even thought he was demon possessed! Show us what he really looked like, pretty please? =))
I don't know much about him, but when you say "long boned" I'm wondering if he had Marfan Syndrome? People with Marfan Syndrome often have unusual facial features, so that would be interesting to see his likeness.
Excellently done - thank you for putting this together. It's interesting/horrifying to know the extent with which some families went to ensure their power.
Their blood is different. They are the tares. They get to be royal, rich, famous, etc. in this Second Earth Age. Then it is over for them. (There are three Earth Ages. 2Peter, Ch. 3) They cannot mix with God's own.
Unlike Charles II, Cleopatra still managed to bump and grin with Roman generals and have children with them, while also being very intelligent and well knowledge in military strategy and knew many languages. Charles II wasn't able to speak clearly in his own language muchless speak in that of other languages. Which makes you question does the extra X chromosome protect women from the imbecile side of being inbred-ed? 🤔 I read that the extra X chromosome protected females from various diseases and disorders which plagued males more often. Cleopatra also goes to show that when you have family members who educate and expose you to certain information you manage to pick it up, especially when exposed at a young age, despite learning disabilities and inbreding negative side effects. Charles II of Spain had no luck. He was basically manipulated and isolated since infancy. Had he been taught by patience caring teachers, he too would've learned over 7 different languages and been a great Spanish leader. Properly would've adopted kids from noble families as his own, since he couldn't have his own children, but saved the Habsberg dynasty by adopting nephews, nieces or younger cousins to be his children, avoiding the harsh wars and battles after his death and continued the Habsberg dynasty through adoptions. Unfortunately, his education was piss poor. Cleopatra in that sense was super lucky to have family and tutors who cared for her and that she wanted to learn. That makes a huge difference.
Yes the X is protective against many genetic diseases, women often carry them but are not affected physically by them = the Y chromosome is a faulty X.
I think you might be on to something here, because I had read somewhere that Charles II's sister had a slight Habsburg chin, but other than that wasn't too awfully affected by their inbreeding. By this time I'm pretty sure they were getting close to understanding that the inbreeding was an issue, but still married her off to a family member! So I guess I'm the end they didn't care about anything but keeping the money and power in the family. Idk why, because you don't take it with you when you go, or at least for the Egyptian pharoahs they had some belief in taking their riches with them and needing them in the afterlife. So k guess I could understand from their point of view keeping it in the family, but still their offspring should have been important to them. That's just human nature!
I feel like nicknames would have been used heavily in this family, considering every male is named Ptolemy and all the girls are Bernice, Arsinoe, or Cleopatra.
i always think, what's the difference between how the ancient rich people pretend to be pretty in sculptures and paintings - to how celebrities lie about their own beauty... and i also think that wedding in the family may still be prevalent in highly rich families. thank you for another interesting vid. you are lovely and talented
learning Cleopatra WASN'T beautiful is definitely one of the most shocking things I've learned. Movies and TV always make her out to be this rare beauty, so much so that Elizabeth Taylor, one of THE most beautiful women to ever live, played her in a movie.
She might have actually been beautiful though. She is often described as more Egyptian looking, so she might have been a result of infidelity between her mother and an Egyptian man. Infidelity may even have happened in several generations, which Cleopatra may or may not have had more genetics from. And therefore much less affected by the inbreeding.
Cleopatra may have been inbred but she was attractive during the time. People talked about her even today. Her beauty was legendary....that could not been made up!!!
Babes...legend is different from reality and looking a the logistics of her bloodline and family tree, it leans more to her being abnormal looking due to all the inbreeding. Look at current long term inbreeding cases in our modern world and you will see how the children come out looking. I’m surprised Cleopatra was capable of even walking properly or breathing cause most often have internal defects as well.
What really exasperated me about these old royal families is the repetitive names! Even in the British royal family, they keep using the same names over and over again! I get it that they want to emulate their elder kin but really, if your brother is already a Ptolemy, why name you Ptolemy as well? Thank God they don't do this anymore. The more unique the name, the better.
Imagine the fanaticism these people had to cope and believing this "tradition" of marrying their sister or continuing some royal bloodline. Using the same regnal name probably would helped them psychologically to enforce that ideals since their identity is always those of their bloodline. Its like a cult.
@@stealthwarrior5768 : True, but there isn't another William or Henry/Harry in the British royal family currently. There are two Edwards (Wessex and Kent), but no two of the present Queen's descendants have the same name. This is very unlike for example Queen Victoria, whose descendants include her daughter Princess Victoria and her granddaughters Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, Victoria Melita, Helena Victoria, and Victoria Eugenie (of Prussia, Wales, Hesse, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, and Battenberg respectively).
And she wasn't black like WOKEflix's " historical documentary " claims! I REALLY hope the Egyptian government wins that 2 billion dollar lawsuit! We Greeks should have sued them as well!
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There was a contemporary painting of her made after she committed suicide commissioned by Octavian. The artist was the same one that done a painting of Cleopatra with Mark Anthony when they were alive. The painting commissioned by Octavian was destroyed in WWI but descriptions of it survive. She had red hair.
There is also Herculaneum portrait that survived having auburn or reddish hair... that would make her pale too, as that's how redheads work. This ALSO doesn't mean she was 100% European either, as Middle Eastern and North African people can have red hair, it's just more rare than, say, in Scotland... when it comes with ancient dynasties, take their family trees with a huge grain of salt. It's unknown who was Cleo's mother and her paternal grandma was likely from Syria. But we don't have the bloodlines of mistresses and every random pharaohs lover.
This is untrue. There are no records of there ever being any paintings done of Cleopatra while she lived, the oldest known painting is the Herculaneum portrait that was made decades after her death. After Augustus ascended to Princeps, he spent a lot of time trying (futilely) to erase Antony from Roman history. It's unlikely he would have wasted effort commissioning work by Antony's similarly traitorous lover (regardless of the history she had with Caesar). Especially unlikely considering her parading of Cessarion. Furthermore, photography existed well before WW1. If such a painting had been destroyed by this time, it's likely there'd be photographic evidence of it.
Usually when one group conquers another, they start marrying into the royalty/nobles of the conquered group as it helps to establish connections to their new subjects and a sense of legitimacy. I don't get why these Macedonian new rulers didn't start injecting some actual Egyptian (or other north African) noble blood into their family line. I don't even think the former (actual) Egyptian rulers did this much inbreeding! The Ptolemys heard stories of the former pharoahs marrying their siblings, and said "Yes, please!"
The former rulers did a lot of it too and actually had mothers and fathers married to their sons and daughters. I think they adopted the culture quite rapidly.
Actually in ancient Egyptian culture it was actually really normal for the royalty practice incest. The Ptolemaic just adopted that part of Egyptian culture
@@akirafudo4419 Oh, I know the ancient Egyptians did it. It just seems like the Ptolemys really dove into that particular "perk" of being an Egyptian royal and took it to another level.
