2천년전 클레오파트라가 살해한, 여동생 얼굴 ‘복원’

2천여년전 클레오파트라와 안토니우스의 명령에 의해 살해된 클레오파트라의 여동생 아르시노에.

14일 더 타임스 등 해외 언론들의 보도에 따르면, 오스트리아 과학 아카데미 소속 과학자들은 아르시노에(Princess Arsinöe)의 유골을 발견했으며 법의학적 복원 과정을 통해 그녀의 외모가 아프리카인의 특징을 갖고 있는 것으로 확인했다고 주장했다.

기원전 41년 클레오파트라의 명령에 의해 죽임을 당한 아르시노의 두개골은 유럽 백인은 특징은 물론 아프리카인의 특징도 보인다고 과학자들은 설명한다. 이로써 클레오파트라 또한 혼종일 가능성이 높아진 셈이다. 그간 과학자들 사이에서는 클레오파트라가 그리스 백인인지 또는 북부 아프리카인인지에 대한 논란이 지속되어 왔다.

아르시노에로 추정되는 유골은 터키 에베소의 한 무덤에서 발견되었으며, 아르시노에와 클레오파트라는 프톨레마이오스 12세의 딸이지만 어머니는 달랐다.

아르시노에 [Arsinoe]

이집트 왕 프톨레마이오스 12세의 막내딸.

클레오파트라 7세의 여동생이며 프톨레마이오스 13, 14세의 누이이다. 알렉산드리아 전쟁이 벌어지자 원주민 군대를 이끌고 율리우스 카이사르와 동맹을 맺은 클레오파트라 7세에 대항해 싸우려 했다.

카이사르는 BC 48년 알렉산드리아에 도착하여 프톨레마이오스 왕가의 일족들을 모두 잡아들였으나 아르시노에는 스승인 가니메데스의 도움으로 탈출하여 아킬라스가 이끄는 이집트군에 합류했다. 가니메데스와 아킬라스 간에 불화가 생기자 아르시노에는 아킬라스를 처형했다. 가니메데스는 카이사르 군대와 협상을 벌여 프톨레마이오스 13세와 아르시노에를 교환하려 했다. 그러나 로마는 증원군의 도움을 얻어 이집트군을 물리쳤고 아르시노에는 카이사르의 개선 군대의 포로로 로마에 갔다. 이같은 치욕을 당한 아르시노에는 야심만만한 클레오파트라 7세가 자신에게 보복할 것을 두려워해 소아시아의 에페소스에 있는 아르테미스 신전을 피신처로 삼았다. 그러나 클레오파트라는 로마의 삼두정치의 일원인 마르쿠스 안토니우스의 환심을 얻은 뒤 그를 설득해 결국 BC 41년 아르시노에를 처형하도록 했다.

From The Sunday TimesMarch 15, 2009 Found: the sister Cleopatra killed Forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of the queen’s younger sister, murdered over 2,000 years ago ARCHEOLOGISTS and forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of Cleopatra’s younger sister, murdered more than 2,000 years ago on the orders of the Egyptian queen. The remains of Princess Arsinöe, put to death in 41BC on the orders of Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony to eliminate her as a rival, are the first relics of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be identified. The breakthrough, by an Austrian team, has provided pointers to Cleopatra’s true ethnicity. Scholars have long debated whether she was Greek or Macedonian like her ancestor the original Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who was made ruler of Egypt by Alexander the Great, or whether she was north African. Evidence obtained by studying the dimensions of Arsinöe’s skull shows she had some of the characteristics of white Europeans, ancient Egyptians and black Africans, indicating that Cleopatra was probably of mixed race, too. They were daughters of Ptolemy XII by different wives. The results vindicate the theories of Hilke Thür of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who has long claimed that the skeleton was Arsinöe. She described the discovery of Arsinöe’s ethnicity as “a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra’s family”. Fellow experts are now convinced. Günther Hölbl, an authority on the Ptolemies, said the identification of the skeleton was “a great discovery”. The forensic evidence was obtained by a team working under the auspices of the Austrian Archeological Institute, which is set to detail its findings at an anthropological convention in the United States later this month. The story of the discovery will also be the subject of a tele-vision documentary, Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer, to be shown on BBC1 at 9pm next Monday. The institute’s breakthrough came about after it set out to examine Thür’s belief that an octagonal tomb in the remains of the Roman city of Ephesus contained the body of Arsinöe. According to Roman texts the city, in what is now Turkey, is where Arsinöe was banished after being defeated in a power struggle against Cleopatra and her then lover, Julius Caesar. Arsinöe was said to have been murdered after Cleopatra, now with Mark Antony following Caesar’s death, ordered the Roman general to have her younger sibling killed to prevent any future attempts on the Egyptian throne. The distinctive tomb was first opened in 1926 by archeologists who found a sarcophagus inside containing a skeleton. They removed the skull, which was examined and measured; but it was lost in the upheaval of the second world war. In the early 1990s Thür reentered the tomb and found the headless skeleton, which she believed to be of a young woman. Clues, such as the unusual octagonal shape of the tomb, which echoed that of the lighthouse of Alexandria with which Arsinöe was associated, convinced Thür the body was that of Cleopatra’s sister. Her theory was considered credible by many historians, and in an attempt to resolve the issue the Austrian Archeological Institute asked the Medical University of Vienna to appoint a specialist to examine the remains. Fabian Kanz, an anthropologist, was sceptical when he began this task two years ago. “We tried to exclude her from being Arsinöe,” he said. “We used all the methods we have to find anything that can say, ‘Okay, this can’t be Arsinöe because of this and this’.” After using carbon dating, which dated the skeleton from 200BC-20BC, Kanz, who had examined more than 500 other skeletons taken from the ruins of Ephesus, found Thür’s theory gained credibility. He said he was certain the bones were female and placed the age of the woman at 15-18. Although Arsinöe’s date of birth is not known, she was certainly younger than Cleopatra, who was about 27 at the time of her sister’s demise. The lack of any sign of illness or malnutrition also indicated a sudden death, said Kanz. Evidence of the skeleton’s north African ethnicity provided the final clue. Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist, reconstructed the missing skull based on measurements taken in the 1920s. Using computer technology it was possible to create a facial impression of what Arsinöe might have looked like. “It has got this long head shape,” said Wilkinson. “That’s something you see quite frequently in ancient Egyptians and black Africans. It could suggest a mixture of ancestry.”