Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Koinē Greek:

Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ;[5] 69 BC – 10
August 30 BC) was queen of the Ptolemaic
Kingdom of Egypt, and its last active
ruler.[note 5] A member of the Ptolemaic
dynasty, she was a descendant of its
founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian
Greek general and companion of
Alexander the Great.[note 6] After the death
of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of
the Roman Empire, marking the end of the
second to last Hellenistic state and the
age that had lasted since the reign of
Alexander (336–323 BC).[note 7] Her native
language was Koine Greek, and she was
the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the
Egyptian language.[note 8]
 Cleopatra

The Berlin Cleopatra, a Roman sculpture of

Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem, mid-1st
century BC (around the time of her visits to
Rome in 46–44 BC), discovered in an Italian
villa along the Via Appia and now located in
the Altes Museum in Germany.[1][2][3][note 1]

Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom

Reign 51–30 BC
(21 years)[4]

Predecessor Ptolemy XII Auletes

Successor Ptolemy XV
Caesarion[note 2]
Co-rulers Ptolemy XII Auletes
Ptolemy XIII Theos
Philopator
Ptolemy XIV
Ptolemy XV Caesarion

Born Early 69 BC
Alexandria, Ptolemaic
Kingdom

Died 10 August 30 BC

(aged 39)[note 3]
Alexandria, Roman
Egypt

Burial Unlocated tomb

(probably in Egypt)
Spouse Ptolemy XIII Theos
Philopator
Ptolemy XIV
Mark Antony
Issue Caesarion
Alexander Helios
Cleopatra Selene II
Ptolemy Philadelphus

Names

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator

Dynasty Ptolemaic

Father Ptolemy XII Auletes

Mother Presumably Cleopatra

VI Tryphaena (also
known as Cleopatra V
Cleopatra VII in hieroglyphs

Cleopatra
Qlwpdrt
Horus name (1): Wer(et)-neb(et)-neferu-
achet-seh
Wr(.t)-nb(.t)-nfrw-3ḫ(t)-sḥ
The great Lady of perfection, excellent in
counsel
 Horus name (2): Weret-tut-en-it-es
Wr.t-twt-n-jt=s
The great one, sacred image of her father
 Cleopatra netjeret mer(et) ites
Qlwpdrt nṯrt mr(t) jts
The goddess Cleopatra who is beloved of

In 58 BC, Cleopatra presumably

accompanied her father, Ptolemy XII
Auletes, during his exile to Rome after a
revolt in Egypt (a Roman client state)
allowing his daughter Berenice IV to claim
the throne. Berenice was killed in 55 BC
when Ptolemy returned to Egypt with
Roman military assistance. When he died
in 51 BC, the joint reign of Cleopatra and
her brother Ptolemy XIII began, but a
falling-out between them led to open civil
war. After losing the 48 BC Battle of
Pharsalus in Greece against his rival Julius
Caesar (a Roman dictator and consul) in
Caesar's Civil War, the Roman statesman
Pompey fled to Egypt. Pompey had been a
political ally of Ptolemy XII, but Ptolemy
XIII, at the urging of his court eunuchs, had
Pompey ambushed and killed before
Caesar arrived and occupied Alexandria.
Caesar then attempted to reconcile the
rival Ptolemaic siblings, but Ptolemy's
chief adviser Potheinos viewed Caesar's
terms as favoring Cleopatra, so his forces
besieged her and Caesar at the palace.
Shortly after the siege was lifted by
reinforcements, Ptolemy XIII died in the 47
BC Battle of the Nile; Cleopatra's half-sister
Arsinoe IV was eventually exiled to
Ephesus for her role in carrying out the
siege. Caesar declared Cleopatra and her
brother Ptolemy XIV joint rulers but
maintained a private affair with Cleopatra
that produced a son, Caesarion. Cleopatra
traveled to Rome as a client queen in 46
and 44 BC, where she stayed at Caesar's
villa. After the assassinations of Caesar
and (on her orders) Ptolemy XIV in 44 BC,
she named Caesarion co-ruler.

In the Liberators' civil war of 43–42 BC,

Cleopatra sided with the Roman Second
Triumvirate formed by Caesar's
grandnephew and heir Octavian, Mark
Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
After their meeting at Tarsos in 41 BC, the
queen had an affair with Antony. He
carried out the execution of Arsinoe at her
request, and became increasingly reliant
on Cleopatra for both funding and military
aid during his invasions of the Parthian
Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia. The
Donations of Alexandria declared their
children Alexander Helios, Cleopatra
Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus rulers
over various erstwhile territories under
Antony's triumviral authority. This event,
their marriage, and Antony's divorce of
Octavian's sister Octavia Minor led to the
Final War of the Roman Republic. Octavian
engaged in a war of propaganda, forced
Antony's allies in the Roman Senate to flee
Rome in 32 BC, and declared war on
Cleopatra. After defeating Antony and
Cleopatra's naval fleet at the 31 BC Battle
of Actium, Octavian's forces invaded Egypt
in 30 BC and defeated Antony, leading to
Antony's suicide. When Cleopatra learned
that Octavian planned to bring her to his
Roman triumphal procession, she killed
herself by poisoning, contrary to the
popular belief that she was bitten by an
asp.
Cleopatra's legacy survives in ancient and
modern works of art. Roman
historiography and Latin poetry produced
a generally critical view of the queen that
pervaded later Medieval and Renaissance
literature. In the visual arts, her ancient
depictions include Roman busts, paintings,
and sculptures, cameo carvings and glass,
Ptolemaic and Roman coinage, and reliefs.
In Renaissance and Baroque art, she was
the subject of many works including
operas, paintings, poetry, sculptures, and
theatrical dramas. She has become a pop
culture icon of Egyptomania since the
Victorian era, and in modern times,
Cleopatra has appeared in the applied and
fine arts, burlesque satire, Hollywood films,
and brand images for commercial
products.

Etymology
The Latinized form Cleopatra comes from
the Ancient Greek Kleopátra (Κλεοπάτρα),
meaning "glory of her father",[6] from
κλέος (kléos, "glory") and πᾰτήρ (patḗr,
"father").[7] The masculine form would
have been written either as Kleópatros
(Κλεόπᾰτρος) or Pátroklos
́ ροκλος).[7] Cleopatra was the name
(Πᾰτ
of Alexander the Great's sister, as well as
Cleopatra Alcyone, wife of Meleager in
Greek mythology.[8] Through the marriage
of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I
Syra (a Seleucid princess), the name
entered the Ptolemaic dynasty.[9][10]
Cleopatra's adopted title Theā ́ Philopátōra
(Θεᾱ́ Φιλοπάτωρα) means "goddess who
loves her father."[11][12][note 9]

Biography

Background

Hellenistic Kingdoms that emerged after the death of

Alexander the Great
 e a de t e G eat

Hellenistic portrait of Ptolemy XII Auletes, the father

of Cleopatra, located in the Louvre, Paris[13]

Ptolemaic pharaohs were crowned by the

Egyptian high priest of Ptah at Memphis,
but resided in the multicultural and largely
Greek city of Alexandria, established by
Alexander the Great of
Macedon.[14][15][16][note 10] They spoke
Greek and governed Egypt as Hellenistic
Greek monarchs, refusing to learn the
native Egyptian language.[17][18][19][note 8] In
contrast, Cleopatra could speak multiple
languages by adulthood and was the first
Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian
language.[20][21][19][note 11] Plutarch implies
that she also spoke Ethiopian, the
language of the "Troglodytes", Hebrew (or
Aramaic), Arabic, the Syrian language
(perhaps Syriac), Median, and Parthian,
and she could apparently also speak Latin,
although her Roman contemporaries
would have preferred to speak with her in
her native Koine Greek.[21][19][22][note 12]
Aside from Greek, Egyptian, and Latin,
these languages reflected Cleopatra's
desire to restore North African and West
Asian territories that once belonged to the
Ptolemaic Kingdom.[23]

Roman interventionism in Egypt predated

the reign of Cleopatra.[24][25][26] When
Ptolemy IX Lathyros died in late 81 BC, he
was succeeded by his daughter Berenice
III.[27][28] However, with opposition building
at the royal court against the idea of a sole
reigning female monarch, Berenice III
accepted joint rule and marriage with her
cousin and stepson Ptolemy XI Alexander
II, an arrangement made by the Roman
dictator Sulla.[27][28] Ptolemy XI had his
wife killed shortly after their marriage in 80
BC, but was lynched soon thereafter in the
resulting riot over the
assassination.[27][29][30] Ptolemy XI, and
perhaps his uncle Ptolemy IX or father
Ptolemy X Alexander I, willed the
Ptolemaic Kingdom to Rome as collateral
for loans, so that the Romans had legal
grounds to take over Egypt, their client
state, after the assassination of Ptolemy
XI.[27][31][32] The Romans chose instead to
divide the Ptolemaic realm among the
illegitimate sons of Ptolemy IX, bestowing
Cyprus to Ptolemy of Cyprus and Egypt to
Ptolemy XII Auletes.[27][29]
Early childhood

Cleopatra VII was born in early 69 BC to

the ruling Ptolemaic pharaoh Ptolemy XII
and an unknown mother,[33][34][note 13]
presumably Ptolemy XII's wife Cleopatra VI
Tryphaena (also known as Cleopatra V
Tryphaena),[35][36][37][note 14][note 4] the
mother of Cleopatra's older sister, Berenice
IV Epiphaneia.[38][39][40][note 15] Cleopatra
Tryphaena disappears from official
records a few months after the birth of
Cleopatra in 69 BC.[41][42] The three
younger children of Ptolemy XII,
Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV and brothers
Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Ptolemy
XIV,[38][39][40] were born in the absence of
his wife.[43][44] Cleopatra's childhood tutor
was Philostratos, from whom she learned
the Greek arts of oration and
philosophy.[45] During her youth Cleopatra
presumably studied at the Musaeum,
including the Library of Alexandria.[46][47]

Reign and exile of Ptolemy XII

In 65 BC the Roman censor Marcus

Licinius Crassus argued before the Roman
Senate that Rome should annex Ptolemaic
Egypt, but his proposed bill and the similar
bill of tribune Servilius Rullus in 63 BC
were rejected.[48][49] Ptolemy XII responded
to the threat of possible annexation by
offering remuneration and lavish gifts to
powerful Roman statesmen, such as
Pompey during his campaign against
Mithridates VI of Pontus, and eventually
Julius Caesar after he became Roman
consul in 59 BC.[50][51][52][note 16] However,
Ptolemy XII's profligate behavior
bankrupted him and he was forced to
acquire loans from the Roman banker
Gaius Rabirius Postumus.[53][54][55]
Most likely a posthumously painted portrait of
Cleopatra with red hair and her distinct facial features,
wearing a royal diadem and pearl-studded hairpins,

from Roman Herculaneum, Italy, 1st century

AD[56][57][note 17]

