Cleopatra VII’s family had been ruling Egypt since 305 B. C. , when Ptolemy I declared himself King of Egypt sometime after Alexander the Great’s death. The Ptolemy family was of Macedonian decent, not of Egyptian. The capital city which they ruled from, Alexandria, had been established by Alexander and is a port city on the Mediterranean and Nile River. This made Alexandria very important commercially, and it also became an intellectually and artistically important city as well.
Cleopatra VII’s father was Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos “Auletes”, who began his rule of Egypt in 80 B. C. He was not well respected and thought weak, as is exhibited by his popular nickname “Auletes”, which means “flute-player” in Greek. Cleopatra VII’s mother could possibly be Cleopatra V Tryphaena, who either died or disappeared in 68 B. C. , right after Cleopatra VII’s birth in 69 B. C. Cleopatra VII had two older sisters, Cleopatra VI and Berenice IV, and one younger sister, Arsinoe IV. She also had two younger brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. In 58 B. C. Berenice IV (and perhaps Cleopatra VI) took over the kingdom, forcing Ptolemy XII “Auletes” to flee to Rome.
Berenice IV ruled the kingdom until Ptolemy XII “Auletes” regained the throne in 55 B. C. Berenice IV was beheaded, and Cleopatra VI disappeared in the intervening time between 58 and 55 B. C. Ptolemy XII “Auletes” then ruled until his death in 51 B. C. His will named Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII as heirs to the throne. Leaders in Rome were named as guardians and were to uphold the choice of Ptolemy XII for the two to marry and jointly rule Egypt. These brother-sister marriages had been established as custom by Ptolemy II when he married his sister Arsinoe II.
From now on Cleopatra VII will be referred to simply as Cleopatra unless otherwise indicated) Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII ruled jointly and did marry, though it was a marriage solely in law. Cleopatra, aged about 18 years, and Ptolemy XII, 10 years, were named Queen and King of Egypt in 51 B. C. Cleopatra did most of the ruling, and left Ptolemy XIII out of it. Ptolemy XIII, being young, served as a puppet for power-hungry advisers (in particular a minister named Pothinus) and in 48 B. C. kicked Cleopatra out of the palace.
Cleopatra retaliated by building her own army outside the city. Civil war was on the brink. Meanwhile in Rome, there was also a civil war between Pompey (the Great) and Julius Caesar. Pompey had been an ally of the Egyptians and, in an attempt to gain help, he fled to Egypt. Pothinus, knowing that Caesar would win, convinced Ptolemy XIII that it would be best to have Pompey beheaded. Pompey was stabbed in front of his wife by Lucius Septimius, who had once served under Pompey. Lucius Septimius was accompanied by Achillas, general of the Egyptian army.
Pothinus had the head of Pompey saved to display for Caesar. Caesar had been in pursuit of Pompey, and when he arrived in Egypt he was housed in the palace and presented Pompey’s head. Pothinus thought that this would convince Caesar that he should join Ptolemy XIII’s side in the civil war. Caesar had not been enchanted, however, by Pompey’s head being presented to him. Caesar had been friends with Pompey and did not desire to have him treated so disrespectfully. Cleopatra, outside the city, knew it was imperative that she get to Caesar and have him hear her side of the story.
As the legend goes, she had herself smuggled into the palace in a rug. She did this because it would have been impossible to gain access to the palace without Ptolemy XIII discovering and killing her. Caesar was enchanted by the young queen and the two spent the night together. Ptolemy was called to an audience the next day and was dismayed to find that Cleopatra was at his side. What had begun as a war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII evolved into a war between Ptolemy XIII allied with Arsinoe IV against Caesar. This is refereed to as the Alexandrian War.
Cyprus had been given back to Egypt by Caesar, and Arsinoe IV and Ptolemy XIV had been named rulers. Arsinoe appeared to believe that she should also be Queen of Egypt, hence her alliance with Ptolemy XIII against Caesar. During the Alexandrian War it had been reported that the great Library of Alexandria had burned. The Library contained the greatest amount of books in any library at the time. It appears that not the Library but a warehouse of books, possibly for export, had burned near the harbor (where the fire began aboard ships).