@@vbrown6445 actually this form of incest was normal for the royal dynasties. The Ptolemy were just doing what all the other dynasties did. Sibling marriages or even parents marrying kids was normal
Records say she was not a great beauty but still attractive and her personality made her more so. I don’t think powerful men like Caesar and Mark Anthony who had their pick of women would have fallen under her spell if she had been deformed in some way.
They weren't dating her because she was beautiful. They were dating her to better control Egypt, despite her ugliness. Real life isn't a Hollywood movie.
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Her mother wasnt an outsider. The Ptolemies were racist as hell. Greek greek greek was all they portrayed themselves. Nobody accused her of being illegitimate until 2 centuries after she died. If she was, this would have been used against her during her life time. If anything Cleopatra VIII strategically eradicated her mother from the records after the year of her birth to make it seem as though her younger siblings were illegitimate.
@@jamiemohan2049 Exactly; her family ‘pure blood’ pedigree was her claim to the throne. Wild tales always start down the road. We have a segment now trying to claim England’s King James I was black - despite the plethora of caucasian man with reddish hair portraits he left behind.
Excellent video! Clearly describes Cleopatra VII's very muddled family tree. Concise and well presented! One issue I would hesitate to accept is you generated an image of Cleopatra VII that appears physically deformed. I believe this is unlikely. The Berlin bust you display of her was done while she was alive and living at Rome and although it does not show a raving beauty by any means there is no physical signs of deformity visible. You mentioned the nose and the chin. Being Greek myself I can tell you those are very standard Greek features. I have a cousin who could have passed for her sister at the same age. Further she was not well loved by Caesar's enemies at Rome who would have been eager to mention any "flaws" that Cleopatra displayed. There is no mention of this in Roman writings of the time. This would suggest that whatever issues Cleopatra VII had do to her incredibly inbred family tree they do not seem to have manifested themselves in visible deformity although I see it as very likely she and her siblings had plenty.
Whoa. I didn’t know there were six other Cleopatras! I know my cousins’ grandchildren. I think everyone should know as many generations of relatives as possible to avoid marrying in the family. It is disturbing and disgusting.
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Wtfffff bro h- how have I never heard of this💀
⁹0009⁰99⁹999990
>>
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The inbreeding is bad enough without using and reusing like the same four names for 300 years to make it even more confusing.
Keeps it straight for the masses that could not read or write.
They passed down the same mitochondrial DNA for generations nonstop for a long period of time. That type of DNA is passed down only by mothers. In almost all cases a male and his offspring do not share the same mitochondrial DNA, but this rare exception happened for generations consecutively. Theres probably a huge amount of people in the world that can be link genetically to them.
I know. Doing my family line, I reached a few points on several branches, where numerpus sons were repeatedly named after the father. The women's names were often limited to acceptable Christian names, and I started thinking I was caught in a paperwork or computer loop. Ie John and Catherin Smith begat John who maried Catherine and was father of John and Catherine Smith. This goes on for generations several times. It took side reference research to realize I was actually making progress and NOT stuck in some loop. 😂
The Egyptians liked things to stay exactly the same. In ancient times a Greek mercenary was bragging to a couple of Egyptian librarians that he could trace his family back through twelve generations of nobles. The librarians showed him a record book that recorded over 300 generations of their ancestors who had the same name as them who had worked as librarians in the same library.
@@TheTaoofEternalWar that or some bored fella wrote his own name 300 times
“Cleopatra eventually chose her youngest son because she wasn’t too impressed that her other son tried to assassinate her”
And then the younger son is the one that actually killed her lol
And then her younger son killed her off anyways
I'd hope not
This is why holidays can be so stressful for the same reasons lol
Cicearean?
"He married an outsider because there were no sisters to marry." *banjo noises intensify*
Bwahahaha Bwahahaha
😂🤣😅😆😅🤣😂🤭😂🤣😅😆
Twistidly hilarious 🤣
She was her own grandma !
🤣😅
“He married an outsider, because there were no sisters to marry”… got me laughing 😂
It’s a good thing, but it seemed like they did share a bloodline was well. But thank goodness it was farther away than close like brother and sister.
I hate when there aren’t any available sisters to marry so you have to settle for a cousin 😑
Or your own daughter
@@SK22520 But you would have had to marry your sister first to get a daughter whom you could marry.
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Uhm...there's always one's mom😏😄. Then the mom is also grandmother...BOOM! Only need one mother's day card each year😏.
Such a bummer right?
So funny 🤣
I once saw a comment where someone said “Most people have 8 great grandparents, cleopatra has 2. They talk about her beauty but realistically it’s lucky she was able to be born with fully formed lungs”
I finally get it.
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Thanks for this comment...I went back and checked the tree and it seems simple when you comprehend it that way. Mind you, those two great grandparents seem quite closely related already.
Lol I think someone lying about her beauty ain’t no way.
Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III were her great grandparents 3 times.
But lets not forget about her grandfather Ptolemy IX also being being her great-grandfather, along with Cleopatra Selene.
So 4 great-grandparents? Technically?
And Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III are also her great-great-grandparents twice, on top of being her great-grandparents three times
I have a feeling she was really beautiful and exotic for the time period. Europe has a equal system of incest with its royalty and so does almost every society. For the greatest men of rome to fall in love with her and actually abandon rome for years on end to be with her tells you it was more than political. These guys could have the most beautiful women in Europe but they found cleopatra to be so captivating.
When you hear this, it sounds complicated but it all (almost) comes down to:
Boys are named Ptolemy and girls are named Cleopatra.
Ptolemy marries Cleopatra.
Not complicated at all.
Just like the wedding scene in goodfellas
Remember that time when all the boys were named Jason and the girls were all named Britney 😅🤣
Underrated comment💀✋🏻
throw in a few Berenice's too
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I like that they just kept naming their children all the same things and just tacking a number on it, how is it possible for 300 years they only used like 4 names, I'm almost impressed. You've gotta love consistency
Wait until you hear about the french monarchy.
Easier for the people, they just had to remember 2 names, and the monuments with the name of the pharaoh lasted generations
No one could claim their children if they were named after themselves or a famous relative.
It actually happened in history that some children were named by numbers instead of real names. For example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 😅
I mean that wasn't the only thing they were consistent of...
"He married his full sister, _apparently_ they were in love"
"He married an outsider because there were no sisters to marry"
"Cleopatra would go on, to no surprise, to marry her older brother"
The shade lmaoo i swear these videos are the best it just keeps getting worse and the narrator gets increasingly fed up with the bullshit
🤣
"She would be the last imported wife for a few generations"
@@Sylphadora 😂😂
If you read those ancient Egyptian love poems
Cleopatra was the firstborn so she didn't have a older brother, just younger brothers and a younger sister. When her parents died and she became the new Queen she was 16 her oldest brother was 12, and by rule she was married to him.
I think she may have been average looking, but as a pharaoh her beauty may have been exaggerated, or cosmetics did the work. Also, her intelligence may have made her attractive.
Plus the power and the glamour of royalty. Look how European princesses are usually described as beautiful when most of them are downright unattractive. The most beautiful European princesses are the wives of the princes, not the women born to the purple.