In 58 BC the Romans annexed Cyprus and

on accusations of piracy drove Ptolemy of
Cyprus, Ptolemy XII's brother, to commit
suicide instead of enduring exile to
Paphos.[58][59][55][note 18] Ptolemy XII
remained publicly silent on the death of his
brother, a decision which, along with
ceding traditional Ptolemaic territory to the
Romans, damaged his credibility among
subjects already enraged by his economic
policies.[58][60][61] Ptolemy XII was then
exiled from Egypt by force, traveling first to
Rhodes, then Athens, and finally the villa of
triumvir Pompey in the Alban Hills, near
Praeneste, Italy.[58][59][62][note 19] Ptolemy XII
spent nearly a year there on the outskirts
of Rome, ostensibly accompanied by his
daughter Cleopatra, then about
11.[58][62][note 20] Berenice IV sent an
embassy to Rome to advocate for her rule
and oppose the reinstatement of her
father Ptolemy XII, but Ptolemy had
assassins kill the leaders of the embassy,
an incident that was covered up by his
powerful Roman
supporters.[63][54][64][note 21] When the
Roman Senate denied Ptolemy XII the
offer of an armed escort and provisions
for a return to Egypt, he decided to leave
Rome in late 57 BC and reside at the
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.[65][66][67]

The Roman financiers of Ptolemy XII

remained determined to restore him to
power.[68] Pompey persuaded Aulus
Gabinius, the Roman governor of Syria, to
invade Egypt and restore Ptolemy XII,
offering him 10,000 talents for the
proposed mission.[68][69][70] Although it put
him at odds with Roman law, Gabinius
invaded Egypt in the spring of 55 BC by
way of Hasmonean Judea, where
Hyrcanus II had Antipater the Idumaean,
father of Herod the Great, furnish the
Roman-led army with supplies.[68][71] As a
young cavalry officer, Mark Antony was
under Gabinius's command. He
distinguished himself by preventing
Ptolemy XII from massacring the
inhabitants of Pelousion, and for rescuing
the body of Archelaos, the husband of
Berenice IV, after he was killed in battle,
ensuring him a proper royal burial.[72][73]
Cleopatra, then 14 years of age, would
have traveled with the Roman expedition
into Egypt; years later, Antony would
profess that he had fallen in love with her
at this time.[72][74]

The Roman Republic (green) and Ptolemaic Egypt

(yellow) in 40 BC

Gabinius was put on trial in Rome for

abusing his authority, for which he was
acquitted, but his second trial for
accepting bribes led to his exile, from
which he was recalled seven years later in
48 BC by Caesar.[75][76] Crassus replaced
him as governor of Syria and extended his
provincial command to Egypt, but he was
killed by the Parthians at the Battle of
Carrhae in 53 BC.[75][77] Ptolemy XII had
Berenice IV and her wealthy supporters
executed, seizing their properties.[78][79][80]
He allowed Gabinius's largely Germanic
and Gallic Roman garrison, the Gabiniani,
to harass people in the streets of
Alexandria and installed his longtime
Roman financier Rabirius as his chief
financial officer.[78][81][82][note 22] Within a
year Rabirius was placed under protective
custody and sent back to Rome after his
life was endangered for draining Egypt of
its resources.[83][84][80][note 23] Despite these
problems, Ptolemy XII created a will
designating Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII as
his joint heirs, oversaw major construction
projects such as the Temple of Edfu and a
temple at Dendera, and stabilized the
economy.[85][84][86][note 24] On 31 May 52 BC
Cleopatra was made a regent of Ptolemy
XII as indicated by an inscription in the
Temple of Hathor at
Dendera.[87][88][89][note 25] Rabirius was
unable to collect the entirety of Ptolemy
XII's debt by the time of the latter's death,
and so it was passed on to his successors
Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII.[83][76]
Accession to the throne

Left: Cleopatra dressed as a pharaoh and presenting

offerings to the goddess Isis, on a limestone stele
dedicated by a Greek man named Onnophris, dated 51
BC, and located in the Louvre, Paris
Right: The cartouches of Cleopatra and Caesarion on
a limestone stele of the High Priest of Ptah in Egypt,
dated to the Ptolemaic period, and located in the
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London

Ptolemy XII died sometime before 22

March 51 BC, when Cleopatra, in her first
act as queen, began her voyage to
Hermonthis, near Thebes, to install a new
sacred Buchis bull, worshiped as an
intermediary for the god Montu in the
Ancient Egyptian religion.[5][90][91][note 26]
Cleopatra faced several pressing issues
and emergencies shortly after taking the
throne. These included famine caused by
drought and a low level of the annual
flooding of the Nile, and lawless behavior
instigated by the Gabiniani, the now
unemployed and assimilated Roman
soldiers left by Gabinius to garrison
Egypt.[92][93] Inheriting her father's debts,
Cleopatra also owed the Roman Republic
17.5 million drachmas.[94]
In 50 BC Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus,
proconsul of Syria, sent his two eldest
sons to Egypt, most likely to negotiate with
the Gabiniani and recruit them as soldiers
in the desperate defense of Syria against
the Parthians.[95] However, the Gabiniani
tortured and murdered these two, perhaps
with secret encouragement by rogue
senior administrators in Cleopatra's
court.[95][96] Cleopatra sent the Gabiniani
culprits to Bibulus as prisoners awaiting
his judgment, but he sent them back to
Cleopatra and chastised her for interfering
in their adjudication, which was the
prerogative of the Roman Senate.[97][96]
Bibulus, siding with Pompey in Caesar's
Civil War, failed to prevent Caesar from
landing a naval fleet in Greece, which
ultimately allowed Caesar to reach Egypt
in pursuit of Pompey.[97]

By 29 August 51 BC, official documents

started listing Cleopatra as the sole ruler,
evidence that she had rejected her brother
Ptolemy XIII as a co-ruler.[94][96][98] She had
probably married him,[77] but there is no
record of this.[5] The Ptolemaic practice of
sibling marriage was introduced by
Ptolemy II and his sister Arsinoe
II.[99][100][101] A long-held royal Egyptian
practice, it was loathed by contemporary
Greeks.[99][100][101][note 27] By the reign of
Cleopatra, however, it was considered a
normal arrangement for Ptolemaic
rulers.[99][100][101]

Despite Cleopatra's rejection of him,

Ptolemy XIII still retained powerful allies,
notably the eunuch Potheinos, his
childhood tutor, regent, and administrator
of his properties.[102][93][103] Others
involved in the cabal against Cleopatra
included Achillas, a prominent military
commander, and Theodotus of Chios,
another tutor of Ptolemy XIII.[102][104]
Cleopatra seems to have attempted a
short-lived alliance with her brother
Ptolemy XIV, but by the autumn of 50 BC
Ptolemy XIII had the upper hand in their
conflict and began signing documents
with his name before that of his sister,
followed by the establishment of his first
regnal date in 49 BC.[5][105][106][note 28]

Assassination of Pompey

A Roman portrait of Pompey made during the reign of

Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original from
70–60 BC, and located in the Venice National
Archaeological Museum Italy
Archaeological Museum, Italy

In the summer of 49 BC, Cleopatra and her

forces were still fighting against Ptolemy
XIII within Alexandria when Pompey's son
Gnaeus Pompeius arrived, seeking military
aid on behalf of his father.[105] After
returning to Italy from the wars in Gaul and
crossing the Rubicon in January of 49 BC,
Caesar had forced Pompey and his
supporters to flee to Greece.[107][108] In
perhaps their last joint decree, both
Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII agreed to
Gnaeus Pompeius's request and sent his
father 60 ships and 500 troops, including
the Gabiniani, a move that helped erase
some of the debt owed to Rome.[107][109]
Losing the fight against her brother,
Cleopatra was then forced to flee
Alexandria and withdraw to the region of
Thebes.[110][111][112] By the spring of 48 BC
Cleopatra had traveled to Roman Syria
with her younger sister, Arsinoe IV, to
gather an invasion force that would head
to Egypt.[113][106][114] She returned with an
army, but her advance to Alexandria was
blocked by her brother's forces, including
some Gabiniani mobilized to fight against
her, so she camped outside Pelousion in
the eastern Nile Delta.[115][106][116]
In Greece, Caesar and Pompey's forces
engaged each other at the decisive Battle
of Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC, leading to
the destruction of most of Pompey's army
and his forced flight to Tyre,
Lebanon.[115][117][118][note 29] Given his close
relationship with the Ptolemies, Pompey
ultimately decided that Egypt would be his
place of refuge, where he could replenish
his forces.[119][118][116][note 30] Ptolemy XIII's
advisers, however, feared the idea of
Pompey using Egypt as his base in a
protracted Roman civil war.[119][120][121] In a
scheme devised by Theodotus, Pompey
arrived by ship near Pelousion after being
invited by a written message, only to be
ambushed and stabbed to death on 28
September 48 BC.[119][117][122][note 31]
Ptolemy XIII believed he had demonstrated
his power and simultaneously defused the
situation by having Pompey's head,
severed and embalmed, sent to Caesar,
who arrived in Alexandria by early October
and took up residence at the royal
palace.[123][124][125][note 31] Caesar
expressed grief and outrage over the
killing of Pompey and called on both
Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra to disband their
forces and reconcile with each
other.[123][126][125][note 32]
Relationship with Julius Caesar

Ptolemy XIII arrived at Alexandria at the

head of his army, in clear defiance of
Caesar's demand that he disband and
leave his army before his arrival.[127][128]
Cleopatra initially sent emissaries to
Caesar, but upon allegedly hearing that
Caesar was inclined to having affairs with
royal women, she came to Alexandria to
see him personally.[127][129][128] Historian
Cassius Dio records that she did so
without informing her brother, dressed in
an attractive manner, and charmed Caesar
with her wit.[127][130][131] Plutarch provides
an entirely different and perhaps mythical
account that alleges she was bound inside
a bed sack to be smuggled into the palace
to meet Caesar.[127][132][133][note 33]

The Tusculum portrait, a contemporary Roman

sculpture of Julius Caesar located in the
Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

When Ptolemy XIII realized that his sister

was in the palace consorting directly with
Caesar, he attempted to rouse the
populace of Alexandria into a riot, but he
was arrested by Caesar, who used his
oratorical skills to calm the frenzied
crowd.[134][135][136] Caesar then brought
Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII before the
assembly of Alexandria, where Caesar
revealed the written will of Ptolemy XII—
previously possessed by Pompey—naming
Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII as his joint
heirs.[137][135][129][note 34] Caesar then
attempted to arrange for the other two
siblings, Arsinoe IV and Ptolemy XIV, to
rule together over Cyprus, thus removing
potential rival claimants to the Egyptian
throne while also appeasing the Ptolemaic
subjects still bitter over the loss of Cyprus
to the Romans in 58 BC.[138][135][139][note 34]