The placement of the Library was too far inland for this to have happened. Caesar may have had Pothinus beheaded because of what he did to Pompey, or he may have died in the fighting. Either way, he was dead or missing. Ptolemy XIII, hearing of this, threw his crown down and stormed out of the palace. He supposedly later drowned trying to leave the city. Arsinoe IV was taken prisoner by Caesar to be displayed as a spoil of war in Rome. Cleopatra was then restored to the throne and again married to her brother, Ptolemy XIV. It was 47 B. C. , and Cleopatra was 22 years old, and Ptolemy XIV was 12.
Cleopatra again acted as sole ruler, and this time managed to keep Ptolemy XIV from influence. Since Arsinoe IV was considered a traitor, Cyprus was now under the direct rule of Cleopatra (and, officially, Ptolemy XIV). Cleopatra chose to show Caesar her country with a cruise on the Nile. Records of the cruise give us little information on their trip, but it is very likely that Cleopatra became pregnant either while she was in Alexandria with Caesar or during their trip. Either way, she claimed Caesar was the father, though whether this is true is debatable.
Caesar had only one child, a daughter named Julia, and had had many affairs with women that never produced children. Caesar’s alleged son was probably born in 47 B. C. Most sources roughly claim this as his birth year, though some sources claim he was born as late as 44 B. C. , which would place his birth after Caesar’s death. If he was born in 47 B. C. , Caesar had left for Rome shortly before his birth. Cleopatra’s son was officially named Ptolemy XV Caesar, but he was popularly called “Caesarion”, meaning “Little Caesar”. As stated before, Arsinoe IV had been taken prisoner by Caesar.
Arsinoe IV appeared in Caesar’s March of Triumph in 46 B. C. She was marched through the streets of Rome loaded down with chains. Caesar arranged for Arsinoe IV to leave Rome instead of be beheaded, as was the usual practice with prisoners of war. She went to Ephesus, in Asia Minor. Contrary to the 1963 movie, Cleopatra most likely didn’t attend the Triumph because her presence there does not seem to appear in any ancient documents. Her presence would have caused quite a stir and would have been recorded by her contemporaries.
Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV and Caesarion went to Rome as Caesar’s guests in 46 B. C. and stayed a villa of his outside of Rome. Cleopatra remained in Rome for about 2 years. On the Ides of March in 44 B. C. , Caesar was assassinated outside the Senate Building in Rome. Most of the senators thought he posed a threat to the well-being of the republic, because they believed that he was going to have himself declared king. Soon after Caesar’s death Cleopatra left Rome and returned to Egypt. Ptolemy XIV is thought to have survived the voyage back to Egypt, but he died soon after. He may have died of natural causes, or Cleopatra may have had him killed.
This is possible because he was 15 years old and would probably start to assert his right to the throne. Mark Antony, who she had meet in Rome, became part of the Second Triumvirate composed of himself, Octavian (later Augustus) and Lepidus. A Triumvirate was a dictatorship where 3 people held power jointly for five years, meaning that these three men held total power over the Roman world. Antony was in charge of the eastern provinces, Octavian was in charge of Rome and Gaul, and Lepidus was in charge of northern Africa.
In 42 B. C. Ledipus lost some power (yet remained a triumvir) because he was suspected of giving asylum to an enemy of the republic (and reported pirate): Pompey Sextus, son of the Pompey the Great. In 41 B. C. Antony summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus. Antony was in need of money to launch a campaign against the Parthians, and he hoped Cleopatra would give him the money he needed. As legend says, she met him dressed as Aphrodite, goddess of love. Antony was enamored with her. Antony then spent the winter in Alexandria with her. Cleopatra agreed to provide him with money on the condition that Arsinoe IV be executed.
Cleopatra most likely felt threatened by her continual existence, and persuaded Antony to get rid of her on the grounds that she might have helped his enemies in the recent battles at Phillipi. Antony agreed to the terms and Arsinoe IV was executed. Antony married Octavia, Octavian’s sister, in 40 B. C. He married Octavia to seal a deal with Octavian. It stated that after the Triumvirate ended the two would both rule the Roman world, though they allowed Lepidus to remain in northern Africa and govern the area. Octavian held all of western Europe and Antony held the eastern end of the Roman world.
