How Accurate Was Cleopatra?
Producers of the 1963 film tried to remain as loyal as possible to the historical facts the movie was predicated on. However, they failed to do so in some respects. For one, it’s highly unlikely that the real Cleopatra was as fair-skinned and healthy-looking as Elizabeth Taylor .
Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
The real Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian; she was Greek, as were all the Ptolemies. Not only were they Greek, but historians claim that they were incestuously produced Greeks, in order to maintain the pre-existing Pharaonic power systems.