Shockingly, Cleopatra did not, in fact, resemble a Hollywood actress. Cambridge's Sally Ann Ashton has put together a portrait of the Queen based on the image on an ancient coin and her probable ethnic makeup.

Says Ashton, "She probably wasn't just completely European. You've got to remember that her family had actually lived in Egypt for 300 years by the time she came to power." The composite is described as having a "shallow forehead, pointed chin, thin lips and hooked nose," and bearing no resemblance to either Elizabeth Taylor or Sophia Loren. [Telegraph]

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