FORENSIC ARTISTS CONJURE UP THE FACE OF CLEOPATRA'S SISTER
Experts at Dundee University have made a three-dimensional reconstruction of what they believe to be the face of Princess Arsinoe, sister of the last Egyptian Pharaoh, Cleopatra.
Working on a cast of the skull of a young woman found in an eight-sided grave at Ephesus in modern-day Turkey, the team developed the picture of the sister of the famed Queen of Egypt, adding skin, hair and facial features to an on-screen model of the head.
The image appeared in a BBC1 documentary 'Cleopatra - Portrait of a Killer', which examined the relationship between the two women against a background of the power struggle in the Roman Empire.
The programme explored a theory among historians that, as a result of intense rivalry between Arsinoe and her sister, Cleopatra ordered Mark Anthony to murder her sibling.
The team, based at the Unit for Forensic and Medical Art at Dundee, uses facial
reconstruction and forensic techniques to generate images and models
from human remains. Last year, they reconstructed the face of German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Dr Caroline Wilkinson, who leads the unit, told the Press Association Scotland that : "The skull that was found, and believed to be that of Arsinoe, is not complete but from examining the bone structure and shape we are able to add the lower part of the jaw and then render the skull as a full 3D model."
ENDS