March 15, 2009 "Legendary (Line)" The Friday Illo theme this week is 'legendary'. In keeping with the Women's History Month, I've chosen a legendary woman, Cleopatra. I can't think of anyone about whom more legends, plays, paintings, and movies have been made. "What kind of pharaoh was Cleopatra? The few remaining contemporary Egyptian sources suggest that she was very popular among her own people.", explains the Smithsonian magazine author. Was she beautiful or homely, as some as the coins with her image suggest? "The real Cleopatra had charisma, and her sexiness stemmed from her intelligence—what Plutarch described as "the charm of her conversation"—rather than her kohl-rimmed eyes. Pharaoh Cleopatra VII was a brilliant leader, says Joann Fletcher. "She was one of the most dynamic figures the world has ever seen...'" So I gathered together my source images: Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, Lyndsey Marshal as Cleopatra, Cleopatra's bust now at the Altes Museum in Berlin, and a coin of hers at the Hunterian museum in Scotland I used all of those together to create the line drawing. I wrote her name in Greek capitals, for she was Macedonian Greek, as was Alexander For her jewelry, in addition to the snake armband Taylor's Cleo has, I gave her a Menat necklace, photo here Queens and Priests and Priestesses of Hathor wore the Menat