Judging that this agreement favored

Cleopatra over Ptolemy XIII and that the
latter's army of 20,000, including the
Gabiniani, could most likely defeat
Caesar's army of 4,000 unsupported
troops, Potheinos decided to have Achillas
lead their forces to Alexandria to attack
both Caesar and
Cleopatra.[138][135][140][note 35] After Caesar
managed to execute Potheinos, Arsinoe IV
joined forces with Achillas and was
declared queen, but soon afterward had
her tutor Ganymedes kill Achillas and take
his position as commander of her
army.[141][142][143][note 36] Ganymedes then
tricked Caesar into requesting the
presence of the erstwhile captive Ptolemy
XIII as a negotiator, only to have him join
the army of Arsinoe IV.[141][144][145] The
resulting siege of the palace, with Caesar
and Cleopatra trapped together inside,
lasted into the following year of 47
BC.[146][126][147][note 37]

Sometime between January and March of

47 BC, Caesar's reinforcements arrived,
including those led by Mithridates of
Pergamon and Antipater the
Idumaean.[141][126][148][note 38] Ptolemy XIII
and Arsinoe IV withdrew their forces to the
Nile, where Caesar attacked them.
Ptolemy XIII tried to flee by boat, but it
capsized, and he
drowned.[149][126][150][note 39] Ganymedes
may have been killed in the battle.
Theodotus was found years later in Asia,
by Marcus Junius Brutus, and executed.
Arsinoe IV was forcefully paraded in
Caesar's triumph in Rome before being
exiled to the Temple of Artemis at
Ephesus.[151][152][153] Cleopatra was
conspicuously absent from these events
and resided in the palace, most likely
because she had been pregnant with
Caesar's child since September 48
BC.[154][155][156]

Caesar's term as consul had expired at the

end of 48 BC.[151] However, Antony, an
officer of his, helped to secure Caesar's
appointment as dictator lasting for a year,
until October 47 BC, providing Caesar with
the legal authority to settle the dynastic
dispute in Egypt.[151] Wary of repeating the
mistake of Cleopatra's sister Berenice IV in
having a female monarch as sole ruler,
Caesar appointed Cleopatra's 12-year-old
brother, Ptolemy XIV, as joint ruler with the
22-year-old Cleopatra in a nominal sibling
marriage, but Cleopatra continued living
privately with Caesar.[157][126][148][note 40]
The exact date at which Cyprus was
returned to her control is not known,
although she had a governor there by 42
BC.[158][148]

Cleopatra and Caesar (1866), a painting by Jean-Léon

Gérôme

Caesar is alleged to have joined Cleopatra

for a cruise of the Nile and sightseeing of
Egyptian monuments,[126][159][160] although
this may be a romantic tale reflecting later
well-to-do Roman proclivities and not a
real historical event.[161] The historian
Suetonius provided considerable details
about the voyage, including use of
Thalamegos, the pleasure barge
constructed by Ptolemy IV, which during
his reign measured 90 metres (300 ft) in
length and 24 metres (80 ft) in height and
was complete with dining rooms, state
rooms, holy shrines, and promenades
along its two decks, resembling a floating
villa.[161][162] Caesar could have had an
interest in the Nile cruise owing to his
fascination with geography; he was well-
read in the works of Eratosthenes and
Pytheas, and perhaps wanted to discover
the source of the river, but turned back
before reaching Ethiopia.[163][164]

Caesar departed from Egypt around April

47 BC, allegedly to confront Pharnaces II
of Pontus, the son of Mithridates VI of
Pontus, who was stirring up trouble for
Rome in Anatolia.[165] It is possible that
Caesar, married to the prominent Roman
woman Calpurnia, also wanted to avoid
being seen together with Cleopatra when
she bore him their son.[165][159] He left
three legions in Egypt, later increased to
four, under the command of the freedman
Rufio, to secure Cleopatra's tenuous
position, but also perhaps to keep her
activities in check.[165][166][167]

Caesarion, Cleopatra's alleged child with

Caesar, was born 23 June 47 BC and was
originally named "Pharaoh Caesar", as
preserved on a stele at the Serapeum in
Memphis.[168][126][169][note 41] Perhaps
owing to his still childless marriage with
Calpurnia, Caesar remained publicly silent
about Caesarion (but perhaps accepted
his parentage in private).[170][note 42]
Cleopatra, on the other hand, made
repeated official declarations about
Caesarion's parentage, naming Caesar as
the father.[170][171][172]

Egyptian portrait of a Ptolemaic queen, possibly

Cleopatra, c. 51–30 BC, located in the Brooklyn
Museum[173]

Cleopatra and her nominal joint ruler

Ptolemy XIV visited Rome sometime in
late 46 BC, presumably without Caesarion,
and were given lodging in Caesar's villa
within the Horti
Caesaris.[174][169][175][note 43] As with their
father Ptolemy XII, Caesar awarded both
Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV the legal status
of "friend and ally of the Roman people"
(Latin: socius et amicus populi Romani), in
effect client rulers loyal to
Rome.[176][177][178] Cleopatra's visitors at
Caesar's villa across the Tiber included the
senator Cicero, who found her
arrogant.[179][180] Sosigenes of Alexandria,
one of the members of Cleopatra's court,
aided Caesar in the calculations for the
new Julian calendar, put into effect
1 January 45 BC.[181][182][183] The Temple
of Venus Genetrix, established in the
Forum of Caesar on 25 September 46 BC,
contained a golden statue of Cleopatra
(which stood there at least until the 3rd
century AD), associating the mother of
Caesar's child directly with the goddess
Venus, mother of the Romans.[184][182][185]
The statue also subtly linked the Egyptian
goddess Isis with the Roman religion.[179]

Cleopatra's presence in Rome most likely

had an effect on the events at the
Lupercalia festival a month before
Caesar's assassination.[186][187] Antony
attempted to place a royal diadem on
Caesar's head, but the latter refused in
what was most likely a staged
performance, perhaps to gauge the Roman
public's mood about accepting Hellenistic-
style kingship.[186][187] Cicero, who was
present at the festival, mockingly asked
where the diadem came from, an obvious
reference to the Ptolemaic queen whom
he abhorred.[186][187] Caesar was
assassinated on the Ides of March (15
March 44 BC), but Cleopatra stayed in
Rome until about mid-April, in the vain
hope of having Caesarion recognized as
Caesar's heir.[188][189][190] However,
Caesar's will named his grandnephew
Octavian as the primary heir, and Octavian
arrived in Italy around the same time
Cleopatra decided to depart for
Egypt.[188][189][191] A few months later,
Cleopatra had Ptolemy XIV killed by
poisoning, elevating her son Caesarion as
her co-ruler.[192][193][172][note 44]

Cleopatra in the Liberators' civil war

Cleopatra's Gate in Tarsos (now Tarsus, Mersin,

Turkey), the site where she met Mark Antony in 41
BC[194]

Octavian, Antony, and Marcus Aemilius

Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate in
43 BC, in which they were each elected for
five-year terms to restore order in the
Republic and bring Caesar's assassins to
justice.[195][196] Cleopatra received
messages from both Gaius Cassius
Longinus, one of Caesar's assassins, and
Publius Cornelius Dolabella, proconsul of
Syria and Caesarian loyalist, requesting
military aid.[195] She decided to write
Cassius an excuse that her kingdom faced
too many internal problems, while sending
the four legions left by Caesar in Egypt to
Dolabella.[195][197] However, these troops
were captured by Cassius in
Palestine.[195][197] While Serapion,
Cleopatra's governor of Cyprus, defected
to Cassius and provided him with ships,
Cleopatra took her own fleet to Greece to
personally assist Octavian and Antony, but
her ships were heavily damaged in a
Mediterranean storm and she arrived too
late to aid in the fighting.[195][198] By the
autumn of 42 BC, Antony had defeated the
forces of Caesar's assassins at the Battle
of Philippi in Greece, leading to the suicide
of Cassius and Brutus.[195][199]

By the end of 42 BC, Octavian had gained

control over much of the western half of
the Roman Republic and Antony the
eastern half, with Lepidus largely
marginalized.[200] In the summer of 41 BC,
Antony established his headquarters at
Tarsos in Anatolia and summoned
Cleopatra there in several letters, which
she rebuffed until Antony's envoy Quintus
Dellius convinced her to come.[201][202] The
meeting would allow Cleopatra to clear up
the misconception that she had supported
Cassius during the civil war and address
territorial exchanges in the Levant, but
Antony also undoubtedly desired to form a
personal, romantic relationship with the
queen.[203][202] Cleopatra sailed up the
Kydnos River to Tarsos in Thalamegos,
hosting Antony and his officers for two
nights of lavish banquets on board the
ship.[204][205][note 45] Cleopatra managed to
clear her name as a supposed supporter
of Cassius, arguing she had really
attempted to help Dolabella in Syria, and
convinced Antony to have her exiled sister,
Arsinoe IV, executed at Ephesus.[206][207]
Cleopatra's former rebellious governor of
Cyprus was also handed over to her for
execution.[206][208]

Relationship with Mark Antony

A Roman marble bust of the consul and triumvir Mark

A Roman marble bust of the consul and triumvir Mark
Antony, late 1st century AD, Vatican Museums

Cleopatra invited Antony to come to Egypt

before departing from Tarsos, which led
Antony to visit Alexandria by November 41
BC.[206][209] Antony was well received by
the populace of Alexandria, both for his
heroic actions in restoring Ptolemy XII to
power and coming to Egypt without an
occupation force like Caesar had
done.[210][211] In Egypt, Antony continued to
enjoy the lavish royal lifestyle he had
witnessed aboard Cleopatra's ship docked
at Tarsos.[212][208] He also had his
subordinates, such as Publius Ventidius
Bassus, drive the Parthians out of Anatolia
and Syria.[211][213][214][note 46]

Cleopatra carefully chose Antony as her

partner for producing further heirs, as he
was deemed to be the most powerful
Roman figure following Caesar's
demise.[215] With his powers as a triumvir,
Antony also had the broad authority to
restore former Ptolemaic lands, which
were currently in Roman hands, to
Cleopatra.[216][217] While it is clear that
both Cilicia and Cyprus were under
Cleopatra's control by 19 November 38 BC,
the transfer probably occurred earlier in
the winter of 41–40 BC, during her time
spent with Antony.[216]

By the spring of 40 BC, Antony left Egypt

due to troubles in Syria, where his
governor Lucius Decidius Saxa was killed
and his army taken by Quintus Labienus, a
former officer under Cassius who now
served the Parthian Empire.[218] Cleopatra
provided Antony with 200 ships for his
campaign and as payment for her newly
acquired territories.[218] She would not see
Antony again until 37 BC, but she
maintained correspondence, and evidence
suggests she kept a spy in his camp.[218]
By the end of 40 BC, Cleopatra had given
birth to twins, a boy named Alexander
Helios and a girl named Cleopatra Selene
II, both of whom Antony acknowledged as
his children.[219][220] Helios (the Sun) and
Selene (the Moon) were symbolic of a new
era of societal rejuvenation,[221] as well as
an indication that Cleopatra hoped Antony
would repeat the exploits of Alexander the
Great by conquering the Parthians.[211]

