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Cleopatra VII Philopator
Cleopatra VII Philopator ("father-loving"): queen of the Ptolemaic Empire, ruled from 51 to 30.
Relatives
- Father: Ptolemy XII Auletes
- Mother: An Egyptian lady from a Memphite priestly family
- First husband: Gaius Julius Caesar
- Son: Caesarion
- Second husband: Mark Antony
- Children: the twins Alexander Helius and Cleopatra Selene (married to king Juba II of Mauretania), Ptolemy Philadelphus
Main deeds
- December 70 / January 69: Born
- February/March 51: Death of Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII Auletes.
- Summer 50: Cleopatra accepts her brother Ptolemy XIII as co-ruler
- Summer 49: Sole rule of Ptolemy XIII, recognized by both Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, and his opponent, Pompey the Great
- Cleopatra remains queen in the Thebaid, and accepts another brother, Ptolemy XIV, as co-ruler
- 48: Cleopatra tries to return, but her army is defeated near Pelusium.
- 48: Caesar defeats Pompey (battle of Pharsalus); Pompey flees to Egypt and is killed by courtiers of Ptolemy XIII
- Caesar arrives in Egypt and orders Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII to disband their armies, but instead, war breaks out (text)
- January 47: Ptolemy XIII is killed in action
- Ptolemy XIV and his sister Arsinoe IV are made rulers of Cyprus
- Spring 47: Cleopatra VII is sole ruler of Egypt; she presents herself as the goddess Isis
- 23 June 47: Birth of a son, named Caesarion; Caesar is said to be the father
- 46: Ptolemy XIV is recognized as Cleopatra's co-ruler again; the two are in Rome
- March 44: Julius Caesar is killed (text); Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV return to Egypt, where Ptolemy is soon killed and Caesarion recognized as king; first of a series of bad harvests
- Summer 43: Cleopatra has achieved control of Cyprus; she supports the faction of Caesar, led by the Second Triumvirate (Mark Antony, Octavian, Lepidus), in its war against the assassins, led by Brutus and Cassius
- 42: Battle of Philippi: the triumvirs defeat Brutus and Cassius; Mark Antony will visit the east
- 41: Cleopatra meets Mark Antony in Tarsus. The Roman needs the Egyptian queen in his war against the Parthian Empire, and returns the rule of old Ptolemaic territories to her
- 40: Birth of the twins Alexander Helius and Cleopatra Selene
- 37: Mark Antony gives Chalkis (the Bekaa valley) and parts of Cilicia and Chalkis to Cleopatra; later, she is allowed to govern, as vassal, parts of Phoenicia, Judaea (cordial relations with king Herod), Cyrenaica, and Crete
- 37: Mark Antony and his wife Octavia are separated
- 36: Mark Antony's Parthian War
- 34: Mark Antony invades Armenia and takes its king Artavasdes II captive; triumph; Cleopatra is called "new Isis" and "queen of kings"
- 32: Mark Antony divorces his wive Octavia; outbreak of war between Octavian and Mark Antony
- 31: Mark Antony and Cleopatra move to Greece, where they are isolated by Octavian's admiral Agrippa; although they are able to win a tactical victory and break out of their isolated position at Actium, the campaign is a distaster and Octavian is able to achieve control of the east
- Cleopatra flees to Alexandria and opens negotiations with Octavian; her purpose is to save her children and keep the Ptolemaic kingdom intact; Artavasdes II is executed
- 12 August 30: After Octavian has declined to negotiate, Cleopatra reportedly commits suicide; Mark Antony does the same. Their children survive, but Caesarion is killed.
Egyptian title: Nejeret-merites ("Father-loving goddess", i.e., Philopator)
Succeeded by: Annexation by the Roman empire
Information on the web
- E.R. Bevan, The House of Ptolemy (1927), chapter 13.
- B.L. Ulman, "Cleopatra's Pearls", in the Classical Journal 52 (1957)