Free Republic

Coin shows Cleopatra's ugly truth The images of Antony and Cleopatra are less than flattering Antony and Cleopatra, one of history's most romantic couples, were not the great beauties that Hollywood would have us believe, academics have said. A study of a 2,000-year-old silver coin found the Egyptian queen, famously portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor, had a pointed chin, thin lips and sharp nose. Her Roman lover, played by Richard Burton, had bulging eyes, thick neck and a hook nose. The tiny coin was studied by experts at Newcastle University. The size of a modern 5p piece (18mm or 0.7in), the...

The image of Cleopatra on the silver denarius of dated to 32BC, being displayed t Newcastle University, Newcastle, England. Wednesday Feb. 14, 2007. So maybe Mark Antony loved Cleopatra for her mind. That is the conclusion drawn by academics at the University of Newcastle from a Roman denarius which depicts the celebrated queen of Egypt as a sharp-nosed, thin- lipped woman with a protruding chin. In short, a fair match for the hook-nosed, thick-necked Mark Antony on the obverse. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

<p>LONDON -- A couple of millennia after their steamy affair went scorching across the Roman Empire, Mark Antony and Cleopatra remain among history's most romanticized lovers. But in the looks department, they may both have left much to be desired.</p>