The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra (1885), by

Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Mark Antony's Parthian campaign in the
east was disrupted by the events of the
Perusine War (41–40 BC), initiated by his
ambitious wife Fulvia against Octavian in
the hopes of making her husband the
undisputed leader of Rome.[221][222] It has
been suggested that Fulvia wanted to
cleave Antony away from Cleopatra, but
the conflict emerged in Italy even before
Cleopatra's meeting with Antony at
Tarsos.[223] Fulvia and Antony's brother
Lucius Antonius were eventually besieged
by Octavian at Perusia (modern Perugia,
Italy) and then exiled from Italy, after
which Fulvia died at Sicyon in Greece while
attempting to reach Antony.[224] Her
sudden death led to a reconciliation of
Octavian and Antony at Brundisium in Italy
in September 40 BC.[224][211] Although the
agreement struck at Brundisium solidified
Antony's control of the Roman Republic's
territories east of the Ionian Sea, it also
stipulated that he concede Italia, Hispania,
and Gaul, and marry Octavian's sister
Octavia the Younger, a potential rival for
Cleopatra.[225][226]

In December 40 BC Cleopatra received

Herod in Alexandria as an unexpected
guest and refugee who fled a turbulent
situation in Judea.[227] Herod had been
installed as a tetrarch there by Antony, but
he was soon at odds with Antigonus II
Mattathias of the long-established
Hasmonean dynasty.[227] The latter had
imprisoned Herod's brother and fellow
tetrarch Phasael, who was executed while
Herod was fleeing toward Cleopatra's
court.[227] Cleopatra attempted to provide
him with a military assignment, but Herod
declined and traveled to Rome, where the
triumvirs Octavian and Antony named him
king of Judea.[228][229] This act put Herod
on a collision course with Cleopatra, who
would desire to reclaim the former
Ptolemaic territories that comprised his
new Herodian kingdom.[228]
An ancient Roman sculpture possibly depicting either
Cleopatra of Ptolemaic Egypt,[230][231][note 47] or her
daughter, Cleopatra Selene II, Queen of
Mauretania,[232] located in the Archaeological
Museum of Cherchell, Algeria

Relations between Antony and Cleopatra

perhaps soured when he not only married
Octavia, but also sired her two children,
Antonia the Elder in 39 BC and Antonia
Minor in 36 BC, and moved his
headquarters to Athens.[233] However,
Cleopatra's position in Egypt was
secure.[211] Her rival Herod was occupied
with civil war in Judea that required heavy
Roman military assistance, but received
none from Cleopatra.[233] Since the
authority of Antony and Octavian as
triumvirs had expired on 1 January 37 BC,
Octavia arranged for a meeting at
Tarentum, where the triumvirate was
officially extended to 33 BC.[234] With two
legions granted by Octavian and a
thousand soldiers lent by Octavia, Antony
traveled to Antioch, where he made
preparations for war against the
Parthians.[235]
Antony summoned Cleopatra to Antioch to
discuss pressing issues, such as Herod's
kingdom and financial support for his
Parthian campaign.[235][236] Cleopatra
brought her now three-year-old twins to
Antioch, where Antony saw them for the
first time and where they probably first
received their surnames Helios and Selene
as part of Antony and Cleopatra's
ambitious plans for the future.[237][238] In
order to stabilize the east, Antony not only
enlarged Cleopatra's domain,[236] he also
established new ruling dynasties and
client rulers who would be loyal to him, yet
would ultimately outlast
him.[239][217][note 48]
In this arrangement Cleopatra gained
significant former Ptolemaic territories in
the Levant, including nearly all of
Phoenicia (Lebanon) minus Tyre and
Sidon, which remained in Roman
hands.[240][217][236] She also received
Ptolemais Akko (modern Acre, Israel), a
city that was established by Ptolemy II.[240]
Given her ancestral relations with the
Seleucids, she was granted the region of
Coele-Syria along the upper Orontes
River.[241][236] She was even given the
region surrounding Jericho in Palestine,
but she leased this territory back to
Herod.[242][229] At the expense of the
Nabataean king Malichus I (a cousin of
Herod), Cleopatra was also given a portion
of the Nabataean Kingdom around the
Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea, including
Ailana (modern Aqaba, Jordan).[243][229] To
the west Cleopatra was handed Cyrene
along the Libyan coast, as well as Itanos
and Olous in Roman Crete.[244][236]
Although still administered by Roman
officials, these territories nevertheless
enriched her kingdom and led her to
declare the inauguration of a new era by
double-dating her coinage in 36
BC.[245][246]
Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Mark Antony
(left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate
the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by
Octavian, Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in
43 BC

Antony's enlargement of the Ptolemaic

realm by relinquishing directly controlled
Roman territory was exploited by his rival
Octavian, who tapped into the public
sentiment in Rome against the
empowerment of a foreign queen at the
expense of their Republic.[247] Octavian,
fostering the narrative that Antony was
neglecting his virtuous Roman wife
Octavia, granted both her and Livia, his
own wife, extraordinary privileges of
sacrosanctity.[247] Some 50 years before,
Cornelia Africana, daughter of Scipio
Africanus, had been the first living Roman
woman to have a statue dedicated to
her.[245] She was now followed by Octavia
and Livia, whose statues were most likely
erected in the Forum of Caesar to rival that
of Cleopatra's, erected by Caesar.[245]

In 36 BC, Cleopatra accompanied Antony

to the Euphrates in his journey toward
invading the Parthian Empire.[248] She then
returned to Egypt, perhaps due to her
advanced state of pregnancy.[249] By the
summer of 36 BC, she had given birth to
Ptolemy Philadelphus, her second son
with Antony.[249][236]

Antony's Parthian campaign in 36 BC

turned into a complete debacle for a
number of reasons, in particular the
betrayal of Artavasdes II of Armenia, who
defected to the Parthian side.[250][217][251]
After losing some 30,000 men, more than
Crassus at Carrhae (an indignity he had
hoped to avenge), Antony finally arrived at
Leukokome near Berytus (modern Beirut,
Lebanon) in December, engaged in heavy
drinking before Cleopatra arrived to
provide funds and clothing for his battered
troops.[250][252] Antony desired to avoid the
risks involved in returning to Rome, and so
he traveled with Cleopatra back to
Alexandria to see his newborn son.[250]

Donations of Alexandria

A denarius minted by Antony in 34 BC with his portrait

on the obverse, which bears the inscription reading
"ANTONIVS ARMENIA DEVICTA", alluding to his
Armenian campaign. The reverse features Cleopatra,
with the inscription "CLEOPATR[AE] REGINAE REGVM
FILIORVM REGVM". The mention of her children on
the reverse refers to the Donations of
Al d i [253][254]
Alexandria.[253][254]

As Antony prepared for another Parthian

expedition in 35 BC, this time aimed at
their ally Armenia, Octavia traveled to
Athens with 2,000 troops in alleged
support of Antony, but most likely in a
scheme devised by Octavian to embarrass
him for his military losses.[255][256][note 49]
Antony received these troops but told
Octavia not to stray east of Athens as he
and Cleopatra traveled together to Antioch,
only to suddenly and inexplicably abandon
the military campaign and head back to
Alexandria.[255][256] When Octavia returned
to Rome Octavian portrayed his sister as a
victim wronged by Antony, although she
refused to leave Antony's
household.[257][217] Octavian's confidence
grew as he eliminated his rivals in the
west, including Sextus Pompeius and even
Lepidus, the third member of the
triumvirate, who was placed under house
arrest after revolting against Octavian in
Sicily.[257][217][252]

Dellius was sent as Antony's envoy to

Artavasdes II in 34 BC to negotiate a
potential marriage alliance that would wed
the Armenian king's daughter to Alexander
Helios, the son of Antony and
Cleopatra.[258][259] When this was declined,
Antony marched his army into Armenia,
defeated their forces and captured the
king and Armenian royal family.[258][260]
Antony then held a military parade in
Alexandria as an imitation of a Roman
triumph, dressed as Dionysus and riding
into the city on a chariot to present the
royal prisoners to Cleopatra, who was
seated on a golden throne above a silver
dais.[258][261] News of this event was
heavily criticized in Rome as a perversion
of time-honored Roman rites and rituals to
be enjoyed instead by an Egyptian
queen.[258]
A papyrus document dated February 33 BC granting
tax exemptions to a person in Egypt and containing
the signature of Cleopatra written by an official, but
with "γινέσθωι" (ginésthōi; lit. "make it
happen"[262][263] or "so be it"[264]) added in Greek, likely
by the queen's own hand[262][263][264]

In an event held at the gymnasium soon

after the triumph, Cleopatra dressed as
Isis and declared that she was the Queen
of Kings with her son Caesarion, King of
Kings, while Alexander Helios was
declared king of Armenia, Media, and
Parthia, and two-year-old Ptolemy
Philadelphos was declared king of Syria
and Cilicia.[265][266][267] Cleopatra Selene II
was bestowed with Crete and
Cyrene.[268][269] Antony and Cleopatra may
have been wed during this
ceremony.[268][267][note 50] Antony sent a
report to Rome requesting ratification of
these territorial claims, now known as the
Donations of Alexandria. Octavian wanted
to publicize it for propaganda purposes,
but the two consuls, both supporters of
Antony, had it censored from public
view.[270][269]
In late 34 BC, Antony and Octavian
engaged in a heated war of propaganda
that would last for years.[271][269][172][note 51]
Antony claimed that his rival had illegally
deposed Lepidus from their triumvirate
and barred him from raising troops in Italy,
while Octavian accused Antony of
unlawfully detaining the king of Armenia,
marrying Cleopatra despite still being
married to his sister Octavia, and
wrongfully claiming Caesarion as the heir
of Caesar instead of Octavian.[271][269] The
litany of accusations and gossip
associated with this propaganda war have
shaped the popular perceptions about
Cleopatra from Augustan-period literature
through to various media in modern
times.[272][273] Cleopatra was said to have
brainwashed Mark Antony with witchcraft
and sorcery and was as dangerous as
Homer's Helen of Troy in destroying
civilization.[274] Pliny the Elder claims in his
Natural History that Cleopatra once
dissolved a pearl worth tens of millions of
sesterces in vinegar just to win a dinner-
party bet.[275][276] The accusation that
Antony had stolen books from the Library
of Pergamum to restock the Library of
Alexandria later turned out to be an
admitted fabrication by Gaius Calvisius
Sabinus.[277]
A papyrus document dated to February 33
BC, later used to wrap a mummy, contains
the signature of Cleopatra, probably
written by an official authorized to sign for
her.[262][263] It concerns certain tax
exemptions in Egypt granted to either
Quintus Caecillius or Publius Canidius
Crassus,[note 52] a former Roman consul
and Antony's confidant who would
command his land forces at
Actium.[278][263] A subscript in a different
handwriting at the bottom of the papyrus
reads "make it happen"[278][263] or "so be
it"[264] (Ancient Greek: γινέσθωι,
romanized: ginésthōi);[note 53] this is likely
the autograph of the queen, as it was
Ptolemaic practice to countersign
documents to avoid forgery.[278][263]