Agreed. Her power, wealth, and brains made up for it.
Also who would dare to describe a ruler anything other than beautiful and people might have just assumed she was beautiful because we often associate beauty with power, especially when women are concerned!
It's possible anybody not in royalty would have been hideously filthy, malnourished, diseased and lord only knows what other disfiguring processes..
@@edennis8578 described as beautiful...
(In faces, but not their brain) 😅
When the family tree is a wreath
😂
Bwahahaha
Hahaha 😝
🤣🤣👍👏
😂😂
I’m sure many people have pointed this out, but her famous beauty didn’t refer to her physical looks, it refers to her personality and intellect.
I dont think, that harsh romans or who else wrote about her really were into "her insides were beautiful" without saying that she was kinda ugly. I dont think anyone cares about inner values when describing people as beautiful. Noone does it today and certainly not back in the day.
Imbreds could be beautiful as well.
Look at all of us....we are highly imbred as well all over the world. Otherwise we would have been much more people throughout history, but we werent.
Just going back 1000 years, which would be 36th generation down from you, it would be 100 billion people....that was clearly not the case.
The chances (if you take the word inbred like that) of us having had sex with a relative is pretty high...if you go back further, the chances are of course 100% of you sleeping with someone related to you. Usually they didnt inbred (if they could) for 2-3 generations, in which case the chances of deformation dwindle rapidly. Otherwise we wouldnt be here 🤣
Her beauty referred to her enormous wealth 🤷🏻♂️
I always understood that. She was an intriguing woman
She was intriguing and a huge presence
@@JJLewis-so1iq Who knows?
Just because we've found out that she wasn't super conventionally attractive doesn't mean that back in the day she wasn't super hot to her fellow ancient Egyptians*. (I'm aware that she was ethnically Greek! But, she was the queen of EGYPT and was politically very important to the country she ruled so I refer to her as Egyptian for this reason) Our standards of beauty change drastically over time and I almost wonder if "inbred-looking" features were admired back then (as a sort of status symbol) because it implied you came from a bloodline worth preserving? Idk. Just thoughts.
Exactly. And a bigger interesting nose is still considered beautiful today. Especially if your loved ones shared it. Big eyes? Yes. Low brow bone? Sultry! But it’s wrong to inbreed obviously in the end is just a form of Stockholm syndrome
I agree , no matter how abnormal it is now , the norms we assume is defined by us , and at that time the "norms" were different than nowadays standard
I think having someone else around to hall buckets of bath water also helped with the 'beauty' part of her appearance. Not to mention royals were probably not underfed like everyone else. Sweaty and rough looking skeletons are not pretty. It probably contributed to much of the belief that royals were chosen by god/s over the ages. A healthy person among the starved would look beautiful and 'blessed' in comparison. At least that's my theory...
Well ya, I mean back then the unibrow was the hottest in look. 😒
@@Kanelle88 Afaik the "slaves" that worked for for the egyptians, weren't actually slaves. They were workers and did not starve. They had a "better" life then a farmer for example.
(i'm not really sure, how accurate my information is)
Wow, her family tree was like a bowl of spaghetti. I've also heard that it's very possible Cleopatra's mother cheated on her father with someone outside the family lineage, and that's why she didn't have many deformities compared to those around her.
Like mother like daughter👍
LUCKY FOR HER CHILDREN THE INBRED BLOODLINE HAD TO STOP HER MOM MAY HAVE SEEN THAT.
If true, smart move on her part. Many speculate King Henry didn't put his last wife's head on the chopping block because she bore him a son. Most, however, speculate that she made trips to the wood pile lol.
Yes quite possibly.....I think they might have figured out the inbreeding wasn't such a good idea....alot of them 😉 so and so begat so and so and so on and so forth....but the way countries used to be....and family.....constantly murdering each other to rule....just surviving your family was obviously a bit of a miracle 😉
@@jayklink851 first off all, he didn’t kill his last wife. He killed his second and fifth wive. He let his second wife get killed bc he said she was sleeping with her brother and other men. Which is probably a lie. Nobody really believes it. He just wanted her out of the way bc he already found someone new to marry and wanted a son
Oh my..... I'm really going to have a chuckle to myself the next time someone claims to have been Cleopatra in a former life 😄😄
There are so many of them! 😆
Indeed 😂
I actually know someone like that-absolutely insane! I keep quiet...😐
She had a sucky life. Why would anyone WANT to be her?
😂
Sooo is this where the Disney movie Hercules got the quote from pain “the time all the boys were named Jason and all the girls were all named Brittany “ 😂 omg that makes it way more funnier
Nah Brittany was in saved by the bell or some other tv series from the 90s. That's the joke
Videos explaining Cleopatra's family tree always make me laugh, because Cleopatra didn't have a family tree: she had a family Christmas wreath 😂
Cleopatra Greek sounds about right because she was not light-skinned.
@@virginiaconway374 greeks are not dark skin people!!!! Go to Greece and look then speak!!!!
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I keep seeing the family wreath joke. The first person who made it must be proud.
Hahaha!
That is a lot of inbreeding. Very informative, a lot of people assume Cleopatra was Egyptian, but as you point out, she is from Greek kingdom, but even the ancient Egyptians married in the family, and Akenaten is a great example of what inbreeding does.
True, the Ptolemy dynasty was fanatical to only marry within their own family to keep their bloodline “pure.” As odd as it seems, this was common within the majority of ancient royal dynasties.
Regular ! Ancient Egyptians ! Did NOT Marry ? Their siblings ! Only Certain ! Pharaohs Did ! You are Making shit up !!!!!;🙄
A lot of people assume? What people? Cleopatra never had any Egyptian blood. Her surname was Philopator. Cheers.
MACEDONIAN GREEK WAS CLEOPATRA.
@@user-ru1ki She was a Philopractor? Interesting. My uncle was a Chiropractor.
😆 Sorry mate I HAD to go there
Cleopatra chose her younger son because her older son kept trying to kill her.
Her younger son assassinated her.
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Lmfao
I thought she died of snake poison as a form of suicide
@@Saral_Lekhi he's talking about the cleopatra mother the one who would be her great grandma i think, your talking about the last pharoh, and the last female pharoh the legendary Cleopatra the 7th,
@@Saral_Lekhi yes
You have to keep in mind also that Pharaohs weren't limited to just one wife.
The Great Royal Wife was the main wife (and was usually the Sibling of the Pharaoh) whose sons were automatically next in line, while the other wives were labeled as lesser wives whose sons essentially served as backups in case the Great Royal Wife either fails to birth sons or her sons die before their father.
The Great Royal Wife was the only one that was recorded in the dynasty's history, and it wasn't always her biological son that became the next Pharaoh.
Cleopatra was likely spared from the majority of the consequences that plagued incestuous dynasties solely because of this system.
That actually makes a whole lot of sense. Across human history, in many different civilisations around the world the theme of the “divine bloodline” has come up with power passing from parent to child. Pharaoh, King, Emperor. And what was common in all of these cultures? Concubines, lesser wives or harems.
