Historical accuracy often takes a hit when the contentious lives of historical figures are adapted for the screen. If the historical figure in question happens to be Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, it becomes just more difficult to draw the blurry line separating reality from creative liberty. From Georges Méliès's 1899 silent horror film Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1963 epic historical drama Cleopatra, with Elizabeth Taylor donning the hat of the legendary Egyptian queen, Queen Cleopatra's life has been the subject of many adaptations that have left a deep imprint on the minds of audiences over decades. Each time Queen Cleopatra has been reincarnated on the screen, different versions of the events, which shaped her life, have made the final cut, leaving an oft-distorted picture on the canvas. Netflix's latest docuseries, Queen Cleopatra, with Adele James taking the helm as the larger-than-life historical queen, makes an attempt while making some big decisions on the way.

Queen Cleopatra's romantic relationships with Julius Caesar and his general Mark Antony, rivalries with her siblings, particularly her sister Arsinoe, and her attempts at restoring the past glory of the Ptolemaic dynasty have been some of the major arcs Queen Cleopatra focuses on. Along with these, the docuseries does try to press on its choice of portraying Cleopatra as an individual with African roots. With the choice of casting Adele James in the role of Cleopatra, the makers of the docuseries have not only attracted controversy to their doors but also have put into question the historical accuracy of the rest of the events covered in the 4-episode-long Netflix series.

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Cleopatra Was a True African Queen

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Image via Netflix

As part of a documentary series focusing on the life and legend of African queens, the Netflix documentary gets it right when it establishes that Queen Cleopatra was, for all practical purposes, an African queen, even though she hailed from a dynasty of Greek-speaking kings and queens. Having ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, Ptolemies were as part of the African heritage as any other African dynasty before or after them. Especially Cleopatra carried herself differently from the others before her when it came to embracing Egyptian culture and tradition. It's known that Cleopatra was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn and speak the local Egyptian languages whereas the other rulers before her used translators to communicate with the subjects. The royal language used for conducting official business in Egypt was Greek. The Netflix docuseries rightly attributes a large part of Cleopatra's success as a monarch to her ability to inspire a large section of the Egyptian population, in a way that no Ptolemian ruler before she cared to.

The question about Cleopatra's heritage mainly rises from the uncertainty around the identity of her mother. On the paternal side, Cleopatra's ancestry can be traced back to Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the Ptolemy dynasty who was a companion of Alexander the Great. On the maternal side, Ptolemy XII's wife, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena, is commonly presumed to be her mother. On her father's side, Cleopatra's roots largely resided in Macedonian heritage with the Greek culture dominating the Ptolemian way of functioning.

However, despite the various existing cultural depictions of Queen Cleopatra and the evidence suggesting her heritage, it has always been a challenge for historians to construct the image of the Egyptian queen.

Based on existing evidence that helps trace the lineage of the Ptolemies, it has been concluded by various historians that Cleopatra's lineage was predominantly Hellenistic in origin as the Ptolemies very rarely married out of their family, with incest being a common practice among the pharaohs of Egypt. The claim by Dr. Mustafa Waziri, the Egyptian Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Archaeology, that Cleopatra was "light-skinned" majorly borrows from this theory. Despite the majority consensus among historians, there is ample ambiguity existing around Cleopatra's true appearance to allow the makers of Queen Cleopatra to cast Adele James in the role. But the choice of making the entire family look Black distorts the historical proof that suggests otherwise, leaving a huge dent in the credibility and accuracy of the docuseries.

Queen Cleopatra Covers the Broad Details Accurately

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Image via Netflix

Apart from the instances when creative liberties have been taken, Queen Cleopatra gets a few things right about the background and life of the queen. The sibling rivalry among the Ptolemies is established quite earlier by stating that Ptolemy XII had already killed Cleopatra's sister, who was the biggest rival to his control over the throne. Cleopatra's first pilgrimage to Hermonthis, near Thebes, to install a new Buchis bull, and the challenges she faced, including famine and the Roman debt, all play along well with the historical records. As portrayed in the docuseries, Ptolemy XIII did force Cleopatra to flee Egypt around 48 BC and take refuge in Syria, along with her sister Arsinoe. The eventual defeat of Pompey at the hands of Julius Caesar and the decapitation of Pompey on the orders of Ptolemy XIII did happen, but the docuseries omits the character of Theodotus, his tutor, who advised him to kill Pompey to seek Caesar's favor.

