Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety

This marble bust is believed to be the real Queen Cleopatra. If you're a fan of Hollywood's version, perhaps you'll be disappointed—this Cleopatra is pretty average looking.

Accounts of early historians support that Egypt's most famous queen was not some unsurpassable beauty; Plutarch wrote that her looks "were not such as to strike all who saw her."

Being physically gorgeous was never Cleopatra's special power. It was her charisma along with her political and sexual power that made her irresistible to men, including two of the most famous men who ever lived: Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.

Supposedly, she was intensely charming. She had personality and presence. She was commanding, magnetic, mysterious, witty, hard to pin down—this is exactly the complicated, awe-inspiring Cleopatra that Shakespeare brought to life.

Shakespeare's Cleopatra is larger than life, and so is his Antony. While Romeo and Juliet takes place in the little world of their home city, Antony and Cleopatra's love story is huge, spanning empires. From Egypt to Rome, the entire world is their stage where we watch them live and fall.