13. Cleopatra Was Egyptian
The popular image of Cleopatra as an Egyptian queen is misleading. In reality, she was of Macedonian Greek descent, belonging to the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s conquest. Cleopatra famously embraced Egyptian customs and presented herself as a native ruler to legitimize her reign, but her ancestry was not Egyptian. To learn more about Cleopatra’s heritage, visit National Geographic.
