QUEEN CLEOPATRA: Former Egyptian Antiquites Minister blasts new Netflix series – “Cleopatra was Greek”

Reactions against the blackwashing of Queen Cleopatra has not subsided following the release of the trailer for the second season of the Netflix documentary series, “African Queens”, signed as executive producer by Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of actor Will Smith.

The new four-part dramatised docu-series, Queen Cleopatra, premiering on the platform on May 10, chronicles the life of Cleopatra VII, the Greek queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC. who, however, is portrayed in the series by the young black actress, Adele James.

The trailer mentions that Cleopatra belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I, a general of Alexander the Great, who was appointed supreme ruler of Egypt after Alexander’s death in 323 BC.

But the trailer also has someone stating: “I remember my grandmother telling me, I don’t care what they teach you in school, Cleopatra was black.”

The former Minister of Antiquities of Egypt, Zahi Hawass spoke of falsification of data, noting that “Cleopatra was Greek, which means she was light-skinned, not black.”

Hawass commented that the documentary series has sparked backlash in Greece and Egypt due to its portrayal of the Ptolemaic queen with black skin, adding, “This is completely fake.”

With the conquest of Egypt in 332 BC. from Alexander – who is accepted as its liberator from the Persian yoke – but also his successors (Macedonian dynasty 332-304 BC and Ptolemaic dynasty, 304-30 BC), the country passes into a new era, the Hellenistic (332-30 BC).

This period is characterised in the religion and art of Greek and Egyptian culture and the creation of a mixed style. The Ptolemies elevated Alexandria to the most prominent metropolis of the Greek-speaking world.

Three scripts were in use: Greek, Ancient Egyptian, and Hieroglyphics.

Cleopatra VII Philopator, last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt -since after her reign, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire-, was the daughter of the Egyptian king Ptolemy XIV Philopator.

On the Tudum site of Netflix, it is mentioned among other things about the documentary, regarding the choice of the actress: “During the time of her reign, Egypt’s population was multicultural and multiracial. Cleopatra’s race was unlikely to be documented, and the identities of her mother and paternal grandparents weren’t known. Some speculate she was a native Egyptian woman while others say she was Greek.”

This is obviously a complete fallacy.

Reactions on social media were intense over the weekend. TikTok user Jianna Ewuresi commented in a video “this is NOT the black representation i wanted or needed.”