What did Julius Caesar look like in real life?

Queen Charlotte already had her turn, now it’s time for Queen Cleopatra to take over Netflix. The platform’s new series about the most famous ruler of Egypt hit the screens on May 10, and it quickly led to the rise of some questions from viewers.

Before the show even premiered, controversy was sparked due to Netflix’s casting choices, especially that of the titular character, played by Adele James. Since the series was promoted as a four-part documentary, you’d expect it to reflect real-life historical events and figures accurately, but according to many, that’s not the case. The situation even led to Netflix facing legal trouble for its depiction of Cleopatra, who is portrayed as a Black woman in the show.

Now, as more Netflix users tune in to the docuseries, they’re questioning if the portrayal of Julius Caesar (played by John Partridge) is to be trusted.

What did Julius Caesar look like?

Unfortunately for us modern folks, photographs had obviously not yet been invented during Julius Caesar’s lifetime. Because of that, it’s difficult to ascertain what the Roman general truly looked like, as we’re forced to rely on others’ descriptions and portrayals of him.

Currently, there is only one bust believed to have been created while Caesar was still alive, which is known as the Tusculum portrait. In it, Caesar is portrayed with short, thinning hair, but not buzzed as we see in the Netflix series. He also appears to have had a type of cranial deformity, which made his head longer than usual in comparison to its width, and an accentuated nose. Much like Cleopatra, Caesar is typically portrayed as a light-skinned person, but that is still a debated subject.

All episodes of Queen Cleopatra are currently available for streaming on Netflix.