It actually does seem that the royalty in these cultures figured out that inbreeding was bad, and figured out a system where they could claim the incestuous royal coup produced an heir, but if they couldn’t there were always the illegitimate children of the concubines that they could fall back on. Kinda clever now that I think about it.
Except that the previous pharaohs were married to multiple women simultaneously, while the Ptolemies were married to one woman at a time. True the Ptolemaic kings had mistresses, but no children from those unions ascended to the throne.
Ptolemy XIII have a mistress, but the son from that union (Ptolemy Apion) is denied royalty and were relegated as a ruler in one of the border provinces. Non inbred Ptolemies does exist, but they are not of royal blood and were never recorded to hold in line of succession. Ptolemy XII marrying his sisterwife's daughter is even a proof of this, as he maneuvered so the so called royal dynasty remain pure.
@@twarsdune You’re talking about Ptolemy VIII.
Normally I would say yes. However, I think that there were a lot of illegitimate children passed off as the pharaoh's. She spoke 6 languages and had a witty, captivating way of luring people in. She would not have been that smart if severely inbred. I think some of that was for show.
Not true , that she couldn’t have been that smart. Inbreeding brings out both the worst and best traits so it is quite possible that while you can inbreed a mentally deficient person you can also inbreed a genius
It is possible because Strabo said that Ptolemy IV was the son of Agathocleia, the mistress. The only confusing part is that Agathocleia was actually the mistress of Ptolemy IV and not his father, Ptolemy III. He could be trying to say that Ptolemy V was the son of Agathocleia considering that she and her family plotted and killed the Queen, Arsinoe III who is said to be the mother of Ptolemy V. However, Agathocleia was related to the Ptolemies.
not all inbred people have inbred illnesses or deformities. normally yes they do, but not always
@@porkpork2169 yeah, first generation inbreeding often doesn't result in the deformities especially if it's half siblings or first cousins. But successive generations? It becomes exponentially worse.
Makes one wonder if some of our politicians are inbred....
What a crazy mixed-up family. No way she could’ve looked like Elizabeth Taylor.
FACTS
Nobody looked like Elizabeth Taylor.
This lady was most likely incredibly hideous and most likely deformed with severe health issues!
Not only there's no way she could've look like Elizabeth Taylor but she's not really a beauty, she's really just plain.
@@zarwine7080 Facts though
I knew she wasn’t physically beautiful, but she was extremely intelligent, spoke several languages fluently and they said her voice was mesmerizing. She also knew the art of seduction.
A lot of people think that looks alone are what captivate, but charisma, personality and that IT factor is what truly attracts people.
First comes looks.. face it, she was busted
Or maybe just like her looks, her intelligence was also exaggerated
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I think the seduction part is male conjecture. It fits the patriarchy to paint Cleo as a seductress. Because a woman can't be succesful unless she seduces a man, right?😉Julius Ceasar didn't marry Cleo because she seduced him; it was political strategy. The two agreed that her brother was unfit to rule. And the only way to stop the Greek elite from standing in Cleo's way, was with Roman support. When Cleo married Julius, nobody challenged her claim to the Egyptian throne. Without Rome's backing, she would have been assassinated.Cleo ruled because she was the most capable. Julius Gaius did not become Ceasar because he was the kind of man who allowed a teenager to sweep him off his feet. And Cleo did not become Pharao because she was a good seductress. She was a highly capable, highly intelligent and a politically savvy, individual. Very practical, too. She was the only one in her family who recognised the importance of good PR; She spoke Egyptian, her family did'nt bother. She actively took part in religeous ceremonies for all the people to see. That is politics and mob-control. And that is what made Julius great in Rome when he became dictator: PR. the grand heroic general who rid Rome of the corrupt Republic and ensured 'strong' leadership. All smoke and mirrors and still he crossed the Rubicon.When he met Cleo, he must have thought:" now this is a political ally on my level. Plus I need her because of all the grain we import from Egypt. She is loved by her people. If I marry her; Egypt will see me as her consort instead of their dictator. While in Rome, they will see her as my conquest and subject instead of a separatist rebel. Win-win situation!"
EXACTLY. Men everywhere wanted her and she was average in comparison to queens of her time because physical beauty only goes so far, she had captivated men through her charm, intelligence and personality...THAT is what truly hooks a man long term.
It’s really amazing how easily people have breezed past how inbred she really was. Therefore this in that alone is one of the more insightful pieces I’ve seen on cleopatra. Sometimes we prefer our imaginations to reality.
Yep a LOT of people think they cheated on their spouse without Proof.
Cleopatra was inbred and so was monarch of European, they were all related they were all cousins
I think this whole debate ignores the fact that pharaohs had concubines. The only time it's mentioned is when it's said that it's possible Ptolemy XII's mother wasn't actually Cleopatra IV but was possibly a concubine. It's not acknowledged that even if a child was born of a concubine, their official mother was the First Wife on record, which is what we pull our history from. I think this occasional genetic influx from outside the gene pool is what kept them somewhat fertile over the years instead of solely producing sterile children or stillbirths.
what do you mean by first wife on record?
@@kaamn1829 lots of wives man
@@kaamn1829 it means officially, it was written that these kids belonged to the first wife. Even though the pharaoh's concubines gave birth to them.
Good point. AND the most logical argument imo.
Given all these political marriages they probably had the same view of marriage that so many aristocrats have had through the ages - that you marry for gain then can sleep with whoever you want
@@susie9893 DNA Tracing has shown that this was actually extremely rare, lol, women back in the ancient times were loyal! At least when it's time to have children to be honest.
Although she’s now more known for her beauty, originally there are accounts saying that she wasn’t actually that pretty at all and men probably fell in love with her due to her knowledge and wit.
And money, anthony and julius needed money for those wars
Now that would be a “ first “ , falling in love with her due to her knowledge and wit ! You can bet she was beautiful and witty !
@@susanandrew5240 it actually happens more often than you think. In Korea for example, high class prostitutes would be given a rigorous education and learn to play musical instruments like a high class woman would in order to stay engaged with their clients and not just be a pretty face to get bored of.
I refuse to believe Marc Anthony died because he wanted an ugly cleopatra. Marc Anthony was a Chad, so I don't want to believe that.
@@jabronis33 Marc Antony would be a chad 😂
They were a bunch of psychopaths. Marrying and killing each other.
Why would they think of it in that way? Like talking to a caveman about iPods.
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The English royal family still practice this incest stuff ,just need to look at them to see
@@ladyville3 Yup especially since in those days that's what they had to do to survive, nobody wanted to live in exile especially when they could live with everything pampered and lots of power not just political power either.
They were born into these powerful families and were raised by their parents to hold onto this power anyway they could they were also revered as closet human beings to god and gods,
even kings and queens in the royal english french spanish etc families they say kings(and therfor queens once king passed) are anointed by god, even if it was not true and they were picked by their marriages,bloodlines, and relatives/governments of power.
