The Face of Caesarion (Artistic Reconstruction)

Project requested by: @AnikDika

The eldest son of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and (presumably) Roman ruler Julius Caesar, Caesarion (born June 23, 47 BC - died August 23, 30 BC) was the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt as it was known and the last sovereign member of the Ptolemaic dynasty before his assassination by Julius Caesar’s adopted son Octavian when he was only 17 years old.

ARTIST NOTES: Since there are no definitive sculptures or images of either of his parents Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, piecing together a likeness of Caesarion requires just as much guesswork.

It can only be presumed that he was the son of Julius Caesar, as Cleopatra claimed, and while there were those who indicated that Caesarion seemed to have inherited Julius Caesar’s looks and his manner, there were others who, possibly for political motivations, were intent on proving that JC could NOT have been Caesarion’s father. The very fact that Caesarion was murdered by Julius Caesar’s adopted son seems to add a lot of weight to the assumption that Caesarion was a legitimate heir and therefore more of a threat.

There is a Roman painting from Pompeii from the early 1st Century AD which purports to depict Cleopatra in the act of taking poison while Caesarion—somehow looking a bit too large and muscular for a mere teenager—looks on behind her. Since both Cleopatra and Caesarion were long dead by the time that fresco was painted, it wouldn’t be incorrect to presume that their appearances were more symbolic than realistic.

For my own part, what little is assumed to be correct about Cleopatra and Julius Caesar’s physical appearance led me to settle on giving Caesarion dark hair and eyes. Being active in the desert sun would have given him richly tanned skin over whatever skin tone he already possessed. If he took after his father’s features, he would likely have had long, flat brows and a "boxy" chin. Some sculptures believed to be Caesarion support these features.

"Caesarion" 2020. Original Digital Art (c) M.A. Ludwig

Music "Cleopatra" composed & performed by M.A. Ludwig (c) 2011
A variation available in album "Grandeur" (c) 2011
https://music.apple.com/album/478529135?app=itunes&ls=1

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Видео The Face of Caesarion (Artistic Reconstruction) канала JudeMaris