Another "I can't believe . . . " entry. While Susan was no fetching beauty, even a steak tied around Eunice's neck couldn't get the dogs to play with her . . . . . . . Eunice actually looks like Susan's older brother . . . . . Z
A coin of Cleopatra VII (the seventh Cleopatra was the famous one) is on my "to do" list. I looked at some at the FUN show last month, but didn't buy either of the pair I looked at. These usually come pretty rough. The real historical Cleopatra did not look like Liz Taylor, of course. I'll let this gentleman cover that.
Strange subject for a thread, discussing standards of female beauty (or the apparent lack thereof). But OK, whatever. I'll play along. *shrugs* Arethusa is a little weird-looking here. But it is a pretty Archaic coin. Greece (Sicily, Syracuse): ca. 470-450 BC silver litra of the Second Democracy Also pretty early. I reckon I've seen better looking versions of Athena than the one featured on the obverse of the famous "owl" coins. Greece (Attica): ca. 440-404 BC silver "Owl" tetradrachm of Athens
Any guesses as to who's pictured here? Tetradrachm, Cleopatra VII Queen of Egypt, 36 BC Oh the real picture: Yes scholars say this is probably not what she looked like. She probably looked better than the tetradrachm tho. I hope to one day afford a nicer one...
Cleopatra didn’t need to be a hottie. Don’t forget she was fabulously wealthy and in control of most of the grain Rome needed to feed itself, among other things.
Quite a remarkable resemblance there! Sisters, separated by nearly 19 centuries. Wow, I don’t know if it has been smoothed or tooled (or not), but that is a super nice Cleopatra Æ! They’re usually pretty ratty, as you know.
They can be nice and in fact CNG sold a really nice one in 2025, realizing $9,000. The Louvre (museum in Paris) uses one of the Cleo bronzes as their Cleo coin for their Egyptian display. But this one deviates stylistically from every one that I've ever seen.
Ahh, but that’s a late 19th/early 20th century depiction of her, not a contemporary one from ancient times.
I can't believe I'm the 1st one to like that statue. Yet if you put an 1893-S Barber half dollar up here: it would get many likes.
Oh, it's a lovely statue. But it's a relatively modern, romanticized portrayal rather an an accurate ancient one, so it's got little to do with how Cleopatra actually looked. (I looked it up. It's from 1902 and is outside the Cairo Museum. Created by French sculptor Ferdinand Faivre.)