The world is speaking about the new discovery of the Austrian Egyptologists : The missing sister of Cleopatra whom she killed. To be honest I did not know that Cleopatra had a sister despite I always hear in our Egyptian 1960s comedy films the term “Cleopatra’s nephew” or to be accurate “The son of Cleopatra’s sister” , I do not 
I know about Cleopatra’s brother and I am not surprised that she killed her sister.“Cleopatra was a politician,a ruler seeking the throne of the Great Egypt of that ancient time, through her life time she showed how far she would go to keep this throne for herself”
Of course now the debate is not about whether the beautiful Cleopatra had killed her sister or not despite I believe so. The debate is about whether Cleopatra and her sister were Europeans or Africans , the old debate about whether Cleopatra was black or not. The Austrian Egyptologists reached out that Cleopatra’s mother was African ,I assume they mean by that she was an Egyptian,well I studied in our poor history books that the Ptolemaic dynasty married Egyptian women and worshiped the Egyptian Gods , in other words they settled down in Egypt to become Egyptians. I do not know what the big fuss is !!
I think all the world spoke about this matter except us , I believe from that reconstructed 3D photo of Arsinoe that they were Egyptians and that’s enough. This is an image of a beautiful attractive Egyptian woman. We , Egyptians are the product of different ethnics from all over the ancient world. I see the face of Arsinoe in the street now.
Saying that Cleopatra was black won’t give back the Africans their stolen rights from the west because whether she was White or Black ; Cleopatra was discriminated by the Roman historians who defamed her history making her like a slut from the East that was fond of Italian men !!
Cleopatra and Arsino were North African Egyptians with Greek roots ,they would look from 1000 years how we look in Egypt now.
I hate this ill debate about the origin of the Egyptians and who we can consider Egyptian based on skin colour or religion or ethnicity. I know it is a big topic and that currently this ill talk is finding its way in Egypt , it always finds its way when Egypt is fragile and Egyptians are somehow like the lost in the desert. May be I will discuss this topic one day !!
Till then I would like to say whether Cleopatra was blonde or black or just a smart brunette ,she was an Egyptian.
In the end I am curious to know the fate of Cleopatra’s nephew !!
Egyptians never say they are African. In fact, they get quite upset and will yell and scream at anyone who says otherwise. They say, instead, the are "EGYPTIAN". Which they believe to be a race unto itself.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Egypt was and is still open country and nation to all races was and is still a bless and curse at the same time. Even in the South of Egypt you will find Arabs tribes that are proud of their ancestry
ReplyDeleteThat sense of belonging unfortunately is either weakened or forced by the ruling party in Egypt
It was strong in time of Nasser and yet weak now in time of Mubarak.