The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities explained yesterday Thursday that Cleopatra had “white skin and Hellenistic features.” The controversy sparked by a Netflix documentary that depicts a queen with a famous beauty as black.

The drama documentary series Queen Cleopatra, produced by Jada Pinkett Smith and starring Adele James, is expected to premiere on the platform May 10.

“As the last Egyptian pharaoh, Cleopatra struggles to defend her throne, her family and her legend in this dramatized documentary featuring reenactments and interviews with experts,” Netflix notes in its new production release.

“Cleopatra with white skin and Hellenistic features”

However, even before its premiere, “Queen Cleopatra” caused a strong reaction.

An online campaign accusing the production of “rewriting history” has already garnered 40,000 signatures.

There have already been calls to ban Netflix in the country due to offensive content, and now MP Sabura al-Sayed is raising the issue again, asking parliament to suspend the platform.

The ministry returned yesterday with a lengthy statement, which included statements by several experts who agreed that “Cleopatra had white skin and Hellenistic features”.

“The reliefs and statues of Queen Cleopatra are the best evidence,” the ad says, punctuated by images depicting Cleopatra with European features.

For Mostafa Waziri, head of the High Council of Antiquities, the image of the famous queen in black is nothing more than “falsification of Egyptian history”.

According to him, there is nothing racist in the point of view aimed at “defending the story of Queen Cleopatra, a great chapter in the history of ancient Egypt.”

“Opposition is an anachronism”

Experts and analysts in Egypt often denounce campaigns led by mostly African-American groups claiming the origins of Egyptian culture.

“Why not Cleopatra melampsi?Queen Cleopatra director Tina Garani asked Variety last week. “Why do some people want Cleopatra to be white? Its affinity for whiteness seems to give it value, and for some Egyptians, that means a lot,” she said.

Some historians say that such feuds are unhistorical, as both sides support modern views of race and views on how the idea of ​​race was perceived in antiquity.

“Questions about whether someone was ‘black’ or ‘white’ are anachronistic and speak more about contemporary political investments than about trying to understand antiquity in its own terms,” ​​said Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Denison.

Source: Guardian