Because of what they believed and were told that thy were chosen by god they believed they could get away with things like killing each other and they could once they held onto power to make it go away, similar to how many rich people get away from long punishment sentences and even convictions alone just by the sheer amount of money they have which can buy them connections bribes and legal teams that none other without their money can do
Morality is is very fluid. So I wouldn’t call them psychos
You didn’t mention the reason they were inbreeding. Context: The reason the Ptolemy royals practiced incėst was, upon conquering Egypt and becoming pharaoh, Ptolemy I adopted Egyptian religious customs as instructed by the Egyptian priestly class, these customs included sibling marriages, something uncommon in Macedon. This was an Egyptian royal custom, perhaps common Egyptians also practiced some form of inbreeding, as first cousin-marriages are relatively common in present Egypt and also the countries of the near east today.
Beyond tradition for the sake of tradition though how did no-one seem to have a problem with it? It's inconceivable to me.
And this is why we have the Bible 😂
They marry cousins because Mohammad permitted it.
@@meganheinzle644 Where at least several cases of incest was mentioned! My favorite (!!!) is the one involving Lot and his own daughters!
@@muratcomert8030 yup.. a man who regretted his choice to live in Sodom, where he "vexed his righteous soul from day to day". Jesus spoke of future judgment coming suddenly as in the days of Lot, and warned solemnly, "Remember Lot's wife".. thanks to the Bible we are warned
It seems like ancient statues flattered the depicted ones and coins showed them unattractive. The truth lies probably in between: You can have prominent features and also be attractive. Cleopatra had so many enemies amongst the Romans that they would have held her bad looks against her if she really had them, but... they did not. However, Plutarch wrote: ""For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased..." So her appeal my have been a combination of "average attractiveness", education, wit, intelligence, charme, make-up, power and sexual aggressiveness.
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That would make sense
Yes I think that was it. She most likely had the “it” factor. In Mexico we have a word called Guapa, GUAPA is a woman who is attractive eventho she is not typically pretty. They know how to make themselves look attractive by the way they dress, speak, carry themselves with confidence, they usually have good hair & know how to style it, they work on their bodies & r skilled at makeup, perfume etc. Cleopatra considered herself a goddess so she dressed in a very beautiful and dramatic way, she adorned herself in gold and showed off her body. She made people believe she was more than just a mortal woman.
She also made everything around her beautiful & pleasurable- she transported people into a different world when they were with her- the best food, music, incense, soft rugs, pillows, dancers etc. she made her men feel special, like gods on earth & she was most likely very talented at sex. I think her sexual talents r a huge factor, especially if women in Rome were too religious & uptight at that time. In plain words Cesar & Marc Anthony were 😻 wooped! And she had youth, she was 22 when Cesar was around 50. That combination mixed with her intelligence was surely mesmerizing.
@@Sunflower-lv9iu really? Guapa in Spain means literally pretty!!
@@aliciadelsordo5511 yes, pretty is Bonita. Bonita is someone naturally pretty, beautiful features. Guapa can be pretty too I guess, but it means attractive more, if that makes sense. 😆
The ancients all lied about their own beauty, men and women.. just like we do today 🥴😂
Exactly! And when you look into transvestigation of celebrities, you see that the female version of "sexy" is a ten year old boy in drag (Taylor Swift). And we bought it!
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They would've loved filters 👌😅
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That ancient Instagram was not so complicated as Today
What's interesting is that in the ancient Egyptian perspective, marrying a sister/brother wasn't all that absurd, particularly for the pharaohs. The gods often married siblings (Shu+Tefnut, Geb+Nut, Osiris+Isis, Osiris+Nephthys, Nephthys+Set), and the royal line were supposed to be genetic descendants and/or reincarnations of the gods.
So all that inbreeding is just business as usual...
Yup, you can justify any behaviour (including incest) if you say your gods do it
I think it actually worked the other way round
As in, egyptian royalties wanted to inbreed and then fabricated the legends of how their gods practiced incest as well as defense mechanism.
Incest in Mythologies isnt that uncommon! Hell the Greek Gods did it too XDDD
@@runicspyder In the bible too. Lot and his daughters.
@@jensenhealey08 yep. He was raped by his daughters and he offered em up to be raped by sodom.
4:38 it's like the couldn't keep track of the number, and when they learned they skipped to 8, they decided to go back to 7 instead of going to 9. Lol
🤣
“Once her uncle-husband died” LMAO
They certainly weren't very creative at naming their kids, huh?
Just like Georgian royalty naming almost all their daughter's maria something
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@@emanuel-vw8rg Or George Forman naming all his five sons George!
Your name is Beth....😉
@@GullibleTarget Technically it's a nick name. But, sure.
Well.
You have to remember....
In Egypt, they used tons of makeup, including thick eyeliner, dark red lip color, dark, tightly curled or woven wigs, lots of beautiful jewelry, etc., so with enough makeup, she could have passed for pretty, or even somewhat attractive.
Some of the writings from the time, called her beautiful and charming.
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That is very true. I agree!
But there’s no way the make up was as good as what we are using today
I mean it must have looked very mask like
He'd know lmao. I think he discussed why she would be considered pretty at that time in the beginning itself.
I don't know why is it so hard to accept that those types of facial traits were just considered pretty at the time. People's general taste changes over time (I mean just compare the 90s and now!)
Wow 😯 what a mess! I knew Cleopatra married her brother but I really did not know anything about the rest of the family. Yikes 😬. You had me 😂 when you said Cleopatra might have been thought of as a beauty because her deformities may have been better when compared to others. Thank you for a great job covering this.
Beauty properganda after her death, brains diplomacy intelligence and battle strategy and architecture building designs were her talents.
I don't think that's it. She went to Rome, and the Romans detested her and called her all kinds of names. Had she been deformed they would have said so. I think it may be a situation like that of the Hawaiian royal family. They too practiced brother/sister marriage and uncle/niece marriage. The defective offspring were thrown into the volcanoes as offerings to the gods. Only the ones who looked normal were kept. Bad dog breeders do the same, to be able to sell the puppies. Of course, some defects can't be seen, bad hips being a prime example
@@pliny8308 are you serious? The Egyptians don’t have volcanoes.
@@ataventurine7515 Pliny 830 was talking about Hawaii with regards to volcanoes.
@@ataventurine7515 Hawaiian royal family.
The killing off everybody and then marrying each others sisters brothers cousins daughters fathers whatever is just insane.
This is simply monstrous, how was possible that no one tought of these unions as insane (at the best!).
After all there was a reason for all these pharao's dynasties, they were so inbreeded that in few generations went extinct...and then another one repeated the cycle
Could not agree with you more!
I think it had to do with the idea that pharaohs were gods, and therefore couldn’t marry regular people. And there was no way to understand genetics as it is now understood. I also wonder if any physical characteristics and/or disabilities that we now to be signs of incest would never have been pointed out as negative or problematic simply because no one dared insinuate there was anything wrong with them.
They would have known that inbreeding caused horrible problems in animals, so it wouldn’t have been from a lack of information.
