Cleopatra: The iconic queen of Egypt was not an Egyptian by birth 

History is full of fascinating personalities. One such iconic persona is Queen Cleopatra VII, commonly known as Cleopatra, who ruled over Egypt between 51 BC and 30 BC. Daughter of King Ptolemy XII Auletes, she was born around 70 or 69 BCE and breathed her last in August 30 BCE in Alexandria, Egypt. Cleopatra was known for her beauty, intelligence and grasp over politics. You will find many references drawn to Cleopatra in pop culture through movies, drama and fashion regarding various aspects of her personality. She is often regarded as the lover of the famous warlord, Julius Caesar, in plays and dramas. This fearless queen who brought Egypt out of poverty and political conflict, is unforgettable. But stories about her origin and roots are intriguing indeed. Along with her little-known origin, here are interesting facts about Cleopatra that you didn’t know about.  

Macedonian origin 
Turns out that Cleopatra was of Macedonian descent. Her father Auletes, who ruled over Egypt from 76 BC to 51 BC, hailed from the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek royal dynasty from Macedonia, a region in Greece, comprising the north-central portion of the country. After her father’s death in 51 BC, she took the throne and ruled over Egypt successively with her two siblings Prince Ptolemy XIII (51–47) and Prince Ptolemy XIV (47–44), followed by her son Ptolemy XV Caesar (44–30). Being the older sibling (she was 18 at the time), she became the dominant ruler. In fact, Cleopatra was the only member of her family who learned the Egyptian language, so growth-minded was she. Here are interesting facts about Cleopatra that you probably didn’t know about.   

Cleopatra loved makeup!  
Cleopatra is thought to be one of the most stylish women that history has witnessed. Well, it turns out that the Egyptian queen had a penchant for makeup. Back then, she had a personal stylist too! Cleopatra used to line her eyes with dark kohl to define and elongate her eyelashes, darken the eyebrows and enhance the look of the eye. Her kohl was a creation of her personal stylist Eiras, who was the best makeup artist in Egypt then. She used a golden rod to trace the kohl from the eyes to the temples, creating the iconic style. Cleopatra’s upper eyelids were layered with bright blue eye shadow speckled with golden colour while the lower eyelids sported green! It is believed that Cleopatra’s eye makeup used to protect her against potential eye infections.  

She was a bookworm  
Apparently, Cleopatra loved books! She adored the works of Homer and could even recite large chunks of his works from memory. She was familiar with every corner of the library in the palace and the scholars and librarians who frequented it knew her well. In fact, according to Arabic sources, she could read as well as write, though there is no forensic evidence of the same.