By Grant Smith, education reporter

THIS IS the face of a woman who could have been one of the most famous and important figures of the ancient world.

Instead for centuries Arsinoe has languished as a mere footnote in Egyptian history, while the name of her elder sister Cleopatra is known by millions.

But now, thanks to forensic art experts at Dundee University, her image has been brought back to life and her story will be told in a television documentary tonight.

Arsinoe was born into Egypt’s ruling family at a time when the country’s power and influence was being eclipsed by that of the Romans. For the pharaohs, violent death was an occupational hazard.

A civil war broke out, with Arsinoe and her brother Ptolemy on one side and Cleopatra—backed by Julius Caesar—on the other. After losing, Arsinoe spent several years in exile in Ephesus, in what is now Turkey.

However, her sister had gone on to seduce another powerful Roman, Mark Antony, and it is thought that she ordered him to have Arsinoe killed in 41BC to secure her position.

Remains believed to be those of Arsinoe were found at Ephesus and it was pictures of the skull that have enabled the Dundee team, in the unit for forensic and medical art, to reconstruct her likeness.

A 3-D computer model of her head was created, to which skin, hair and facial features were added.

Unit head Dr Caroline Wilkinson explained, “The skull that was found is not complete, but from examining the bone structure and shape we are able to add the lower part of the jaw and then render the skull as a full 3D model.

“Digital artist Janice Aitken then adds skin colour, hair and eye colour. To do that we combine aspects of the forensic evidence with the historical data to gain a picture of how the person would look.”

Deciding on her skin colour was a task Janice was able to find help with close to home.

She said, “Although it is not possible to tell the exact skin, eye and hair colour from the skull, the historical background information and shape of the skull suggested a mixed ancestry.

“Last year, through the internet, I was lucky enough to meet for the first time my half-sister from my dad’s second marriage. She is an attractive young woman in her early 20s and her parents are from different ethnic backgrounds.

“When I was looking for references for the colouring of Arsinoe’s face, I was intrigued by the similarities. Subsequently, I used my sister as a reference when I estimated the skin colour and eyes.”

This is not the first time the forensic art team has been asked to recreate the face of a someone from history—last year they came up with a portrait of the composer Bach for a museum in his home town in Germany.

The unit assists in the identification of human remains and archaeological investigations.

The documentary, Cleopatra—Portrait of a Killer, will be shown on BBC One at 9pm tonight.