Saturday, March 18, 2006

Hairstyles of Cleopatra

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060313/cleopatra_his_02.html
"Egyptian queen Cleopatra used her hairstyles in calculated ways to enhance her power and fame, according to a book published recently by a Yale art history and classics professor. Statues, coins and other existing depictions of the queen suggest Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.) wore at least three hairstyles, according to Diana Kleiner. The first, a "traveling" do that mimicked the hair of a Macedonian Greek queen, involved sectioning the hair into curls, which were then often pulled away from the face and gathered into a bun at the back. The next was a coiffure resembling a melon, and the third was the regal Cleopatra in her royal Egyptian headdress, complete with a rearing cobra made of precious metal. Cleopatra did not invent any of these styles, but she used them to her advantage, Kleiner indicated in her book 'Cleopatra and Rome'."
See the complete two-page story on the Discovery Channel website, which is accompanied by a fabulous photo of Lilly Langtree as Cleopatra (click on it to see a better quality image).

Also at the address below, this time with a picture of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra

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