cleopatra's coin hairstyle

Authentic recreation of Cleopatra's official "coin" hairstyle. Live model tutorial, based on archaeological artifacts with period appropriate tools.
Background Music ("CleoCoin" ISRC QM-UDL-12-00004) created by Janet Stephens, jntvstp, using Apple Garageband.

[@verdancyhime]

She didn't have time to mess around with supercomplex hairstyles, she was too busy being awesome.

[@hobbyhistorian9783]

The hairstyle in Cleopatra's official coin portraits can be created without the help of a servant in less than 1 minute (with sufficient practice even faster). The public message it sends is that of a "working queen" who attends to the business of the realm rather than cosmetics. - This image is borne out by her policies, including promoting foreign trade and investment, which resulted in a complete turnaround of the Egyptian economy. Egypt was near bankrupt when Cleopatra took power - people were rioting because of high taxes to pay her father's debt to Rome. By the time of her death, Egypt was the richest economy in the Mediterranean. Evidence of trade and investment promotion and protection can be found in the so-called Cleopatra papyrus in Berlin (which probably was not signed by her and not a "political" document that would have required such personal intervention). Her daughter by Antony, Selene, shared her mother's talent for economic policies applying it to Mauretania, minting her own coins with Egyptian symbols (her husbands used Latin). The Berlin statue shown in the video was commissioned by this daughter. (Antony was known for curly hair, so whether the curly structure was exaggerated to emphasise the likeness of mother and daughter, is an open question.)

[@jmo5037]

I think you are right. From the Ptolemaic queens, the most recent ones that we can see are Cleopatra Thea and perhaps Cleopatra I Syra but although Cleopatra Thea represented herself as a strong Queen, she had her head covered as the dutiful wife consort and donned a magnificent crown just like the Ptolemaic queens before her.

[@sophiejones7727]

so she slapped a style she could achieve herself in five minutes on a coin, when she knew Caesar and Anthony's wives had their hair braided and sewn up by slaves every morning. Well played Cleopatra. This is why your work is so important Janet, how a woman does her hair tells a lot about how she sees herself and how she thinks. I think the hair is braided before it is put in the bun though. That would make the bun more likely to stay in too (as portrayed here, Cleopatra better be hoping there's never any wind). Braided hair would grip the bodkins more tightly.

[@neon-kitty]

She probably paired that five-minute hairstyle with clothes and jewellery that cost more than those women's entire wardrobes. Don't underestimate the sexiness of wealth, especially to Roman generals looking to fund a military campaign or two :p. (Also worth noting, of course, that a woman having any kind of independent wealth (or independence, period) would've been extremely unusual to Greek and Roman people at the time so that alone would've turned heads. Among the native Egyptians, it would've naturally been much more common.)

[@sophiejones7727]

oh, obviously :) she's kind of implying that she's so naturally beautiful she doesn't need a fancy shmancy hairdresser though, more of a message aimed at the women than at the men. Normally women showed off the fact that they had a slave to do their hair: but if your face is on the money it's kind of redundant to brag about how much of it you have. In all likelihood she wore a more complicated style when she actually appeared in public (and there are statues of her with more formal complex styles). This is calculated to say something to Romans, because coins were mostly used for international trade and Rome was Egypt's biggest market.

[@ah5721]

Is it just me or does she have cornrow like twisted braids near the scalp the coin ?

[@jntvstp]

Hi Amanda, That's a good question. The scalp hair may have been braided like you say, or twisted, or it could have been in tight ringlets layed along the scalp. Her coins are the only "naturalistic" portraits of Cleopatra we KNOW were her and they are tiny. So, interpret away and have fun! cheers, J

[@ah5721]

@@jntvstp thanks for the reply! I wanted to replicate it because it looked fairly simple to do !

[@bhnnad]

I've been watching all your videos and they're fascinating! I've watched every single one. I was wondering, though, whether the depiction of Cleopatra's hair on the coin shown in this video portrays twists of hair on the scalp before the hair is pulled into a bun? Is this just natural curl? It looks almost like there are 3 distinct twists, almost like in the Tutulus or Faustina the Younger's hairstyle.

[@deweycd23]

I am enjoying your videos a lot, but I'm not sure this one quite hits the mark. The pieces behind the band going back toward the bun look clearly twisted, almost rope braided. How do you account for this? Naturally curly hair alone doesn't give this look.

[@anqeiicdemise]

Ooooh, now this is cute and can be modernized superbly quickly. It looks like I have a new style to play with this week!

[@ksbrook1430]

So glad to have re-discovered your channel. The work you have done to research and recreate the old hairstyles is remarkable.

[@molarmama32]

Very well done! I would love a tutorial on the Japanese Momoyama period. The women wore deceptively "simple" ponytails--near floor length.

[@javidominguez1495]

I was just looking around,but i congratulate you for your history research.

[@jacobjamesortega-marshall2326]

ThankYouze Again for the Gr8 Excursion into the World Scenes MsJanet . Kudos to YouzeGuyz AND You personally. Affectionately, Jacobjames JayjayFromNY sez Kudos-to-Youze Again for YOU

[@LaDollyVita33]

This is AMAZING, Janet! As always! I LOVE your beautiful, researched, videos!

[@keyholes]

I love your tutorials, I always learn something (and not just the hair style either).

[@billie6528]

This was her regular look. They say she did wear the cliche bob hair wigs during ceremonies.

[@None.of.ya.business666]

She looks very angry on that coin. Wouldn't want coin Cleopatra as my MIL. ;-)

[@PsychicOtaku182]

I hope this makes sense, but you (or whoever it is working with the needle) have beautiful hands. Anyway, thank you so much for doing these videos. They're very informative and useful!