One contentious aspect, which the Netflix documentary does try to address, revolves around the first meeting between Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Unlike the popular version that suggests that Cleopatra sneaked into Caesar's palace to be eventually presented from a rolled-up carpet, the Netflix docuseries chooses to show that Cleopatra was, indeed, smuggled into the palace inside a bag-like accessory. While the popular version (often based on the account by Roman historians who villainized Cleopatra) of this particular event suggests that Cleopatra mesmerized Caesar through her beauty and seductive abilities, the account by Plutarch - who is interestingly discredited by one of the interviewees on the docuseries as he was born nearly 76 years after the death of Cleopatra - suggests that it was Cleopatra's charm and persuasive abilities that flattered Caesar in the first place, making him eventually fall in love with the Egyptian queen. But the suggestion by Plutarch that Cleopatra's personality greatly assisted in her political ambitions is something reiterated by the experts on board.

Many of the details regarding the relationship shared between Cleopatra and Caesar have been accurately depicted in Queen Cleopatra, including the fact that Caesar never publicly claimed the parentage of Caesarion, his child from Cleopatra. The docuseries does not necessarily cover the events leading to the death of Caesar in great detail with just the suggestion being made that Caesar's attempts at placing himself in the position of a "king" got him killed. However, it's quite accurate in its suggestion that Caesar's assassination did put Cleopatra in a precarious situation.

Queen Cleopatra Docuseries is Guilty of Romanticizing the Egyptian Queen

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Image via Netflix

The events that follow Caesar's assassination do not completely do justice to the complexity of the situations faced by Cleopatra who found herself at the cusp of a turmoil-ridden Rome still recovering from the death of its most powerful ruler. After Caesar's death, the docuseries brings its focus largely to the relationship that developed between Mark Antony and Cleopatra - one that helped Cleopatra remove all her political rivals from the scene, including her sister Arsinoe. However, here as well, the docuseries plays along with its tendency of overtly romanticizing its protagonist, particularly through its villainous portrayal of others. In a bid to portray Cleopatra as a pragmatist, the Netflix docuseries does go over the board in justifying the queen's actions around every nook and corner, almost portraying her as a flawless superhero who's compelled by her need for self-preservation whereas, in reality, Queen Cleopatra desired for more than just self-preservation.

By the end, Queen Cleopatra does paint a broad picture of the situation that led to the eventual downfall of the romantic relationship between Mark Antony and Cleopatra as well as the downfall of Cleopatra's reign. Opting to go for the less fancy version of the legend around Cleopatra's death, the docuseries prefers to suggest that Queen Cleopatra died by ingesting poison. In reality, the exact way Cleopatra killed herself remains a mystery to date, even after a great deal of fascination around the subject, thanks to the romanticized depiction of the event in popular culture. Thereon, the Netflix docuseries fairly summarizes the events that followed the death of the last pharaoh of Egypt, establishing that Egypt was absorbed into the Roman Republic to mark the end of independent Egypt.

Queen Cleopatra on Netflix does a fair job of presenting a broad version of the queen's life in a bid to introduce her to an entire generation of streaming audiences. However, while taking a gutsy approach to touching some contentious aspects of the queen's life, the docuseries risks providing a totally inaccurate first impression of Queen Cleopatra. There's a fair bit of history carefully placed within the drama enfolding in the four episodes of the docuseries. Nonetheless, for viewers aware of the intricacies of Queen Cleopatra's life, it is hard to ignore the romanticization existing within the layers of this docudrama. Where Queen Cleopatra succeeds is in its celebration of the life of a legendary queen who yielded enormous power in an exclusively male-dominated world.