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Intelligent, beautiful, cultured, ambitious, politically astute. These are some of the words used to describe Cleopatra (69 BC- 30 BC), queen of Egypt and considered by many to be one of the most fascinating women of all times.

Cleopatra, or Cleopatra VII, was the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty, originally from Greece or, more precisely, from Macedonia. The dynasty's first king was Ptolemy I, who was a general under Alexander the Great (356 BC–323 BC). Although she learnt Egyptian, Cleopatra did not have Egyptian blood, in fact, she was Greek.

Or, rather, that is what has been thought up until now. The conclusions of a team of archaeologists from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) indeed suggest otherwise.

The team believes it has discovered the tomb of Cleopatra's sister, Princess Arsinoe, and says the princess' remains indicate that her mother came from Africa. This would mean that Cleopatra had African roots, in other words, that she was part African. The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Last night the BBC broadcast 'Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer', a documentary based on this new discovery.