[@tinkabell39]

Hi Janet , My name is Shilpa , and I have just discovered you n your channel :).. I am an amateur stylist ..I just love making hairstyles and love Bohemian, Roman ,Greek kinda hairstyles :) I really really like what you do and am going to watch all your work and try to recreate em as well..I love the idea of using the needle thread for hairstyling ..have to find a wooden needle first! Lol..great going n awesome work..Namaste

[@rachel_Cochran]

Where can I find out more specifics regarding the materials you use? Specifically the hair scarf and the needle and thread in your Agrippina video

[@jsher1ock]

I love this style, and finally my hair is getting long enough to try it out! I was wondering, though, where you got your short bodkins that you put through her bun. They're very pretty. The few hair sticks I own are too long.

[@pixiemeg]

I'm years too late, having just discovered this channel, but maybe I can help someone else - for very inexpensive short hair sticks, I use bamboo dowels from the craft store! I just cut a ten inch dowel in half, use a pencil sharpener to create the point, and then soften the point and round off the other end with either sandpaper or a nail file. While they're not as beautifully carved as the ones in the video, they're perfectly functional for holding a bun in place.

[@youisastar3246]

She did revive the Melon hairstyle as shown in the coin in the video used by her early ancestresses that became very popular. Please do that. That's more interesting.

[@TheBunnyGeek]

Now I'm waiting for my hair to grow out fast so I can do this as well! Any historical hairstyles for peasant length hair? :P

[@Cathrinehihihi]

I love your tutorials! More! :D

[@Dragonlady448]

I like how the girl in the video looks like what Cleopatra might have actually looked like!

[@nerxhivandardhishta]

Lovley kleopatra

[@Noblebird02]

So i believe the weeping angel hair style from doctor who bears some resemblance to this hairstyle. Could you please do a weeping angel hairstylet that mimics the weeping hairstyle?

[@constantinexipalaiologos7602]

God Save The Queen!

[@JKatniss]

Love this! I really want to try this out on my own hair as I think it would work quite well. Where can one find historically accurate bodkins?

[@jntvstp]

Hi ! You can make them yourself with dowels from the craft store and a pencil sharpener. Cheers! J

[@caroldriehorst1165]

Very simple.

[@barbarablue2571]

for me was and will be the most beautiful woman of the Ancient Rome.

[@coypu2005]

Hmm something is on the front of her head, on the coin. What is that, do you think?

[@jntvstp]

ThereAreNoStarsHere My hunch is that it's a puff of curly hair smoothed out from handling over time. Too bad so pristine coins survive. cheers, J

[@diranbodossian6061]

It's a quiff! Alexander the Great famously had a quiff in his hair which almost every single Hellenistic king (and a few Roman Emperors!) tried to replicate in imagery; so Cleopatra is asserting her royalty by giving herself a quiff too.

[@esmeraldagreen1992]

While this hairstyle resembles the one depicted in the statue it does not resemble the coin hairstyle, in the coin Cleopatra's hair appear clearly braided , braids were typical of Egyptian coiffure. Cleopatra with the imagery in the coin was clearly trying to appeal not only to the Greek elite but also to the Egyptian masses. She was the only Ptolemaic ruler who bothered to learn Egyptian.

[@fabianhale845]

Actually the “braids” in the coiffure were present in coins of previous Ptolemaic queens and even Greek women before the Ptolemaic dynasty.

[@cwmackey5466]

Egypt at that time was a cosmopolitan throughway (similar to today's New York or Paris). But, having once been ruled by legendary African Kings who built the Sphinx, the Pyramids..., it is not a stretch to believe that Cleo was the product of a political marriage between a Greek and an African. Wouldn't the conquering Greeks desire keeping the surrounding African tribes peaceful by having a Black queen? According to Arsinoe IV's records, Cleopatra's half-sister, she herself was half African. Now, when you look at Cleo's hair on the coinage of her time, she obviously had nappy hair worn in twists and cornrows and also, on the outside of those headdresses, her hair was nappy. Comparing her hair to the coins of Greeks and Romans, it's clearly seen that they had curly locks rather than naps. So, a black woman playing Cleopatra in a movie is not out of the realm of reason. It is historically even more appropriate than an Israeli, even one as good and popular an actress as Gal. So let's sheathe our swords and enjoy the great diversity of our planet and its peoples.

[@fabianhale845]

Except the Ptolemies married amongst themselves. The only other people they married with were the Seleucid kings who were also Macedonian Greeks. There weren’t any political unions with African people since there were none important enough for that in Egypt. And Arsinoe has never been proven to have been half black African. And no, those remains in Ephesus have never been proven to be those of anyone related to Cleopatra. And you can’t tell hair texture from a coin. Cleopatra’s coins show that her hair was curled and last time I checked, multiple ethnicities, including Greeks, had curly hair. And those aren’t cornrows. It’s a melon coiffure worn by Greek women since the 5th century bce. And Egypt didn’t have tribes. Also, why wait almost three hundred years in ruling Egypt before actually marrying an Egyptian? The Ptolemies seemed to do fine ruling the king without doing that.

[@atonio2815]

💯👍😍

[@nerxhivandardhishta]

Love Greece

[@alonda35]

That's because as with any dark skinned women, she doesn't require much extra than a nicely combed hairstyle. How does another pale skinned woman be seen as a rare find and with beauty nothing like the others in a room of other women who look similar as in white? Seeing a more exotic beauty or one foreign to white women would have made more sense. Anyway, I love the hair example.

[@katherinewallace5244]

What do you mean by this?

[@silvermorona]

Lol you are not making sense

[@fabianhale845]

Nobody ever described Kleopatra as rare. If she was described as exotic, then it’s because she was not a Roman woman. This has nothing to do with skin color.