Verified answer

the best way to describe indentity of Cleopatra would be

She was Greek in blood

<Greek heritage ruled Egypt after Alexander for 2,300 years>

but was an Egyptian in soul

<she thought + acted like an Egyptian>

Cleopatra was the last of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt from the 4th century BC, when Alexander conquered Egypt and made his general Ptolemy the new ruler. The Ptolemies were Greek, but of course they may have intermarried with Egyptian women, so Cleopatra might have some Egyptian blood somewhere along the line.

At any rate, she was the first member of her family to bother to learn the Egyptian language, and she liked to identify herself with the Egyptian goddess Isis, so she evidently had some affinity for Egyptian culture.

Cleopatra's full name was Cleopatra VII Philopater. She was descended from Ptolemy I Soter, who was a general under Alexander the Great. When Ptolemy I was instituted as governor of Egypt, he did not seek to destroy their culture, but rather to integrate into it. Ptolemy I revived the ancient title of Pharaoh, reinstituted worship of the old Egyptian Gods, and led Egypt through a relatively cosmopolitan and prosperous era not seen since the New Kingdom, as it was the first time Egypt had existed independently of a mesopotamian hegemony in centuries.

The descendants of the Greek Ptolemy I, often called the Ptolemaic dynasty, were Greek ethnically, but preserved and even to an extent returned the customs of the old regime. It can be easy to confuse Cleopatra for an ethnic Egyptian, since virtually all depictions of her (and the rest of her dynasty) are done in traditional Egyptian style as opposed to the Hellenistic style of the other Greek Successor states to Alexander

Cleopatra was born to the Ptolomy dynasty. this traced its lineage back to Macedonia and one of Alexander the Great's generals. The Macedonians in turn were essentailly Greeks, though until the time of Phillip and his son Alexander were considered to be their equivelent of our modern day hillbillies.

But Cleopatra was born and raised in Egypt, and was the first Ptolemy to actually speak egyptian. Thus, she was as Egyptian as any of her subjects. The Ptolemys had gone so far as to take up such Egyptian/Pharoenic habits as incest. A comparison might be made to Richard the Lionhearted. Was he a French king, or an English one? He came from Norman stock, and was descended from William of Normandy. At what point does the invader cease to be an invader and become a native of the land?

Alexander the Great conquered expanded the Greek Empire in about 300bc.

Egypt was conquered from the Persians at this time. After Alexander's death, his generals divided the Empire. Ptolemy ruled Egypt, founding Egypt's Ptolmic Dynasty. Cleopatra (VII) was something like the 18th ruler of this dynasty.

So, to answer your question, she was Greek by DNA, but her family had ruled (and lived in) Egypt for 300 years.

Cleopatra can be seen as Egyptian and Greek. She would be Egyptian provincially and Greek nationally.

She ruled Egypt, which was like a modern day Province in Canada or France, but was part of the Greek "country".

If say, you would think of someone from the American state Alaska as Alaskan than you would think of Cleopatra as being Egyptian, but if you would think of an Alaskan as American than you would think of Cleopatra as being Greek. Whatever you think.