16 Apr : Archaeologists in Egypt may be on track to solve a mystery linked to two of history s greatest lovers as researchers move to unearth the final resting place of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
The excavation could answer number of myths including speculation about the Egyptian queen s reputed beauty and the couple s suicide.In most depictions, Cleopatra is put forward as a great beauty and her successive conquests of the world’s most powerful men is taken to be proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal.However, researchers at Britain’s University of Newcastle in 2007 had poured cold water on the beauty of the Egyptian seductress.
Now archaeologists looking for the final resting place of the celebrated queen of Egypt and the Roman general will begin excavating three sites at the temple of Tabusiris Magna near the Mediterranean Sea where tombs may be located, stated Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Cleopatra and Mark Antony, whose relationship was later immortalized by William Shakespeare and then in a movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, could have been buried in a deep shaft in the temple, the council said.The three sites were identified in March during a radar survey of the temple, reported Times online on Thursday.