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Were Ancient Egyptians Black or White? Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra has revived a century-old controversy

Were Ancient Egyptians Black or White? Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra has revived a century-old controversy

"I announce on this day to the media that Cleopatra was not black. Cleopatra was Greek, similar to the queens and princesses of Macedonia. If we look at the scenes in the Egyptian temples, we can see that the pharaohs are depicted and in front of them were Nubian, Libyan, and Asian captives, the king is always completely different from all of them. I am not against black people at all, but here I am just listing the evidence that Cleopatra was not black," renowned Egyptian archaeologist and former Minister of Antiques, Zahi Hawass, wrote on his Facebook page after…
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Queen Cleopatra: experts save this poorly scripted Netflix docuseries

Queen Cleopatra: experts save this poorly scripted Netflix docuseries

THE trailer for Netflix’s new four-part documentary series, Queen Cleopatra, was deliberately provocative. Promoting the show as executive produced by actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, it prominently featured historian Professor Shelley Haley declaring that: “Cleopatra was black.” https://www.youtube.com/embed/IktHcPyNlv4 The controversy-inciting trailer for Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the trailer is pure clickbait. The show itself is a much more complex piece of work. There are two ways to watch Queen Cleopatra. The first – and easiest – is by paying more attention to the dramatisation of Cleopatra’s life and times than to the academic talking heads. The second is to do the…
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