Was Cleopatra just a sex kitten whose love affairs rocked the Roman world or a canny politician whose wily schemes saved Egypt? ...

"She was a very calculating queen, using her femininity to gain the privileges of men," said the exhibition's curator, Susan Walker of the British Museum in London.

When Cleopatra became queen in 51 BC at the age of 18, Egypt was ripe for a takeover by Rome.

Seducing Rome's rising stars, bearing their children, Cleopatra clung to power for nearly two decades, until Octavian (the future Augustus) conquered Egypt in 30 BC...

The exhibit [was] at Palazzo Ruspoli through February 25, the British Museum from April to August 2001, and the Field Museum from October 2001 to March 2002...

Cleopatra: sex kitten or catty politician?, Sapa-AP via The Independent Online, South Africa, October 11, 2000.

"A tomb dating back to the era of King Akhenaten in Pharaonic Egypt had been discovered" Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni carried the good news Wednesday.

The tomb belongs to the holder of the divine seal, "Ptah Em Waya", said Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass, noting that it was the most important discovery in the area of Saqqara...

A Dutch mission unearthed the tomb in excavations around Saqqara, Dr. Hawass added.

... the adobe tomb has an open yard and is surrounded by columns.

It has three compartments and limestone walls with scenes representing the deceased and the offerings presented to him.

Tomb from Akhenaton era discovered, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, February 15, 2007.

Previously:

Dutch team finds 'heretic Pharaoh' era tomb in Egypt, February 14, 2007.

Picture: Dutch team finds 'heretic Pharaoh' era tomb in Egypt, February 14, 2007.

Dutch excavations at Saqqara, February 15, 2007.

Egypt's Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni here Thursday dismissed as baseless reports that UNESCO had warned [that it would] strike off some Egyptian monuments from world heritage [list]...

Echoing Hosni's remarks, Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said there was complete cooperation between his council and UNESCO in the archaeological domain.

He denied that UNESCO might have warned [that it would] remove some Egyptian monuments from the global heritage list, noting that the SCA and the Ministry of Culture were taking all necessary arrangements to safeguard Egypt's archaeological sites...

Egypt dismisses UNESCO warning against its relics, Kuwait News Agency, Kuwait, February 15, 2007.

I just remembered that the Dutch team have a digging diary online which can be found here.

Saqqara Online: Digging Diary 2007, select What's New and click Digging Diaries.

Previously:

Dutch team finds 'heretic Pharaoh' era tomb in Egypt, February 14, 2007.

Picture: Dutch team finds 'heretic Pharaoh' era tomb in Egypt, February 14, 2007.

Many thanks to Jo Cogan for sending me these two commentaries on the Cleopatra was ugly debate from The Times.

Was Cleopatra beautiful?

When classicists get their teeth into these coins they usually have more interesting questions to ask than simply "was she really pretty or not?" . One question is how far such tiny images are life-like anyway (compare our own queen — she never ever looked like the chocolate-box teenager which was until recently her standard coin portrait). Another is how far even full-sized Roman portraits can be taken as "drawn from life". Another is what kind of conventions were at play in the ancient world for representing the anomaly of the "powerful woman". As points out in the catalogue [to the 2001 British Museum exhibition Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth], the earliest representation of Cleopatra (in Pharaonic style) shows her as a man...

Was Cleopatra beautiful?, Mary Beard, The Times, UK, February 14, 2007.

Carry on and on, Cleo

'Well, Cleopatra VII's surviving coins are really quite consistent on the nose issue. Not quite a night club bouncer's. More a Greek poisoner's. Not a broken conk — but definitely bloody ugly. Nice clear image though. 'Ancient Tetradrachms Weekly will love it'.

Carry on and on, Cleo, Peter Stothard, The Times Literary Supplement, UK, February 14, 2007.

Previously:

Coin shows Cleopatra's ugly truth, February 14, 2007.

Was the famous Egyptian Queen and ruler Cleopatra a black woman? And what evidence exists to decide the issue one way or another?

First of all, we could find no definitive evidence from the ancient texts which clearly state Cleopatra's race or colour. Further, the camp of scholars who say she was definitely white as well as the camp which says she was without a doubt black both rely on assumptions and anecdotal information which by themselves do not and cannot definitively decide the issue.

Thus, let us state what we know. Ancient Egypt was a predominantly black nation owning its origin more so to African peoples from the areas of ancient Ethiopia and Nubia (roughly modern day Sudan) than to the peoples of the Middle East...

As for Cleopatra, the foundation of her family lineage was Macedonian Greek. Alexander the Great died shortly after conquering Egypt. After his death, control of Egypt fell around 305 BC to one of his generals named Ptolemy. He established the Ptolemy line of Pharaohs who ruled Egypt for the next 200 years. Cleopatra was the last pharaoh in the Ptolemy line.

Now, for those who would have us believe that Cleopatra was white, the above fact settles the issue. They say she was Macedonian Greek and that's the end of it. However, to accept their position requires that one believe that for over 200 years there was no intermarriage or even intercourse between the Ptolemy line and members of the native Egyptian population...

If Cleopatra VII had any black blood, it would have come from her father's [Ptolemy XII's] side of the family. There is some reason to believe that Auletes' mother — Cleopatra's grand mother — was a black woman...

Shouldn't that be a question mark on the title rather an exclamation? Cleopatra's lineage can be found here on Chris Bennett's site: Ptolemaic Dynasty: Genealogy. Chris goes into great detail about who Ptolemy XII's mother may have been on this page.

Was Cleopatra A Black Woman!, Robert N. Taylor, The Louisiana Weekly, Louisiana, USA February 12, 2007.