The Library › Reel II · The Queen Bee

Did Cleopatra have a big nose? Where does ‘Cleopatra’s nose’ come from?

The line is Blaise Pascal’s, from his Pensées, notes published after he died in 1662: had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed. He was making a point about love and small causes. The nose itself is on her own portrait coins, which show a prominent, hooked profile, though coin portraits were stylized.

The receipts

1. Pascal’s Pensées, no. 162 (W. F. Trotter translation), Project Gutenberg
2. Cleopatra’s Nose, Blaise Pascal, World History Encyclopedia

More from this shelf

• Did Cleopatra really arrive rolled in a carpet?Rumor
• Did Cleopatra dissolve a pearl in vinegar to win a bet with Mark Antony?Disputed
• Did Cleopatra die from the bite of an asp?Disputed
• Was Cleopatra famously beautiful?Disputed
• Did Cleopatra speak many languages?True
• Was Caesarion really Julius Caesar’s son?Disputed