Battle of Actium

A reconstructed statue of Augustus as a younger

Octavian, dated c. 30 BC

In a speech to the Roman Senate on the

first day of his consulship on 1 January 33
BC, Octavian accused Antony of
attempting to subvert Roman freedoms
and territorial integrity as a slave to his
Oriental queen.[279] Before Antony and
Octavian's joint imperium expired on 31
December 33 BC, Antony declared
Caesarion as the true heir of Caesar in an
attempt to undermine Octavian.[279] In 32
BC the Antonian loyalists Gaius Sosius
and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus
became consuls. The former gave a fiery
speech condemning Octavian, now a
private citizen without public office, and
introduced pieces of legislation against
him.[278][280] During the next senatorial
session, Octavian entered the Senate
house with armed guards and levied his
own accusations against the
consuls.[278][281] Intimidated by this act,
the consuls and over 200 senators still in
support of Antony fled Rome the next day
to join the side of Antony.[278][281][282]

Antony and Cleopatra traveled together to

Ephesus in 32 BC, where she provided him
with 200 of the 800 naval ships he was
able to acquire.[278] Ahenobarbus, wary of
having Octavian's propaganda confirmed
to the public, attempted to persuade
Antony to have Cleopatra excluded from
the campaign against Octavian.[283][284]
Publius Canidius Crassus made the
counterargument that Cleopatra was
funding the war effort and was a
competent monarch.[283][284] Cleopatra
refused Antony's requests that she return
to Egypt, judging that by blocking Octavian
in Greece she could more easily defend
Egypt.[283][284] Cleopatra's insistence that
she be involved in the battle for Greece led
to the defections of prominent Romans,
such as Ahenobarbus and Lucius
Munatius Plancus.[283][281]

During the spring of 32 BC Antony and

Cleopatra traveled to Athens, where she
persuaded Antony to send Octavia an
official declaration of divorce.[283][281][267]
This encouraged Plancus to advise
Octavian that he should seize Antony's will,
invested with the Vestal
Virgins.[283][281][269] Although a violation of
sacred and legal rights, Octavian forcefully
acquired the document from the Temple of
Vesta, and it became a useful tool in the
propaganda war against Antony and
Cleopatra.[283][269] Octavian highlighted
parts of the will, such as Caesarion being
named heir to Caesar, that the Donations
of Alexandria were legal, that Antony
should be buried alongside Cleopatra in
Egypt instead of Rome, and that
Alexandria would be made the new capital
of the Roman Republic.[285][281][269] In a
show of loyalty to Rome, Octavian decided
to begin construction of his own
mausoleum at the Campus Martius.[281]
Octavian's legal standing was also
improved by being elected consul in 31
BC.[281] With Antony's will made public,
Octavian had his casus belli, and Rome
declared war on Cleopatra,[285][286][287] not
Antony.[note 54] The legal argument for war
was based less on Cleopatra's territorial
acquisitions, with former Roman territories
ruled by her children with Antony, and
more on the fact that she was providing
military support to a private citizen now
that Antony's triumviral authority had
expired.[288]
 Left: A silver tetradrachm of Cleopatra minted at
Seleucia Pieria, Syria
Right: A silver tetradrachm of Cleopatra minted at
Ascalon, Israel

Antony and Cleopatra had a larger fleet

than Octavian, but the crews of Antony
and Cleopatra's navy were not all well-
trained, some of them perhaps from
merchant vessels, whereas Octavian had a
fully professional force.[289][284] Antony
wanted to cross the Adriatic Sea and
blockade Octavian at either Tarentum or
Brundisium,[290] but Cleopatra, concerned
primarily with defending Egypt, overrode
the decision to attack Italy directly.[291][284]
Antony and Cleopatra set up their winter
headquarters at Patrai in Greece, and by
the spring of 31 BC they had moved to
Actium, on the southern side of the
Ambracian Gulf.[291][290]

Cleopatra and Antony had the support of

various allied kings, but Cleopatra had
already been in conflict with Herod, and an
earthquake in Judea provided him with an
excuse to be absent from the
campaign.[292] They also lost the support
of Malichus I, which would prove to have
strategic consequences.[293] Antony and
Cleopatra lost several skirmishes against
Octavian around Actium during the
summer of 31 BC, while defections to
Octavian's camp continued, including
Antony's long-time companion Dellius[293]
and the allied kings Amyntas of Galatia
and Deiotaros of Paphlagonia.[293] While
some in Antony's camp suggested
abandoning the naval conflict to retreat
inland, Cleopatra urged for a naval
confrontation, to keep Octavian's fleet
away from Egypt.[294]

On 2 September 31 BC the naval forces of

Octavian, led by Marcus Vipsanius
Agrippa, met those of Antony and
Cleopatra at the Battle of
Actium.[294][290][286] Cleopatra, aboard her
flagship, the Antonias, commanded 60
ships at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf,
at the rear of the fleet, in what was likely a
move by Antony's officers to marginalize
her during the battle.[294] Antony had
ordered that their ships should have sails
on board for a better chance to pursue or
flee from the enemy, which Cleopatra, ever
concerned about defending Egypt, used to
swiftly move through the area of major
combat in a strategic withdrawal to the
Peloponnese.[295][296][297] Burstein writes
that partisan Roman writers would later
accuse Cleopatra of cowardly deserting
Antony, but their original intention of
keeping their sails on board may have
been to break the blockade and salvage as
much of their fleet as possible.[297] Antony
followed Cleopatra and boarded her ship,
identified by its distinctive purple sails, as
the two escaped the battle and headed for
Tainaron.[295] Antony reportedly avoided
Cleopatra during this three-day voyage,
until her ladies in waiting at Tainaron
urged him to speak with her.[298] The Battle
of Actium raged on without Cleopatra and
Antony until the morning of 3 September,
and was followed by massive defections
of officers, troops, and allied kings to
Octavian's side.[298][296][299]

Downfall and death

A Roman painting from the House of Giuseppe II in

Pompeii, early 1st century AD, most likely depicting
Cleopatra, wearing her royal diadem and consuming
poison in an act of suicide, while her son Caesarion,
also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind
her[300][301]
While Octavian occupied Athens, Antony
and Cleopatra landed at Paraitonion in
Egypt.[298][302] The couple then went their
separate ways, Antony to Cyrene to raise
more troops and Cleopatra to the harbor at
Alexandria in an attempt to mislead the
oppositional party and portray the
activities in Greece as a victory.[298] She
was afraid that news about the outcome
of the battle of Actium would lead to a
rebellion.[303] It is uncertain whether or not,
at this time, she actually executed
Artavasdes II and sent his head to his rival,
Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene, in an
attempt to strike an alliance with
him.[304][305]
Lucius Pinarius, Mark Antony's appointed
governor of Cyrene, received word that
Octavian had won the Battle of Actium
before Antony's messengers could arrive
at his court.[304] Pinarius had these
messengers executed and then defected
to Octavian's side, surrendering to him the
four legions under his command that
Antony desired to obtain.[304] Antony
nearly committed suicide after hearing
news of this but was stopped by his staff
officers.[304] In Alexandria he built a
reclusive cottage on the island of Pharos
that he nicknamed the Timoneion, after the
philosopher Timon of Athens, who was
famous for his cynicism and
misanthropy.[304] Herod, who had
personally advised Antony after the Battle
of Actium that he should betray Cleopatra,
traveled to Rhodes to meet Octavian and
resign his kingship out of loyalty to
Antony.[306] Octavian was impressed by his
speech and sense of loyalty, so he allowed
him to maintain his position in Judea,
further isolating Antony and Cleopatra.[306]

Cleopatra perhaps started to view Antony

as a liability by the late summer of 31 BC,
when she prepared to leave Egypt to her
son Caesarion.[307] Cleopatra planned to
relinquish her throne to him, take her fleet
from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea,
and then set sail to a foreign port, perhaps
in India, where she could spend time
recuperating.[307][305] However, these plans
were ultimately abandoned when Malichus
I, as advised by Octavian's governor of
Syria, Quintus Didius, managed to burn
Cleopatra's fleet in revenge for his losses
in a war with Herod that Cleopatra had
largely initiated.[307][305] Cleopatra had no
other option but to stay in Egypt and
negotiate with Octavian.[307] Although
most likely later pro-Octavian propaganda,
it was reported that at this time Cleopatra
started testing the strengths of various
poisons on prisoners and even her own
servants.[308]
The Death of Cleopatra (1658), by Guido Cagnacci

Cleopatra had Caesarion enter into the

ranks of the ephebi, which, along with
reliefs on a stele from Koptos dated 21
September 31 BC, demonstrated that
Cleopatra was now grooming her son to
become the sole ruler of Egypt.[309] In a
show of solidarity, Antony also had Marcus
Antonius Antyllus, his son with Fulvia,
enter the ephebi at the same time.[307]
Separate messages and envoys from
Antony and Cleopatra were then sent to
Octavian, still stationed at Rhodes,
although Octavian seems to have replied
only to Cleopatra.[308] Cleopatra requested
that her children should inherit Egypt and
that Antony should be allowed to live in
exile in Egypt, offered Octavian money in
the future, and immediately sent him
lavish gifts.[308][305] Octavian sent his
diplomat Thyrsos to Cleopatra after she
threatened to burn herself and vast
amounts of her treasure within a tomb
already under construction.[310] Thyrsos
advised her to kill Antony so that her life
would be spared, but when Antony
suspected foul intent, he had this diplomat
flogged and sent back to Octavian without
a deal.[311]

After lengthy negotiations that ultimately

produced no results, Octavian set out to
invade Egypt in the spring of 30 BC,[312]
stopping at Ptolemais in Phoenicia, where
his new ally Herod provided his army with
fresh supplies.[313] Octavian moved south
and swiftly took Pelousion, while Cornelius
Gallus, marching eastward from Cyrene,
defeated Antony's forces near
Paraitonion.[314][315] Octavian advanced
quickly to Alexandria, but Antony returned
and won a small victory over Octavian's
tired troops outside the city's
hippodrome.[314][315] However, on 1 August
30 BC, Antony's naval fleet surrendered to
Octavian, followed by Antony's
cavalry.[314][296][316] Cleopatra hid herself in
her tomb with her close attendants and
sent a message to Antony that she had
committed suicide.[314][317][318] In despair,
Antony responded to this by stabbing
himself in the stomach and taking his own
life at age 53.[314][296][305] According to
Plutarch, he was still dying when brought
to Cleopatra at her tomb, telling her he had
died honorably and that she could trust
Octavian's companion Gaius Proculeius
over anyone else in his
entourage.[314][319][320] It was Proculeius,
however, who infiltrated her tomb using a
ladder and detained the queen, denying
her the ability to burn herself with her
treasures.[321][322] Cleopatra was then
allowed to embalm and bury Antony within
her tomb before she was escorted to the
palace.[321][305]

