LONDON: Cleopatra may have been part-African and not Greek Caucasian, according to a British TV documentary to be shown this month, its makers said Sunday.
It has long been thought that the former Queen of Egypt s roots were in Greece, but the discovery of what experts believe are her sister s remains has revealed that the siblings had a part-African heritage.
The BBC documentary Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer to be shown on March 23 shows the analysis of the discovery of human remains in a tomb in Ephesus, Turkey.
Using state-of-the-art facial reconstruction and forensic techniques with anthropological and architectural analysis of the tomb, the experts are convinced that the skeleton is the remains of Cleopatra s sister, Princess Arsinoe, who was murdered on Cleopatra s orders.
Archaeologist Dr. Hilke Thuer from the Austrian Academy of Science, who led the team, said: The results of the forensic examination and the fact that the facial reconstruction shows that Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra s family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe. -AFP
