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Coin find casts doubt on Cleopatra's beauty

Two of history's most famous Valentines were gently debunked yesterday by analysis of an exceptionally well-preserved Roman coin, which gives the lie to the fabled beauty of Cleopatra and the manly features of her lover Mark Antony.

Far from possessing the classical looks of Elizabeth Taylor, or the many other goddesses who have played her on stage and screen, the Egyptian queen is shown with a shrewish profile while Antony suffers from bulging eyes, a crooked nose and a bull neck.

Debated for centuries, but with little effect against a tide of romance backed by Shakespeare, Delacroix and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the faces of the couple have the stamp of authenticity on the silver denarius found in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was coined in Antony's own mint to mark his victories in Armenia in 32BC, achieved with the help of Cleopatra's one undoubted attraction, her money.

"Its other distinction is that it looks as though it was minted yesterday," said Melanie Reed from Newcastle University, whose archeology museum found the dime-sized coin while researching a forgotten 18th century hoard left for years in a local bank.

"The profiles in particular are in marvelously good condition. If a Roman invader brought it over here, he or she certainly knew how to take care of their loose change," she said.

Coins showing the doomed pair of lovers, who were to kill themselves within two years in the face of ruin, are not uncommon, but the majority are in poor condition or have more flattering images. The Newcastle find, minted at a time when Antony and Cleopatra faced internal rebellion and outside invasion, may deliberately have emphasized the reality of the pair, to deter pretenders.

The inscriptions also play up the couple's power, with the Roman general's head surrounded by the words Antoni Armenia devicta -- for Antony, Armenia having been vanquished. Cleopatra gets the still more boastful Reginae regum filiorumque regum -- Queen of kings and of the children of kings, or possibly Queen of kings and of her children who are kings -- her twin son and daughter were in titular charge of everything from the Caucasus to Libya.

The question of Cleopatra's looks has fascinated posterity, particularly during male-dominated centuries when it was seen as the key to her hold over Antony and before him, Julius Caesar. She is said to have seduced Caesar in 48BC by presenting herself to him rolled up in a rare and valuable Persian carpet, with nothing else on.

The ancient coin, which was originally found by an unknown member of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, goes on display from today at the Shefton Museum on Newcastle University's campus.

It was rediscovered during a huge trawl of the north-east for items to go on display in the Great North Museum which opens in 2009.
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