SANTO DOMINGO.- “That’s the mystery of the past, we’ve found doors as small as 20 by 20 centimeters which lead to great chambers,” revealed the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, regarding the search for Cleopatra’s tomb by a Dominican-Egyptian team.

Zahi Hawas is in the country to receive a decoration in the National Palace and a Doctorate degree from the Catholic University of Santo Domingo in the company of Dominican archaeologist Kathleen Martinez, who leads the team which searches for Cleopatra’s tomb.

“So far only 30 percent of archaeological artifacts and tombs have bee found,” Hawas said of the investigation in his country, despite the constant excavations by teams from around the world. “But with cameras we can now see what’s behind those magic walls.”

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A fortnight ago the team unearthed a bust of Mark Antony, the Roman general who became Cleopatras lover and had three children with her before their ambitions for an Egyptian empire brought them into conflict with Rome.

They committed suicide after being defeated by Octavian in the battle of Actium in 31BC.

Our theory is that both Cleopatra and Mark Antony are buried here, said Hawass.

If Hawass thinking is true, he could make the greatest archaeological discovery in Egypt since British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered Tutankhamuns tomb in 1922.

It would seem to have been imminent for quite a long time now. Finding Cleo’s tomb would indeed be a phenomenal discovery, especially considering the fact that even though the Ptolemies ruled Egypt for 300 years, not a single tomb of theirs has ever been located.

Those Ptolemies were experts at poisoning, so if Cleo took her own life it was probably through those means. The idea of clutching a snake to her breast is vivid and quasi-romantic, but a bit contrived in my opinion. However, it cannot be completely dismissed. Strabo was a contemporary of Cleopatra and was one of the first to write about her death. I’ve read that it’s possible he was even in Alexandria at the time. Now, if they find Cleo’s mummy and there’s a mummified asp hanging from her breast, I’ll have to accept the obvious

But this is one of those things where aficionados of Egyptian studies are rather skeptical, and where’s Hawass’s excitement is getting the best of him. So far, anyway. Originally he was hyping the scattering of period coins and statuettes the excavators had found, which can be tied to Cleopatra, but that’s not definitive.

Cleopatra No Beauty Queen, Coin Suggests

She was the legendary queen of Egypt who seduced two of the most powerful men in the ancient world.

But a silver coin that went on display at a British university yesterday suggests Cleopatra’s beauty may be Hollywood fiction.

Cleopatra, Fox studios, June 12, 1963. – The most expensive film in history of the American film, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The film then cost 44 million dollars and was awarded with 4 Oscars.

On one side the coin shows the Egyptian ruler with a shallow forehead, long nose, narrow lips, and a sharply pointed chin (at left above). On the other, her longtime lover, the powerful Roman general and politician Mark Antony, is depicted with a large hooked nose and thick neck (right).

The unflattering images suggest that fictional accounts—from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra to the HBO TV series Rome—overplay the attractiveness of the doomed couple.

“The image on the coin is far from being that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton,” said Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of archaeological museums at Newcastle University, in a statement.

“Roman writers tell us that Cleopatra was intelligent and charismatic, and that she had a seductive voice but, tellingly, they do not mention her beauty. The image of Cleopatra as a beautiful seductress is a more recent image.”

However she looked in reality, Cleopatra’s charm helped change the course of Roman history.

In 48 B.C. she seduced Rome’s first emperor, Julius Caesar—30 years her senior—and bore him a son.

But her relationship years later with Antony, with whom she had three children, ended in tragedy.

After Antony’s defeat by Octavian, Rome’s soon-to-be second emperor, in 31 B.C., both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. According to legend, Cleopatra chose to perish by an asp’s bite.

Ancient Mysteries & Alternative History really fascinates me…hope you enjoy reading guys!

In our journey through life we often sail on uncharted waters, more or less we are afraid of what lies beyond the horizon.

What makes the journey worthwhile is not how long you are sailing on fair winds and following seas but how you survive the rough seas.