The promotional advertisement for a documentary film about Queen Cleopatra, which will be broadcast by “Netflix” next month, has sparked criticism and controversy on Egyptian platforms, due to showing the queen who ruled Egypt and of Greek origins with dark skin, and this was considered a falsification of history.
The advertisement was widely attacked by the Egyptian public, because the appearance of Queen Cleopatra in the series corresponds to what is being promoted by the “Afrocentrism” movement, which is fanatical about the black race, as it claims that the Egyptian civilization is of African origin.
From Executive Producer @jadapsmith comes a new docuseries exploring the lives of iconic African queens.
QUEEN CLEOPATRA follows the story of Cleopatra, one of the world’s most famous and misunderstood woman.
QUEEN CLEOPATRA is available to stream May 10 only on Netflix pic.twitter.com/0oDUSi8Add
— Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) April 12, 2023
Activists accused the network of attempting to falsify Egypt’s ancient history and falsifying established historical data, and described what the network did as trying to steal Egypt’s history and civilization and attribute it to other civilizations.
Netflix is trying indirectly to play on history and visit it and say that Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen, was African-skinned in order to help the movement of African-Americans who want to say that the ancient Egyptian civilization is an African civilization of dark skin.. .. pic.twitter.com/4eNSOZPrZy
– Bakiza Hanim (@AmlOkeil) April 12, 2023
Egyptian blogger and content creator Amal Aqil commented, “Netflix is trying indirectly (to) play on history, visit it, and claim that Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen, was dark-skinned, to confirm the stories that say that the ancient Egyptian civilization is an African civilization.”
Tweeters on Egyptian platforms also mocked Netflix’s decision to show the queen in this way, despite his departure from the form known to the Egyptians, as well as to the Greeks from whom Cleopatra’s origins descend.
The attack on the expected work from Netflix came not only from the Egyptians, but from the Greeks as well, since Queen Cleopatra is part of their civilization, so the historical researcher Paul Antonopoulos wrote, “It is funny in the advertisement that they say that Cleopatra was a misunderstood woman, but they continued and contributed to this misunderstanding from by implying that she was black instead of the Greek Queen of Egypt.
Another hilarious point by @strongblacklead is that they say Cleopatra was a “misunderstood woman.” So they go ahead and contribute to this misunderstanding by alluding that she was Black instead of the Greek Queen of Egypt.
— Paul Antonopoulos ???????????????? (@oulosP) April 13, 2023
A large number of Africans criticized what the global platform did, as history cannot be presented in this “inaccurate” way, describing what happened as a terrible fall for the platform.
Despite the common belief that Cleopatra descended from Egyptian origins, the reality indicates that she belonged to the Macedonian Ptolemy family, which is the descendants of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, Ptolemy I.
And the series Stealing Our History is still going on under the auspices of the Pan-African Movement or Afrocentric, and we still don’t realize how dangerous it is!
Our history is stolen in front of us and attributed to others very simply!
Millions of documentary series about the kings and queens of Egypt, and starring African people of black skin to support To be continued. pic.twitter.com/bS4k4F21SO– Ahmad Youness (@Ahmad_Youness) April 12, 2023
assets and skills
This does not mean that she was of Greek descent only, but that she also spoke the Greek language and was familiar with the customs of the Greeks.
The Ptolemy family ruled Egypt for 300 years, after Ptolemy I ascended the throne following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
In addition to the Greek language, Cleopatra spoke the languages of the neighboring nations of Egypt, and she was the only one among the descendants of Ptolemy who was interested in learning the language of the ancient Egyptians, and she wore traditional clothes and participated in Egyptian ceremonies and ceremonies, which made her popular among the public, regardless of her foreign origins.
A terrible fall from Netflix. Cleopatra is neither African nor iconic
Cleopatra is the last queen in the series of rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty, whose origins go back to Greece. In her quest for the throne, she killed all her brothers, and to preserve her throne, she became the mistress of Julius Caesar, and after his death, she chose to be the mistress of Mark Antony. https://t.co/eucOn3t32R— The last kushite (@JabooMujtaba) April 13, 2023
Exaggeration and defense
On the other hand, some saw that the criticism contained a degree of exaggeration, as the features of the heroine are not very far from many Egyptian women, and the matter has nothing to do with falsifying history.
And the Queen Cleopatra documentary bears the name “Queen Cleopatra”, and it will be shown next May 10 on the “Netflix” platform for films and series, and it is produced by Jada Smith, wife of international artist Will Smith.
And “Netflix” said that this documentary is part of a series of documentaries that explore the lives of prominent and creative African queens, starting with the movie “Cleopatra”, as “the first season will be devoted to the most famous and powerful woman in the world.”
The network indicated that Cleopatra “was misunderstood, as her fame as a bold, beautiful and romantic queen overshadowed her true metal represented by her extreme intelligence,” according to the British “BBC” website.
The promotional advertisement for the modern documentary includes that the legacy of “Cleopatra was the subject of much academic controversy, then followed by an assertion by one of the commentators in the documentary that Cleopatra was dark-skinned, contrary to what is commonly believed.”