The Death of Cleopatra (1796–1797), by Jean-

Baptiste Regnault
Octavian entered Alexandria, occupied the
palace, and seized Cleopatra's three
youngest children.[321][323] When she met
with Octavian, Cleopatra told him bluntly, "I
will not be led in a triumph" (Ancient Greek:
οὑ θριαμβεύσομαι, romanized: ou
thriambéusomai), according to Livy, a rare
recording of her exact words.[324][325]
Octavian promised that he would keep her
alive but offered no explanation about his
future plans for her kingdom.[326] When a
spy informed her that Octavian planned to
move her and her children to Rome in
three days, she prepared for suicide as she
had no intentions of being paraded in a
Roman triumph like her sister Arsinoe
IV.[326][296][305] It is unclear if Cleopatra's
suicide on 10 August 30 BC, at age 39,
took place within the palace or her
tomb.[327][328][note 3] It is said she was
accompanied by her servants Eiras and
Charmion, who also took their own
lives.[326][329] Octavian was said to have
been angered by this outcome but had
Cleopatra buried in royal fashion next to
Antony in her tomb.[326][330][331] Cleopatra's
physician Olympos did not explain her
cause of death, although the popular belief
is that she allowed an asp or Egyptian
cobra to bite and poison her.[332][333][305]
Plutarch relates this tale, but then
suggests an implement (κνῆστις, knêstis,
lit. 'spine, cheese-grater') was used to
introduce the toxin by scratching, while Dio
says that she injected the poison with a
needle (βελόνη, belónē), and Strabo
argued for an ointment of some
kind.[334][333][335][note 55] No venomous
snake was found with her body, but she
did have tiny puncture wounds on her arm
that could have been caused by a
needle.[332][335][331]

Cleopatra decided in her last moments to

send Caesarion away to Upper Egypt,
perhaps with plans to flee to Kushite
Nubia, Ethiopia, or India.[336][337][315]
Caesarion, now Ptolemy XV, would reign
for a mere 18 days until executed on the
orders of Octavian on 29 August 30 BC,
after returning to Alexandria under the
false pretense that Octavian would allow
him to be king.[338][339][340][note 2] Octavian
was convinced by the advice of the
philosopher Arius Didymus that there was
room for only one Caesar in the
world.[341][note 56] With the fall of the
Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Roman province
of Egypt was
established,[342][296][343][note 57] marking the
end of the Hellenistic period.[344][345][note 7]
In January of 27 BC Octavian was
renamed Augustus ("the revered") and
amassed constitutional powers that
established him as the first Roman
emperor, inaugurating the Principate era of
the Roman Empire.[346]

Cleopatra's kingdom and role

as a monarch

Cleopatra on a coin of 40 drachms from 51–30 BC,

minted at Alexandria; on the obverse is a portrait of
Cleopatra wearing a diadem, and on the reverse an
inscription reading "ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ" with
an eagle standing on a thunderbolt.
Following the tradition of Macedonian
rulers, Cleopatra ruled Egypt and other
territories such as Cyprus as an absolute
monarch, serving as the sole lawgiver of
her kingdom.[347] She was the chief
religious authority in her realm, presiding
over religious ceremonies dedicated to the
deities of both the Egyptian and Greek
polytheistic faiths.[348] She oversaw the
construction of various temples to
Egyptian and Greek gods,[349] a synagogue
for the Jews in Egypt, and even built the
Caesareum of Alexandria, dedicated to the
cult worship of her patron and lover Julius
Caesar.[350][351] Cleopatra was directly
involved in the administrative affairs of her
domain,[352] tackling crises such as famine
by ordering royal granaries to distribute
food to the starving populace during a
drought at the beginning of her reign.[353]
Although the command economy that she
managed was more of an ideal than a
reality,[354] the government attempted to
impose price controls, tariffs, and state
monopolies for certain goods, fixed
exchange rates for foreign currencies, and
rigid laws forcing peasant farmers to stay
in their villages during planting and
harvesting seasons.[355][356][357] Apparent
financial troubles led Cleopatra to debase
her coinage, which included silver and
bronze currencies but no gold coins like
those of some of her distant Ptolemaic
predecessors.[358]

Legacy

Children and successors

Left: A Roman head of either Cleopatra or her

daughter Cleopatra Selene II, Queen of Mauretania,
from the late 1st century BC, located in the
Archaeological Museum of Cherchell,
Algeria[232][359][360][note 47]
Right: A likely depiction of Cleopatra Selene II, wearing
an elephant skin cap, raised relief image on a gilded
silver dish from the Boscoreale Treasure, dated to the
silver dish from the Boscoreale Treasure, dated to the
early 1st century AD[361][362][note 58]

After her suicide, Cleopatra's three

surviving children, Cleopatra Selene II,
Alexander Helios, and Ptolemy
Philadelphos, were sent to Rome with
Octavian's sister Octavia the Younger, a
former wife of their father, as their
guardian.[363][364] Cleopatra Selene II and
Alexander Helios were present in the
Roman triumph of Octavian in 29
BC.[363][238] The fates of Alexander Helios
and Ptolemy Philadelphus are unknown
after this point.[363][238] Octavia arranged
the betrothal of Cleopatra Selene II to Juba
II, son of Juba I, whose North African
kingdom of Numidia had been turned into
a Roman province in 46 BC by Julius
Caesar due to Juba I's support of
Pompey.[365][364][323] The emperor
Augustus installed Juba II and Cleopatra
Selene II, after their wedding in 25 BC, as
the new rulers of Mauretania, where they
transformed the old Carthaginian city of
Iol into their new capital, renamed
Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell,
Algeria).[365][238] Cleopatra Selene II
imported many important scholars, artists,
and advisers from her mother's royal court
in Alexandria to serve her in Caesarea,
now permeated in Hellenistic Greek
culture.[366] She also named her son
Ptolemy of Mauretania, in honor of their
Ptolemaic dynastic heritage.[367][368]

Cleopatra Selene II died around 5 BC, and

when Juba II died in 23/24 AD he was
succeeded by his son Ptolemy.[367][369]
However, Ptolemy was eventually
executed by the Roman emperor Caligula
in 40 AD, perhaps under the pretense that
Ptolemy had unlawfully minted his own
royal coinage and utilized regalia reserved
for the Roman emperor.[370][371] Ptolemy of
Mauretania was the last known monarch
of the Ptolemaic dynasty, although Queen
Zenobia, of the short-lived Palmyrene
Empire during the Crisis of the Third
Century, would claim descent from
Cleopatra.[372][373] A cult dedicated to
Cleopatra still existed as late as 373 AD
when Petesenufe, an Egyptian scribe of
the book of Isis, explained that he "overlaid
the figure of Cleopatra with gold."[374]

Roman literature and historiography

Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners

(1887), by Alexandre Cabanel[375]
Although almost 50 ancient works of
Roman historiography mention Cleopatra,
these often include only terse accounts of
the Battle of Actium, her suicide, and
Augustan propaganda about her personal
deficiencies.[376] Despite not being a
biography of Cleopatra, the Life of
Antonius written by Plutarch in the 1st
century AD provides the most thorough
surviving account of Cleopatra's
life.[377][378][379] Plutarch lived a century
after Cleopatra but relied on primary
sources, such as Philotas of Amphissa,
who had access to the Ptolemaic royal
palace, Cleopatra's personal physician
named Olympos, and Quintus Dellius, a
close confidant of Mark Antony and
Cleopatra.[380] Plutarch's work included
both the Augustan view of Cleopatra—
which became canonical for his period—as
well as sources outside of this tradition,
such as eyewitness reports.[377][379] The
Jewish Roman historian Josephus, writing
in the 1st century AD, provides valuable
information on the life of Cleopatra via her
diplomatic relationship with Herod the
Great.[381][382] However, this work relies
largely on Herod's memoirs and the biased
account of Nicolaus of Damascus, the
tutor of Cleopatra's children in Alexandria
before he moved to Judea to serve as an
adviser and chronicler at Herod's
court.[381][382] The Roman History
published by the official and historian
Cassius Dio in the early 3rd century AD,
while failing to fully comprehend the
complexities of the late Hellenistic world,
nevertheless provides a continuous history
of the era of Cleopatra's reign.[381]

A restructured marble Roman statue of Cleopatra

wearing a diadem and 'melon' hairstyle similar to
coinage portraits, found along the Via Cassia near the
Tomba di Nerone, Rome, and now located in the
M Pi Cl ti [1][383][384]
Museo Pio-Clementino[1][383][384]

Cleopatra is barely mentioned in De Bello

Alexandrino, the memoirs of an unknown
staff officer who served under
Caesar.[385][386][387][note 59] The writings of
Cicero, who knew her personally, provide
an unflattering portrait of Cleopatra.[385]
The Augustan-period authors Virgil,
Horace, Propertius, and Ovid perpetuated
the negative views of Cleopatra approved
by the ruling Roman regime,[385][388]
although Virgil established the idea of
Cleopatra as a figure of romance and epic
melodrama.[389][note 60] Horace also viewed
Cleopatra's suicide as a positive
choice,[390][388] an idea that found
acceptance by the Late Middle Ages with
Geoffrey Chaucer.[391][392] The historians
Strabo, Velleius, Valerius Maximus, Pliny
the Elder, and Appian, while not offering
accounts as full as Plutarch, Josephus, or
Dio, provided some details of her life that
had not survived in other historical
records.[385][note 61] Inscriptions on
contemporary Ptolemaic coinage and
some Egyptian papyrus documents
demonstrate Cleopatra's point of view, but
this material is very limited in comparison
to Roman literary works.[385][393][note 62] The
fragmentary Libyka commissioned by
Cleopatra's son-in-law Juba II provides a
glimpse at a possible body of
historiographic material that supported
Cleopatra's perspective.[385]

Cleopatra's gender has perhaps led to her

depiction as a minor if not insignificant
figure in ancient, medieval, and even
modern historiography about ancient
Egypt and the Greco-Roman world.[394] For
instance, the historian Ronald Syme
asserted that she was of little importance
to Caesar and that the propaganda of
Octavian magnified her importance to an
excessive degree.[394] Although the
common view of Cleopatra was one of a
prolific seductress, she had only two
known sexual partners, Caesar and
Antony, the two most prominent Romans
of the time period, who were most likely to
ensure the survival of her dynasty.[395][396]
Plutarch described Cleopatra as having
had a stronger personality and charming
wit than physical beauty.[397][16][398][note 63]

Cultural depictions

Depictions in ancient art

Statues
 Left: An Egyptian statue of either Arsinoe II or
Cleopatra as an Egyptian goddess in black basalt

from the second half of the 1st century BC,[399]

located in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Right: The Esquiline Venus, a Roman or Hellenistic-
Egyptian statue of Venus (Aphrodite) that may be a
depiction of Cleopatra,[400] located in the Capitoline
Museums, Rome