This same year Cleopatra gave birth to twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios, the sun and the moon. Surely she was very unhappy that Antony had married Octavia, and no doubt even angrier when Octavia became pregnant. In 37 B. C. Antony sent Octavia back to Rome to her brother. He then went to Alexandria to be with Cleopatra. Antony proceeded to give her and her children quite a bit of land in the east around the Red Sea. In about 36 B. C. Cleopatra began ruling with her son, Ptolemy XV Caesar. She also gave birth to another child by Antony, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
When Antony invaded Armenia in 34 B. C. , he held the triumph march in Alexandria. As part of the festivities, there were public banquets and distributions of money. He apparently did not intend for this to be a traditional Roman Triumph, but the Roman people thought it was. Enraged Romans felt that they should be recieving the food and money and Antony’s reputation in Rome worsened. Also in 34 B. C. Cleopatra and her children received land from Antony. Cleopatra Selene, Cleopatra’s six year old daughter, was made Queen of Crete and Cyrenaica (on the northern coast of Africa).
Alexander Helios, also six years old, was made King of Armenia and overlord of Media. Media already had a king, and in fact Alexander Helios was betrothed to his daughter, but now Alexander held a higher position than the King. The youngest, Ptolemy Philadelphus (then two years old), was named King of Syria and overlord of part of Asia Minor. Cleopatra’s title became Queen of Kings and Ptolemy XV Caesar was named King of Kings. Now the Ptolemaic empire covered a large portion of the eastern Mediterranean world. These additions to the Ptolemaic empire are referred to as the Donations of Alexandria.
The Donations were no doubt unpopular in Rome and did not help Antony and Cleopatra’s reputations in Rome. In 32 B. C. Octavian declared war on Cleopatra, not Antony. Romans felt it was much better to declare war on the foreign queen that they believed was influencing Antony than on Antony himself. The final battle took place at Actium, in Greece. The battle was in 31 B. C. and was horribly planned on Antony’ and Cleopatra’s part. As legend goes, during the battle Cleopatra deserted and Antony, infatuated as he was with her, followed. This might have been pure propaganda by Octavian, or it might have actually happened.
If it did, there is the possibility that Cleopatra and Antony had planned this beforehand for whatever reasons. They fled to Egypt and Ocatvian waited until a year later to pursue them. Upon returning to Egypt Cleopatra and Antony decked their ships out so it appeared that the battle had been successful. They wished to be greeted favorably in Egypt. Antony spent time in a tower in the harbor called the Timonium, where he moped, and eventually he returned to the palace. Cleopatra planned to send Caesarion away, perhaps to India, so he might escape harm from Octavian and retain the throne of Egypt.
Cleopatra might have been planning to go east also and establish herself there. Cleopatra was arranging for ships to be moved from the Nile to the Red Sea, but this plan was unsuccessful. As it was, she stayed in Egypt. Both she and Antony sent bribes to Octavian asking him to leave them in peace, but none were successful. Cleopatra built a mausoleum where she amassed her wealth and planned to spend eternity. Octavian was nearing Egypt and on hearing this sent messages claiming she would be treated well when captured because he feared that she would set fire to her valuable, collected items.
When Octavian finally came in 30 B. C. , Cleopatra shut herself in her mausoleum with her two servants, Iras and Charmion. Antony heard this and, believing she was dead, killed himself. As he lay dying he was brought to Cleopatra in the mausoleum and died. While Cleopatra was talking to a person outside the door (sent to distract her) members of Octavian’s staff climbed up to the opened window used to bring Antony in. She was taken prisoner and moved to the palace, where she killed herself. Her servants Iras and Charmion also committed suicide, and when the three were found Cleopatra was dead.
Iras and Charmion were nearly dead at her side. A guard, seeing Charmion adjusting Cleopatra’s diadem, asked, “Charmion, was this right? ” And Charmion replied, “It is entirely right and fitting for a queen descended from so many kings. ” How did she die? Legend says she poisoned herself with an asp bite. She could have used any of the many types of poisons known at the time, though the snake story has been the most popular. There were two pricks on her arm which might have been caused by a snake, but then they might have been caused by an armband she was wearing.
No evidence of a snake or any poison was found. No one knows for sure how she died. Caesarion was strangled by his tutor, Rhodon, on their way out of Egypt. The rest of Cleopatra’s children might have been raised by Octavian’s wife. Cleopatra Selene married King Juba II of Mauretania. They had a son which they named Ptolemy who gained the throne in 23 A. D. and ruled until he was killed by Caligula 40 years later. Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus were not killed; they may have gone to live with their sister in Mauretania but it is not known what happened to them.
