A new Netflix series has sparked a backlash in Egypt by portraying Cleopatra as black.

A trailer for the new historical series shows the first century ruler of Egypt as a woman of black African descent, after producer Jada Pinkett Smith - the wife of actor Will Smith - cited the importance of telling “stories about black queens”

The decision to cast a black actress in the role of the queen has caused anger in Egypt, where experts have argued that the queen was of European descent and not black.

It has been pointed out that the ruler was descended from Ptolemy, a general of Alexander the Great, making the queen of “light-skinned” Macedonian Greek heritage.

Leading Egyptian archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass has released a statement online saying that “Cleopatra was not black”.

He added: “The film that is coming on Netflix is not accurate and gives wrong information on ancient Egypt. Cleopatra was Greek and she was similar to the queens and princesses of Macedonia.”

Dr Hawass cited the appearance of the queen in statuary and depictions of her father and brother as further evidence that she was not of black African descent.

According to reports in the country, Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud Al-Semari submitted a request to the Attorney General to have Netflix blocked to prevent the controversial Cleopatra series being broadcast.

The decision to cast a non-white Cleopatra, played by mixed-race actress Adele James, came from the desire of producers to represent black people on screen.

American actress and executive producer on the project, Pinkett Smith, previously explained:  “I really wanted to represent black women.

“We don’t often get to see or hear stories about black queens, and that was really important for me”

She added: “The sad part is that we don’t have ready access to these historical women who were so powerful and were the backbones of African nations.”

The notion that Cleopatra was black has been proposed by a number of Afrocentist scholars, although the theory has been largely dismissed in academia.

Some have suggested that while Cleopatra, the last ruler of pre-Roman Egypt, was directly descended from an unbroken male Greek line, the wives of these Ptolemaic rulers may have had more mixed ancestry. This would not entail that it was black African ancestry.

Ptolemy I was ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt after Alexander’s death, when his empire was broken up between his generals.

His dynasty came to an end with Roman conquest in the first century BC when Julius Caesar famously became embroiled with the queen.