However, if they were anything like the European royal family, also inbred (though not to this horrifying degree), they believed that they were different from commoners, as God made them “special,” and set them apart to rule. They probably assumed that God would also protect them from any negative results that might happen if they had “only” been commoners.
It’s just so creepy!!
I think around that time or years before the Hebrews were one of the few in that surrounding Mediterranean area to teach against incest and other harmful practices, hence why up to today why people believe the ten commandments and the other laws they were given are truly from God
@ Alessio De Carolis it is unfair to judge these ancients by modern knowledge and ethics. There is no doubt that if the tolls were reversed they would be horrified at our lack of understanding in engineering and our societal norms.
I doubt Cleopatra was ugly or looked deformed. She lured both Julius Caesar and Marcus Antony to her bed and had kids with them. She was likely exotic-looking and knew how to use her body and personality. She was intelligent and knew how to manipulate.
UNLESS she had that GYAT
Girlboss
The Romans thought a unibrow was beautiful.
@midnightkitty7
Egypt y'all can have ugly Cleopatra let's be clear Ancient Egypt was pure African people not Egyptian and Mediterranean dark 🌑 skin bs 💯 true facts
There weren’t any cameras or paintings in those times. Everything was carved in stone. I’m sure an insecure man created this.
I got a headache trying to rember all that, sir you have my respect for memorizing that treacherous grapevine of a family lineage👏
Thank you
Like a rootbound plant that circles and circles around the pot.
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LOL not a grapevine its a string with nothing coming from it at all.
No joke, right?!
Usually coins and things are an idealized version of the person. So according to her coin she looks worse than the coin and the coin looks pretty bad!
Let's see your coin!
@@annewilson9301 and they got Charles 🤢
Ur jelly,she was gorgeous,like Camila cabello
Jelly 😂 she was a natural beauty
They masculanised her face on purpose. She could have been pretty. But didn't have her artists make her that way
The fact that media that I grew up with didn’t specify how screwed up Cleo’s family tree is and how I somehow never knew she had ancestors she was named after is crazy
This is why it's important to read books.
@@stephaniefogelvik4756 or schools should just include information like this (when teaching ancient egypt) because it’s interesting. although please tell me the name of a book that talks about this stuff? 😅 mhm yea.
The Berlin Cleopatra is - like most ancient busts - an idealized depiction of Cleopatra. Look at statues of Gaius Iulius Caesar and Octavian/Augustus: Caesar didn't have the physique of a teenager at fifty and Augustus didn't have the body of a body builder with a sixpack. Same goes btw for Egyptian portrayals of Pharaohs, those depictions were also idealized, one notable exception though are statues by Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) which depict him with a beer belly and a postural defect.
Calling the Ptolemy family tree Spaghetti is a bit too generous, it looks more like a Pancake
Funnel cake
The family stump.
Scrambled eggs
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There's a crazy broad that calls in to George Noory every so often talking about how she was Cleopatra in a past life and knows everything Cleopatra knew. I just want one caller or guest to ask her "which Cleopatra were you"? That would be a priceless meltdown to behold.
Or ask her “Do you remember marrying your brother?” 😂
I think Art Bell might’ve asked that if he had the patience not to hang up on her😂
When your family tree is only the trunk of a tree.
You just won the internet with that comment. 👍
I'm down 😂😂😂
😂
😂
exactly...because there was no branching out 🤭
This was brilliantly explained and visualized
Oh wow that was an incredibly helpful visual - thank you!
Side note, children often weren’t /actually/ those of siblingspouses, but just passed off as such for like uh, sacred dynastical reasons. Basically, they knew repeated inbreeding was bad, but it was tradition, so the royals found a workaround to appease the people whilst avoiding what would inevitably be death to a line otherwise.
so probably having harems was a good justification back then. I can't believe how those people survived inbreeding
Spot on.
So it's quite possible these family trees are effectively forgeries. Mistresses have been a long tradition of royalty and I wouldn't be the least shocked if many of these marriages had outside genetics brought into the mix. Why it was tradition to in-breed remains a mystery, but surely it's an archaic notion, that obviously lacked any scientific merit. This idea that royal blood was "divine".
That makes sense. While listening, I thought it seemed infeasible that the offspring were normal with so much inbreeding!
This is just not true. Incest does NOT guarantee offspring are defermed. The Ptolemies were all lunatics and many members are believed to have suffered from genetic diseases. The Ptolemies were that inbred and many were also totally functional as happens in real life.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and personality attract much more. She was an incredible leader for her time.
Damn that was so complicated. So much drama and literal back-stabbing in that family
And you think that your family is bad 😐
@@lohaye3260 Man 😂😂😂
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Well inbred or not Cleopatra was both extremely bright and said to be very charming. She was very well educated by male standards, being a polyglot as well as a known mathematician. It probably also helped that she was Queen of the bread basket of the world at that time.
Things haven’t changed that much in those lands. From Morocco to Pakistan they still marry their cousins over and over again, to keep their belongings and lands in “family” hands. Remember most marriages are arranged by the parents and it looks more like a comercial transaction
Sometimes cousins look nothing alike? Depends right…Hopefully if luck would have it.
I think that is just a prejudiced stereotype your trying to perpetuate. I'm fairly sure it is not illegal to have a sexual relationship with your sibling in the U.S.A
@@stealthwarrior5768 it is illegal in most states, there's laws against incest. Also, thats not just a stereotype in Pakistan, it's a way of life and i know first hand it is. My mom became friends with a guy from there who was forced to marry his 16 year old cousin, they had babies and everything.
@@stealthwarrior5768 In Pakistan, incestuous marriages makes up more than 50% of the married populace. It's also seen in the Pakistani diaspora abroad - like in the UK. Unfortunately it's somewhat true, rather than prejudice.
I guess the question “I wonder if the baby will look more like the mothers or more like the fathers side” was a question never asked nor needed in THAT family 🤣🤣🤣
You managed to describe and show the lineage so well. What you do is amazing. I love the characters coming to life. I'm in Scotland, you should do a bit of Scottish history.
Yes to examining Scottish history!
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Remember all this when you decide on a Cleopatra costume for Halloween… If you aren’t so inbred that your mom’s your sister and your dad’s your uncle, you can’t pull it off 😂
Paganini...I want to see a full body recreation of Paganini. I asked about it in another video but they only did the bust. I have a grim curiosity to see how his unusually long bones and unique physical appearance would come out! Contemporaries wrote about how he was strange looking...they even thought he was demon possessed! Show us what he really looked like, pretty please? =))
I don't know much about him, but when you say "long boned" I'm wondering if he had Marfan Syndrome? People with Marfan Syndrome often have unusual facial features, so that would be interesting to see his likeness.
@@nisaba5752 Exactly! I couldn't remember Marfans...so my big fancy thesaurus helped me to pick out something easier lol!
@@VideoSaySo like Lincoln?
@@patriciarose9532 Very much so!
@@nisaba5752 You took the words from my mouth! I read the words "long bones," my mind leaps to "Marfan's syndrome"!
Excellently done - thank you for putting this together. It's interesting/horrifying to know the extent with which some families went to ensure their power.
