Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian

When we picture Cleopatra, we see the very essence of Egypt. But her family, the Ptolemies, didn't have a drop of pharaonic blood: they descended from Ptolemy I, a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great who seized Egypt after his death in 323 BC.

For nearly three centuries, this Greek dynasty ruled the country without even bothering to learn the local language. They spoke Greek, worshipped Greek gods and married their own siblings to keep the bloodline pure. Cleopatra VII was the exception: she's said to have been the first of her line to learn Egyptian, along with eight other languages.

So the queen we link with the pyramids was, in fact, as Greek as Aristotle. She lived closer in time to the first Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid. Her Egypt was already ancient, even to her.