Cleopatra was depicted in various ancient

works of art, in the Egyptian as well as
Hellenistic-Greek and Roman styles.[2]
Surviving works include statues, busts,
reliefs, and minted coins,[2][375] as well as
ancient carved cameos,[401] such as one
depicting Cleopatra and Antony in
Hellenistic style, now in the Altes Museum,
Berlin.[1] Contemporary images of
Cleopatra were produced both in and
outside of Ptolemaic Egypt. For instance, a
large gilded bronze statue of Cleopatra
once existed inside the Temple of Venus
Genetrix in Rome, the first time that a
living person had their statue placed next
to that of a deity in a Roman
temple.[3][184][402] It was erected there by
Caesar and remained in the temple at least
until the 3rd century AD, its preservation
perhaps owing to Caesar's patronage,
although Augustus did not remove or
destroy artworks in Alexandria depicting
Cleopatra.[403][404]

In regards to surviving Roman statuary, a

life-sized Roman-style statue of Cleopatra
was found near the Tomba di Nerone,
Rome, along the Via Cassia and is now
housed in the Museo Pio-Clementino, part
of the Vatican Museums.[1][383][384]
Plutarch, in his Life of Antonius, claimed
that the public statues of Antony were torn
down by Augustus, but those of Cleopatra
were preserved following her death thanks
to her friend Archibius paying the emperor
2,000 talents to dissuade him from
destroying hers.[405][374][330]

Since the 1950s scholars have debated

whether or not the Esquiline Venus—
discovered in 1874 on the Esquiline Hill in
Rome and housed in the Palazzo dei
Conservatori of the Capitoline Museums—
is a depiction of Cleopatra, based on the
statue's hairstyle and facial features,
apparent royal diadem worn over the head,
and the uraeus Egyptian cobra wrapped
around the base.[400][406][407] Detractors of
this theory argue that the face in this
statue is thinner than the face on the
Berlin portrait and assert that it was
unlikely she would be depicted as the
naked goddess Venus (or the Greek
Aphrodite).[400][406][407] However, she was
depicted in an Egyptian statue as the
goddess Isis,[408] while some of her
coinage depicts her as Venus-
Aphrodite.[409][410] She also dressed as
Aphrodite when meeting Antony at
Tarsos.[205] The Esquiline Venus is
generally thought to be a mid-1st-century
AD Roman copy of a 1st-century BC Greek
original from the school of Pasiteles.[406]

Coinage portraits
Cleopatra and Mark Antony on the obverse and

reverse, respectively, of a silver tetradrachm struck at

the Antioch mint in 36 BC, with Greek legends:
BACIΛΙCCA KΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑ ΘΕΑ ΝΕΩΤΕΡΑ, ANTΩNIOC
AYTOKPATΩP TPITON TPIΩN ANΔPΩN.

Surviving coinage of Cleopatra's reign

include specimens from every regnal year,
from 51 to 30 BC.[411] Cleopatra, the only
Ptolemaic queen to issue coins on her
own behalf, almost certainly inspired her
partner Caesar to become the first living
Roman to present his portrait on his own
coins.[409][note 64] Cleopatra was also the
first foreign queen to have her image
appear on Roman currency.[412] Coins
dated to the period of her marriage to
Antony, which also bear his image, portray
the queen as having a very similar aquiline
nose and prominent chin as that of her
husband.[3][413] These similar facial
features followed an artistic convention
that represented the mutually-observed
harmony of a royal couple.[3][2] Her strong,
almost masculine facial features in these
particular coins are strikingly different
from the smoother, softer, and perhaps
idealized sculpted images of her in either
the Egyptian or Hellenistic styles.[2][414][415]
Her masculine facial features on minted
currency are similar to that of her father,
Ptolemy XII Auletes,[416][114] and perhaps
also to those of her Ptolemaic ancestor
Arsinoe II (316–260 BC)[2][417] and even
depictions of earlier queens such as
Hatshepsut and Nefertiti.[415] It is likely,
due to political expediency, that Antony's
visage was made to conform not only to
hers but also to those of her Macedonian
Greek ancestors who founded the
Ptolemaic dynasty, to familiarize himself
to her subjects as a legitimate member of
the royal house.[2]

The inscriptions on the coins are written in

Greek, but also in the nominative case of
Roman coins rather than the genitive case
of Greek coins, in addition to having the
letters placed in a circular fashion along
the edges of the coin instead of across it
horizontally or vertically as was customary
for Greek ones.[2] These facets of their
coinage represent the synthesis of Roman
and Hellenistic culture, and perhaps also a
statement to their subjects, however
ambiguous to modern scholars, about the
superiority of either Antony or Cleopatra
over the other.[2] Diana Kleiner argues that
Cleopatra, in one of her coins minted with
the dual image of her husband Antony,
made herself more masculine-looking than
other portraits and more like an
acceptable Roman client queen than a
Hellenistic ruler.[414] Cleopatra had actually
achieved this masculine look in coinage
predating her affair with Antony, such as
the coins struck at the Ashkelon mint
during her brief period of exile to Syria and
the Levant, which Joann Fletcher explains
as her attempt to appear like her father
and as a legitimate successor to a male
Ptolemaic ruler.[114][418]

Various coins, such as a silver tetradrachm

minted sometime after Cleopatra's
marriage with Antony in 37 BC, depict her
wearing a royal diadem and a 'melon'
hairstyle.[3][418] The combination of this
hairstyle with a diadem is also featured in
two surviving sculpted marble
heads.[419][375][420][note 65] This hairstyle,
with hair braided back into a bun, is the
same as that worn by her Ptolemaic
ancestors Arsinoe II and Berenice II in their
own coinage.[3][421] After her visit to Rome
in 46–44 BC it became fashionable for
Roman women to adopt it as one of their
hairstyles, but it was abandoned for a
more modest, austere look during the
conservative rule of Augustus.[3][419][420]

Greco-Roman busts and heads

 An ancient Roman portrait head, c. 50–30 BC, now
located in the British Museum, London, that depicts a
woman from Ptolemaic Egypt, either Queen Cleopatra
or a member of her entourage during her 46–44 BC
visit to Rome with her lover Julius Caesar[419]

Of the surviving Greco-Roman-style busts

and heads of Cleopatra,[note 66] the
sculpture known as the "Berlin Cleopatra",
located in the Antikensammlung Berlin
collection at the Altes Museum, possesses
her full nose, whereas the head known as
the "Vatican Cleopatra", located in the
Vatican Museums, is damaged with a
missing nose.[422][423][424][note 67] Both the
Berlin Cleopatra and Vatican Cleopatra
have royal diadems, similar facial features,
and perhaps once resembled the face of
her bronze statue housed in the Temple of
Venus Genetrix.[423][425][424][note 68] Both
heads are dated to the mid-1st century BC
and were found in Roman villas along the
Via Appia in Italy, the Vatican Cleopatra
having been unearthed in the Villa of the
Quintilii.[3][422][424][note 69] Francisco Pina
Polo writes that Cleopatra's coinage
present her image with certainty and
asserts that the sculpted portrait of the
Berlin head is confirmed as having a
similar profile with her hair pulled back
into a bun, a diadem, and a hooked
nose.[426] A third sculpted portrait of
Cleopatra accepted by scholars as being
authentic survives at the Archaeological
Museum of Cherchell, Algeria.[404][359][360]
This portrait features the royal diadem and
similar facial features as the Berlin and
Vatican heads, but has a more unique
hairstyle and may actually depict
Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of
Cleopatra.[360][427][232][note 47] A possible
Parian-marble sculpture of Cleopatra
wearing a vulture headdress in Egyptian
style is located at the Capitoline
Museums.[428] Discovered near a
sanctuary of Isis in Rome and dated to the
1st century BC, it is either Roman or
Hellenistic-Egyptian in origin.[429]

Other possible sculpted depictions of

Cleopatra include one in the British
Museum, London, made of limestone,
which perhaps only depicts a woman in
her entourage during her trip to
Rome.[1][419] The woman in this portrait
has facial features similar to others
(including the pronounced aquiline nose),
but lacks a royal diadem and sports a
different hairstyle.[1][419] However, the
British Museum head, once belonging to a
full statue, could potentially represent
Cleopatra at a different stage in her life
and may also betray an effort by Cleopatra
to discard the use of royal insignia (i.e. the
diadem) to make herself more appealing
to the citizens of Republican Rome.[419]
Duane W. Roller speculates that the British
Museum head, along with those in the
Egyptian Museum, Cairo, the Capitoline
Museums, and in the private collection of
Maurice Nahmen, while having similar
facial features and hairstyles as the Berlin
portrait but lacking a royal diadem, most
likely represent members of the royal court
or even Roman women imitating
Cleopatra's popular hairstyle.[430]
Cleopatra, mid-1st century BC, with a
"melon" hairstyle and Hellenistic royal
diadem worn over her head, now in the
Vatican Museums[1][3][422]
Profile view of the Vatican Cleopatra
Cleopatra, mid-1st century BC, showing
Cleopatra with a "melon" hairstyle and
Hellenistic royal diadem worn over the
head, now in the Altes Museum[1][3][422]
 Profile view of the Berlin Cleopatra

Paintings

A Roman Second Style painting in the House of

Marcus Fabius Rufus at Pompeii, Italy, depicting
Cleopatra as Venus Genetrix and her son Caesarion as
a cupid, mid-1st century BC[406][431]
 p y

In the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus at

Pompeii, Italy, a mid-1st century BC
Second Style wall painting of the goddess
Venus holding a cupid near massive
temple doors is most likely a depiction of
Cleopatra as Venus Genetrix with her son
Caesarion.[406][431] The commission of the
painting most likely coincides with the
erection of the Temple of Venus Genetrix
in the Forum of Caesar in September 46
BC, where Caesar had a gilded statue
erected depicting Cleopatra.[406][431] This
statue likely formed the basis of her
depictions in both sculpted art as well as
this painting at Pompeii.[406][432] The
woman in the painting wears a royal
diadem over her head and is strikingly
similar in appearance to the Vatican
Cleopatra, which bears possible marks on
the marble of its left cheek where a cupid's
arm may have been torn
off.[406][433][424][note 70] The room with the
painting was walled off by its owner,
perhaps in reaction to the execution of
Caesarion in 30 BC by order of Octavian,
when public depictions of Cleopatra's son
would have been unfavorable with the new
Roman regime.[406][434] Behind her golden
diadem, crowned with a red jewel, is a
translucent veil with crinkles that suggest
the "melon" hairstyle favored by the
queen.[433][note 71] Her ivory-white skin,
round face, long aquiline nose, and large
round eyes were features common in both
Roman and Ptolemaic depictions of
deities.[433] Roller affirms that "there
seems little doubt that this is a depiction
of Cleopatra and Caesarion before the
doors of the Temple of Venus in the Forum
Julium and, as such, it becomes the only
extant contemporary painting of the
queen."[406]
 A steel engraving published by John Sartain in 1885
(left) depicting the now lost painted death portrait of
Cleopatra, an encaustic painting discovered in 1818 in
the ancient Roman ruins of the Egyptian temple of
Serapis at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Lazio;[435] she is
seen here wearing the knotted garment of Isis
(corresponding with Plutarch's description of her
wearing the robes of Isis),[436] as well as the radiant
crown of the Ptolemaic rulers such as Ptolemy V
(pictured to the right in a golden octodrachm minted
in 204–203 BC).[437]