Look at royal family of England...Europe.
Their blood is different. They are the tares. They get to be royal, rich, famous, etc. in this Second Earth Age. Then it is over for them. (There are three Earth Ages. 2Peter, Ch. 3) They cannot mix with God's own.
@@Waverlyw
Huh?
I don't think you know what you're talking about in any way. 🤣
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Unlike Charles II, Cleopatra still managed to bump and grin with Roman generals and have children with them, while also being very intelligent and well knowledge in military strategy and knew many languages. Charles II wasn't able to speak clearly in his own language muchless speak in that of other languages. Which makes you question does the extra X chromosome protect women from the imbecile side of being inbred-ed? 🤔 I read that the extra X chromosome protected females from various diseases and disorders which plagued males more often. Cleopatra also goes to show that when you have family members who educate and expose you to certain information you manage to pick it up, especially when exposed at a young age, despite learning disabilities and inbreding negative side effects. Charles II of Spain had no luck. He was basically manipulated and isolated since infancy. Had he been taught by patience caring teachers, he too would've learned over 7 different languages and been a great Spanish leader. Properly would've adopted kids from noble families as his own, since he couldn't have his own children, but saved the Habsberg dynasty by adopting nephews, nieces or younger cousins to be his children, avoiding the harsh wars and battles after his death and continued the Habsberg dynasty through adoptions. Unfortunately, his education was piss poor. Cleopatra in that sense was super lucky to have family and tutors who cared for her and that she wanted to learn. That makes a huge difference.
Yeah. Also maybe she wasn't a drooling mouth breather.
That’s an interesting thought🤔. The Habsburg women did have some jaws, not as severe, but they seemed to have escaped the worst of the problems.
It's not an "extra" X chromosome. One of them comes from Mom and one of them comes from Dad and there are no guarantees either way.
Yes the X is protective against many genetic diseases, women often carry them but are not affected physically by them = the Y chromosome is a faulty X.
I think you might be on to something here, because I had read somewhere that Charles II's sister had a slight Habsburg chin, but other than that wasn't too awfully affected by their inbreeding. By this time I'm pretty sure they were getting close to understanding that the inbreeding was an issue, but still married her off to a family member! So I guess I'm the end they didn't care about anything but keeping the money and power in the family. Idk why, because you don't take it with you when you go, or at least for the Egyptian pharoahs they had some belief in taking their riches with them and needing them in the afterlife. So k guess I could understand from their point of view keeping it in the family, but still their offspring should have been important to them. That's just human nature!
I think people were required to say she was beautiful. She was a ruler.
They were scared to death of losing the throne so they married children and cousins and whatnot.
0:51 “perhaps she was beautiful in comparison to everyone around her who might have looked even more out of sort “
End of video for me 😂🙌🏽
I feel like nicknames would have been used heavily in this family, considering every male is named Ptolemy and all the girls are Bernice, Arsinoe, or Cleopatra.
There were; Ptolemy Soter (Savior), Ptolemy Philadelphos (Brother Loving), Ptolemy Ceraunos (Lightning Bolt), etc...
Or maybe that's why they liked to kill of each other so they would be the only one remaining Ptelomy/ Cleopatra in the generation lol
Yes, the one everyone knows is Cleopatra VIIth Philopator.
Egyptian Goodfellas wedding scene.
Cleopatra’s catchphrase was - “Hey, you guys!!!!!”
i always think, what's the difference between how the ancient rich people pretend to be pretty in sculptures and paintings - to how celebrities lie about their own beauty... and i also think that wedding in the family may still be prevalent in highly rich families. thank you for another interesting vid. you are lovely and talented
Megan and Harry are distant cousins…
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learning Cleopatra WASN'T beautiful is definitely one of the most shocking things I've learned. Movies and TV always make her out to be this rare beauty, so much so that Elizabeth Taylor, one of THE most beautiful women to ever live, played her in a movie.
She might have actually been beautiful though. She is often described as more Egyptian looking, so she might have been a result of infidelity between her mother and an Egyptian man. Infidelity may even have happened in several generations, which Cleopatra may or may not have had more genetics from. And therefore much less affected by the inbreeding.
@@HereIAm247 more likely she was just average
@@HereIAm247 nah the coin is the most accurate portrayal of her she looks full greek and her dna is full greek with some persian thats all.
@@Laila-hl8dc coins are often propaganda. The best evidence we have are Roman busts
Well, they won't chose someone ugly
"She wasn't too impressed that her eldest son tried to assassinate her..." LMAO. This stuff is gold!
No, it was her brother who tried to assassinate her!
Cleopatra most likely had reddish hair, as painted on a Pompeii wall, and possibly more beautiful, and highly intelligent!
Yay! Was really hoping you'd cover Cleopatra!
Cleopatra's family tree:
"How many Ptolemy's would you like?"
Family tree: "Yes"
Only a face a mother could love. In her case, a brother
Cleopatra may have been inbred but she was attractive during the time. People talked about her even today. Her beauty was legendary....that could not been made up!!!
Babes...legend is different from reality and looking a the logistics of her bloodline and family tree, it leans more to her being abnormal looking due to all the inbreeding. Look at current long term inbreeding cases in our modern world and you will see how the children come out looking. I’m surprised Cleopatra was capable of even walking properly or breathing cause most often have internal defects as well.
I don’t think she looked that bad. Obviously not as stunning as some accounts but I bet anything the Romans REALLY tried to make her look awful.
Well, of course you don't. Because all women are beautiful, right? Smdh
Yeah she just looks average.
@@ACS402010 She never said all women are beautiful, weirdo.
I can see why she was considered beautiful- because she is very similar to Sophia Loren who was very beautiful.
What really exasperated me about these old royal families is the repetitive names! Even in the British royal family, they keep using the same names over and over again! I get it that they want to emulate their elder kin but really, if your brother is already a Ptolemy, why name you Ptolemy as well? Thank God they don't do this anymore. The more unique the name, the better.
Imagine the fanaticism these people had to cope and believing this "tradition" of marrying their sister or continuing some royal bloodline. Using the same regnal name probably would helped them psychologically to enforce that ideals since their identity is always those of their bloodline. Its like a cult.
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Inbreeding hampers creativity.
The royal family of England still chose William and Henry ( calls himself Harry) because they are traditional royal names.
@@stealthwarrior5768 : True, but there isn't another William or Henry/Harry in the British royal family currently. There are two Edwards (Wessex and Kent), but no two of the present Queen's descendants have the same name. This is very unlike for example Queen Victoria, whose descendants include her daughter Princess Victoria and her granddaughters Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, Victoria Melita, Helena Victoria, and Victoria Eugenie (of Prussia, Wales, Hesse, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, and Battenberg respectively).
That was so wild but I finally understand the family dynamic!!!!! Thank you.
Without a doubt, this is the most accurate depiction of Cleopatra to date.
And she wasn't black like WOKEflix's " historical documentary " claims! I REALLY hope the Egyptian government wins that 2 billion dollar lawsuit! We Greeks should have sued them as well!
