Cleopatra with the Triple Uraeus

Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt, wears a triple uraeus on her diadem. The uraeus, or sacred cobra, was a common symbol adorning the crowns of ancient Egyptian royals and deities, but the triple uraeus (three cobras) seems to have been unique to Cleopatra among all the Ptolemaic rulers. This was pointed out to me by the classicist Sally Ann-Ashton, whose scholarship has focused on Cleopatra and Ptolemaic Egypt (as well as Egypt’s native African heritage and connections), so I wanted to incorporate a triple uraeus into one of my Cleo depictions.

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