"Queen Cleopatra", produced by Jada Pinkett Smith and presented as "based on reconstructions and expert testimony", will be broadcast on May 10 on the video-on-demand platform.

The trailer assures that this docu-fiction traces the life of the last pharaoh of Egypt, "fighting to defend his throne, his family and his work", but even before its broadcast, it arouses a lively controversy in Egypt.

Many netizens saw it as a rewriting of history while an online petition, titled "Stop the documentary about Cleopatra on Netflix for historical falsification", collected more than 40,000 signatures.

And, in a country where voices regularly call for Netflix to be banned for content deemed offensive to Egypt or "its family values", MP Saboura al-Sayyed has asked Parliament for the umpteenth time to ban the platform.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Antiquities issued a lengthy statement quoting many experts, all adamant: Cleopatra had "white skin and Hellenistic features," they all conclude.

"The bas-reliefs and statues of Queen Cleopatra are the best proof of this," the ministry continues in its text embellished with tetradrachms, Greek coins, and marble statues representing Cleopatra with European features.

For Mustafa Waziri, patron of Egyptian Antiquities, representing the sovereign as a black woman is nothing but a "falsification of Egyptian history".

But this call to order is mainly motivated by "the defense of the story of Queen Cleopatra, which is an important part of the history of ancient Egypt, regardless of any racial considerations," he said.

Regularly in Egypt, Internet users and commentators denounce campaigns, mainly from African-American groups, claiming the origin of Egyptian civilization.

An alabaster statuette of Cleopatra discovered near the temple of Tasposiris Magna near Borg al-Arab west of Alexandria, April 19, 2009 © - / EGYPTIAN SUPREME COUNCIL OF ANTI/AFP/Archives

Cleopatra belonged to the Macedonian dynasty of the Lagids, descended from the general Ptolemy became, during the division of the empire of Alexander the Great, king of Egypt who saw the flourishing of the Hellenistic civilization on the banks of the Nile.

If legend has it that the queen born around 69 BC was of great beauty, her appearance and skin color remain largely subject to interpretation.

In 2009, a BBC documentary claimed that she had African blood, but did not arouse passions.

© 2023 AFP