As far as cleopatra goes, have you seen how makeup makes such a difference? Huge difference. She may have been stunning with makeup on.
No amount of makeup can fix an actually ugly face.
@@SummerRocks50 Yes, it can! Most of the women considered beautiful now, look like crap without it. Why do you think it is a billion dollar industry
Nah she was a natural beauty,jelly?
@@annewilson9301 most beautiful women are plain without makeup 🙄
@@annewilson9301 😂🤣
"We Kangz, we saw, we looted"
- Julius Tyrone and shieet
This family tree is horrible. Thank you for the video
I am a history afficiando so of course I LOVE your channel! You bring people to life AND provide an interesting history lesson! Thank you so much for all your work and for sharing it on this channel.
There was a contemporary painting of her made after she committed suicide commissioned by Octavian. The artist was the same one that done a painting of Cleopatra with Mark Anthony when they were alive. The painting commissioned by Octavian was destroyed in WWI but descriptions of it survive. She had red hair.
There is also Herculaneum portrait that survived having auburn or reddish hair... that would make her pale too, as that's how redheads work. This ALSO doesn't mean she was 100% European either, as Middle Eastern and North African people can have red hair, it's just more rare than, say, in Scotland... when it comes with ancient dynasties, take their family trees with a huge grain of salt. It's unknown who was Cleo's mother and her paternal grandma was likely from Syria. But we don't have the bloodlines of mistresses and every random pharaohs lover.
"We wuz kangs too" - some ginger freak
This is untrue. There are no records of there ever being any paintings done of Cleopatra while she lived, the oldest known painting is the Herculaneum portrait that was made decades after her death.
After Augustus ascended to Princeps, he spent a lot of time trying (futilely) to erase Antony from Roman history. It's unlikely he would have wasted effort commissioning work by Antony's similarly traitorous lover (regardless of the history she had with Caesar). Especially unlikely considering her parading of Cessarion.
Furthermore, photography existed well before WW1. If such a painting had been destroyed by this time, it's likely there'd be photographic evidence of it.
@@RainyCityVibe Surely she would have had paintings of her done in Egypt though?
Usually when one group conquers another, they start marrying into the royalty/nobles of the conquered group as it helps to establish connections to their new subjects and a sense of legitimacy. I don't get why these Macedonian new rulers didn't start injecting some actual Egyptian (or other north African) noble blood into their family line. I don't even think the former (actual) Egyptian rulers did this much inbreeding! The Ptolemys heard stories of the former pharoahs marrying their siblings, and said "Yes, please!"
The former rulers did a lot of it too and actually had mothers and fathers married to their sons and daughters. I think they adopted the culture quite rapidly.
Actually in ancient Egyptian culture it was actually really normal for the royalty practice incest. The Ptolemaic just adopted that part of Egyptian culture
@@akirafudo4419 Oh, I know the ancient Egyptians did it. It just seems like the Ptolemys really dove into that particular "perk" of being an Egyptian royal and took it to another level.
@@vbrown6445 actually this form of incest was normal for the royal dynasties. The Ptolemy were just doing what all the other dynasties did. Sibling marriages or even parents marrying kids was normal
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Good Gosh !!!! How do you unravel such a complicated family tree??? And then you explain it all without missing a beat. Amazing 🙃🙃🙃
there’s so many ptolemys and cleopatras, imagine calling one of them and a ton come
Records say she was not a great beauty but still attractive and her personality made her more so. I don’t think powerful men like Caesar and Mark Anthony who had their pick of women would have fallen under her spell if she had been deformed in some way.
She resembles Sophia Loren, who is super beautiful.
They weren't dating her because she was beautiful. They were dating her to better control Egypt, despite her ugliness. Real life isn't a Hollywood movie.
This channel is superb and also very underrated. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into each and every video, it must take hours upon hours of work to bring all the historic people to life, I very much appreciate all you do. Thanks again and sending love to you from Australia 👍✌️🙏❤️
Wow! With all the familial slaughter, Cleopatra's family tree makes King Tut's family tree look wholesome by comparison!
Just subscribed after watching the video on Queen Elizabeth 1- very good channel. Awesome narration and I love your animation of the photos you make. Really enjoy your content and will continue to watch.
No you’re all wrong. Netflix say she is black now 😂
if her mother actually really was an outsider, it would explain how she was not just relatively normal looking, but crazy smart, too
Her mother wasnt an outsider. The Ptolemies were racist as hell. Greek greek greek was all they portrayed themselves. Nobody accused her of being illegitimate until 2 centuries after she died. If she was, this would have been used against her during her life time. If anything Cleopatra VIII strategically eradicated her mother from the records after the year of her birth to make it seem as though her younger siblings were illegitimate.
@@jamiemohan2049 Exactly; her family ‘pure blood’ pedigree was her claim to the throne. Wild tales always start down the road. We have a segment now trying to claim England’s King James I was black - despite the plethora of caucasian man with reddish hair portraits he left behind.
If Cleo wasn't a full blooded Greek then Augustus would've made sure the whole Mediterranean knew.
@@JaredBared good point
@@jamiemohan2049 An outsider doesn't necessarily mean non-Greek.
Great video with lots of information. JUST INSANE!!!
I think this makes her even more fascinating as a woman. Her charm, charisma and intelligence is what got her very far.
Exactly.
And her status
Lol
No, it was literally just her families status
you must be one of those who DEMAND TWAT EMPOWERMENT and associate it with just about anything! lol
Excellent video! Clearly describes Cleopatra VII's very muddled family tree. Concise and well presented!
One issue I would hesitate to accept is you generated an image of Cleopatra VII that appears physically deformed. I believe this is unlikely.
The Berlin bust you display of her was done while she was alive and living at Rome and although it does not show a raving beauty by any means there is no physical signs of deformity visible. You mentioned the nose and the chin. Being Greek myself I can tell you those are very standard Greek features. I have a cousin who could have passed for her sister at the same age. Further she was not well loved by Caesar's enemies at Rome who would have been eager to mention any "flaws" that Cleopatra displayed. There is no mention of this in Roman writings of the time. This would suggest that whatever issues Cleopatra VII had do to her incredibly inbred family tree they do not seem to have manifested themselves in visible deformity although I see it as very likely she and her siblings had plenty.
Whoa. I didn’t know there were six other Cleopatras! I know my cousins’ grandchildren. I think everyone should know as many generations of relatives as possible to avoid marrying in the family. It is disturbing and disgusting.
Synthesis: "A whole genealogical tree formed by killers & entire family members irresistibly attracted by incest"
Surprising how the myth arose that Cleopatra was a beauty!
The human race is quite gross
Was no myth
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In reality she was probably average and looked beautiful when wearing wigs, jewelry and makeup.
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Kudos to you for keeping all those Cleopatras straight!! Wow!
It's amazing that any of them lived with so much inbreeding. Yuk!
MORE THAN LIKELY I REAL ONE MOTHER MAY HAVE CHEATED,
That was a wild ride
“If your family tree doesn’t fork, you might be a redneck” Jeff Foxworthy