A Netflix documentary series depicting Queen Cleopatra VII as a black African has sparked controversy in Egypt.

A lawyer has filed a complaint accusing “Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra” of violating media laws and aiming to “erase Egyptian identity.”

One archaeologist insisted that Cleopatra was “light-skinned, not black”.

But the producer said her “legacy is very much debated” and the actress who played her told critics “if you don’t like the actors, don’t watch the show”.

Adele James commented in a tweet, which featured compilations of abusive comments that included racist slurs.

Cleopatra was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and was the last queen of a Greek-speaking dynasty founded by the Macedonian general Ptolemy of Alexander the Great.

She succeeded her father Ptolemy XII in 51 BC and ruled until her death in 30 BC. Egypt then fell under Roman rule.

The identity of Cleopatra’s mother is unknown, and historians say it is possible that she, or some other female ancestor, was an indigenous Egyptian or from somewhere else in Africa.

Netflix’s companion website Tudum reported in February that the choice to cast Adele James, a mixed-race British actress, as Cleopatra in its new documentary series was a nod to age-old dilemmas about the ruler’s race.

Jada Pinkett Smith, the American actress who served as executive producer and showrunner, meanwhile, was quoted as saying “we don’t get to see or hear stories about black queens very often, and that was really important to me, and to my daughter, and for my community to be able to know those stories because there are a lot of them!”

But when the trailer was released last week, many Egyptians condemned the depiction of Cleopatra.

Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptologist and former antiquities minister, told al-Masry al-Youm newspaper “this is completely false. Cleopatra was Greek, which means she was fair-skinned, not black.”

Hawass said the only rulers of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BCE).

“Netflix is ​​trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and misleading facts that the origin of Egyptian civilization is black,” he added, and called on Egyptians to take a stand against the streaming giant.

On Sunday, lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint with the public prosecutor asking him to take the “necessary legal measures” and block access to Netflix services in Egypt.

He claimed the series included material and visual content that violated Egypt’s media laws and accused Netflix of trying to “promote Afrocentric thought which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing Egyptian identity.”

Three years ago, plans for a Cleopatra movie starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot sparked a heated debate on social media, with some insisting that the role should go to an Arab or African actress.