Source: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty
After it was announced that Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie have reportedly been competing for the role of Cleopatra in the Egyptian Queen’s upcoming biopic, all hell broke loose on the innanets. The question plaguing folks’ minds?…Why isn’t Cleopatra being played by a woman with some melanin? After all, there is some evidence pointing to the fact that she could have been biracial.
Once the debate began, Twitter’s best Egyptologists broke out their history books, with some claiming that it was more likely Cleopatra was of fully Grecian decent, while others brought out evidence pointing to the fact that Cleopatra’s mom was African.
“It has been suggested–although generally not by credible scholarly sources–that Cleopatra was racially black African. To be blunt,there is absolutely no evidence for this,yet it is one of those issues that seems to take on a life of its own despite all indication to the contrary,” @elmalquerer tweeted. “The best evidence is that she was three-quarters Macedonian Greek and one-quarter Egyptian. There is no room for anything else, certainly not for any black African blood.”
Source: John Rainford/WENN / WENN
Another Twitter scholar tweeted some knowledge about a skeleton believed to be Cleopatra’s sister, bringing up the argument that it’s quite possible the Queen had some African blood.
“In 2009, a team of archaeologists found the remains of a woman they believed to be Princess Arsinoe, Cleopatra’s sister. The researchers believe Arsinoe’s remains, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother (also likely Cleopatra’s) was African,” @amnimal_lb tweeted. “’That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra’s family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe,’ Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who made the discovery, said at the time.”
With all the possibilities that she was mixed with this or that, Cleopatra probably didn’t look like Gaga or Angelina Jolie…and someone with some color could be more historically accurate. See what else people had to say on the viral topic below and let us know if you’re down for a new Cleopatra biopic.
“saw some tweets talking about a Cleopatra movie (I assume Cleopatra VII) and if you’re worried about accuracy she should probably be played by an Eastern Mediterranean performer, no?” – @kylegodbey
“If you ever saw Angelina Jolie play Olympias in the movie Alexander then you’ll know why she’d be the perfect choice to play Cleopatra. And that’s that on that.” – @VCHEUBA
“Can we just not make another adaption of cleopatra” – @AmburgerBear
Twitter Debates Cleopatra’s Ancestry As Lady Gaga & Angelina Jolie Reportedly Compete To Play The Queen was originally published on globalgrind.com