Another painting from Pompeii, dated to

the early 1st century AD and located in the
House of Giuseppe II, contains a possible
depiction of Cleopatra with her son
Caesarion, both wearing royal diadems
while she reclines and consumes poison in
an act of suicide.[300][301][note 72] The
painting was originally thought to depict
the Carthaginian noblewoman
Sophonisba, who toward the end of the
Second Punic War (218–201 BC) drank
poison and committed suicide at the
behest of her lover Masinissa, King of
Numidia.[300] Arguments in favor of it
depicting Cleopatra include the strong
connection of her house with that of the
Numidian royal family, Masinissa and
Ptolemy VIII Physcon having been
associates, and Cleopatra's own daughter
marrying the Numidian prince Juba II.[300]
Sophonisba was also a more obscure
figure when the painting was made, while
Cleopatra's suicide was far more
famous.[300] An asp is absent from the
painting, but many Romans held the view
that she received poison in another
manner than a venomous snakebite.[438] A
set of double doors on the rear wall of the
painting, positioned very high above the
people in it, suggests the described layout
of Cleopatra's tomb in Alexandria.[300] A
male servant holds the mouth of an
artificial Egyptian crocodile (possibly an
elaborate tray handle), while another man
standing by is dressed as a Roman.[300]
In 1818 a now lost encaustic painting was
discovered in the Temple of Serapis at
Hadrian's Villa, near Tivoli, Lazio, Italy, that
depicted Cleopatra committing suicide
with an asp biting her bare chest.[435] A
chemical analysis performed in 1822
confirmed that the medium for the
painting was composed of one-third wax
and two-thirds resin.[435] The thickness of
the painting over Cleopatra's bare flesh
and her drapery were reportedly similar to
the paintings of the Fayum mummy
portraits.[439] A steel engraving published
by John Sartain in 1885 depicting the
painting as described in the archaeological
report shows Cleopatra wearing authentic
clothing and jewelry of Egypt in the late
Hellenistic period,[440] as well as the
radiant crown of the Ptolemaic rulers, as
seen in their portraits on various coins
minted during their respective reigns.[437]
After Cleopatra's suicide, Octavian
commissioned a painting to be made
depicting her being bitten by a snake,
parading this image in her stead during his
triumphal procession in Rome.[439][336][312]
The portrait painting of Cleopatra's death
was perhaps among the great number of
artworks and treasures taken from Rome
by Emperor Hadrian to decorate his private
villa, where it was found in an Egyptian
temple.[435][note 73]
 Ancient Roman fresco in the Pompeian Third Style
possibly depicting Cleopatra, from the House of the
Orchard at Pompeii, Italy, mid-1st century AD[56]

A Roman panel painting from

Herculaneum, Italy, dated to the 1st
century AD possibly depicts
Cleopatra.[56][57] In it she wears a royal
diadem, red or reddish-brown hair pulled
back into a bun,[note 74] pearl-studded
hairpins,[441] and earrings with ball-shaped
pendants, the white skin of her face and
neck set against a stark black
background.[56] Her hair and facial
features are similar to those in the
sculpted Berlin and Vatican portraits as
well as her coinage.[56] A highly similar
painted bust of a woman with a blue
headband in the House of the Orchard at
Pompeii features Egyptian-style imagery,
such as a Greek-style sphinx, and may
have been created by the same artist.[56]

Portland Vase
A possible depiction of Mark Antony on the Portland
Vase being lured by Cleopatra, straddling a serpent,
while Anton, Antony's alleged ancestor, looks on and
Eros flies above[442][443]

The Portland Vase, a Roman cameo glass

vase dated to the Augustan period and
now in the British Museum, includes a
possible depiction of Cleopatra with
Antony.[442][444] In this interpretation,
Cleopatra can be seen grasping Antony
and drawing him toward her while a
serpent (i.e. the asp) rises between her
legs, Eros floats above, and Anton, the
alleged ancestor of the Antonian family,
looks on in despair as his descendant
Antony is led to his doom.[442][443] The
other side of the vase perhaps contains a
scene of Octavia, abandoned by her
husband Antony but watched over by her
brother, the emperor Augustus.[442][443] The
vase would thus have been created no
earlier than 35 BC, when Antony sent his
wife Octavia back to Italy and stayed with
Cleopatra in Alexandria.[442]

Native Egyptian art

Cleopatra and her son Caesarion at the Temple of

Dendera

The Bust of Cleopatra in the Royal Ontario

Museum represents a bust of Cleopatra in
the Egyptian style.[445] Dated to the mid-
1st century BC, it is perhaps the earliest
depiction of Cleopatra as both a goddess
and ruling pharaoh of Egypt.[445] The
sculpture also has pronounced eyes that
share similarities with Roman copies of
Ptolemaic sculpted works of art.[446] The
Dendera Temple complex, near Dendera,
Egypt, contains Egyptian-style carved relief
images along the exterior walls of the
Temple of Hathor depicting Cleopatra and
her young son Caesarion as a grown adult
and ruling pharaoh making offerings to the
gods.[447][448] Augustus had his name
inscribed there following the death of
Cleopatra.[447][449]

A large Ptolemaic black basalt statue

measuring 104 centimetres (41 in) in
height, now in the Hermitage Museum,
Saint Petersburg, is thought to represent
Arsinoe II, wife of Ptolemy II, but recent
analysis has indicated that it could depict
her descendant Cleopatra due to the three
uraei adorning her headdress, an increase
from the two used by Arsinoe II to
symbolize her rule over Lower and Upper
Egypt.[405][401][399] The woman in the basalt
statue also holds a divided, double
cornucopia (dikeras), which can be seen
on coins of both Arsinoe II and
Cleopatra.[405][399] In his Kleopatra und die
Caesaren (2006), Bernard Andreae
contends that this basalt statue, like other
idealized Egyptian portraits of the queen,
does not contain realistic facial features
and hence adds little to the knowledge of
her appearance.[450][note 75] Adrian
Goldsworthy writes that, despite these
representations in the traditional Egyptian
style, Cleopatra would have dressed as a
native only "perhaps for certain rites" and
instead would usually dress as a Greek
monarch, which would include the Greek
headband seen in her Greco-Roman
busts.[451]

Medieval and Early Modern reception

The Banquet of Cleopatra (1744), by Giovanni Battista

Tiepolo, now in the National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne[452]
In modern times Cleopatra has become an
icon of popular culture,[375] a reputation
shaped by theatrical representations
dating back to the Renaissance as well as
paintings and films.[453] This material
largely surpasses the scope and size of
existent historiographic literature about
her from classical antiquity and has made
a greater impact on the general public's
view of Cleopatra than the latter.[454] The
14th-century English poet Geoffrey
Chaucer, in The Legend of Good Women,
contextualized Cleopatra for the Christian
world of the Middle Ages.[455] His
depiction of Cleopatra and Antony, her
shining knight engaged in courtly love, has
been interpreted in modern times as being
either playful or misogynistic satire.[455]
However, Chaucer highlighted Cleopatra's
relationships with only two men as hardly
the life of a seductress and wrote his
works partly in reaction to the negative
depiction of Cleopatra in De Mulieribus
Claris and De Casibus Virorum Illustrium,
Latin works by the 14th-century Italian
poet Giovanni Boccaccio.[456][392] The
Renaissance humanist Bernardino
Cacciante, in his 1504 Libretto apologetico
delle donne, was the first Italian to defend
the reputation of Cleopatra and criticize
the perceived moralizing and misogyny in
Boccaccio's works.[457] Works of Islamic
historiography written in Arabic covered
the reign of Cleopatra, such as the 10th-
century Meadows of Gold by Al-Masudi,[458]
although his work erroneously claimed
that Octavian died soon after Cleopatra's
suicide.[459]

Cleopatra appeared in miniatures for

illuminated manuscripts, such as a
depiction of her and Antony lying in a
Gothic-style tomb by the Boucicaut Master
in 1409.[391] In the visual arts, the sculpted
depiction of Cleopatra as a free-standing
nude figure committing suicide began with
the 16th-century sculptors Bartolommeo
Bandinelli and Alessandro Vittoria.[460]
Early prints depicting Cleopatra include
designs by the Renaissance artists
Raphael and Michelangelo, as well as
15th-century woodcuts in illustrated
editions of Boccaccio's works.[461]

In the performing arts, the death of

Elizabeth I of England in 1603, and the
German publication in 1606 of alleged
letters of Cleopatra, inspired Samuel
Daniel to alter and republish his 1594 play
Cleopatra in 1607.[462] He was followed by
William Shakespeare, whose Antony and
Cleopatra, largely based on Plutarch, was
first performed in 1608 and provided a
somewhat salacious view of Cleopatra in
stark contrast to England's own Virgin
Queen.[463] Cleopatra was also featured in
operas, such as George Frideric Handel's
1724 Giulio Cesare in Egitto, which
portrayed the love affair of Caesar and
Cleopatra.[464]

Modern depictions and brand imaging

The Triumph of Cleopatra (1821), by William Etty, now

in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, England
In Victorian Britain, Cleopatra was highly
associated with many aspects of ancient
Egyptian culture and her image was used
to market various household products,
including oil lamps, lithographs, postcards
and cigarettes.[465] Fictional novels such
as H. Rider Haggard's Cleopatra (1889)
and Théophile Gautier's One of Cleopatra's
Nights (1838) depicted the queen as a
sensual and mystic Easterner, while the
Egyptologist Georg Ebers's Cleopatra
(1894) was more grounded in historical
accuracy.[465][466] The French dramatist
Victorien Sardou and Irish playwright
George Bernard Shaw produced plays
about Cleopatra, while burlesque shows
such as F. C. Burnand's Antony and
Cleopatra offered satirical depictions of
the queen connecting her and the
environment she lived in with the modern
age.[467] Shakespeare's Antony and
Cleopatra was considered canonical by the
Victorian era.[468] Its popularity led to the
perception that the 1885 painting by
Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicted the
meeting of Antony and Cleopatra on her
pleasure barge in Tarsus, although Alma-
Tadema revealed in a private letter that it
depicts a subsequent meeting of theirs in
Alexandria.[469] In his unfinished 1825
short story The Egyptian Nights, Alexander
Pushkin popularized the claims of the 4th-
century Roman historian Aurelius Victor,
previously largely ignored, that Cleopatra
had prostituted herself to men who paid
for sex with their lives.[470][471] Cleopatra
also became appreciated outside the
Western world and Middle East, as the
Qing-dynasty Chinese scholar Yan Fu
wrote an extensive biography of her.[472]

Georges Méliès's Robbing Cleopatra's

Tomb (French: Cléopâtre), an 1899 French
silent horror film, was the first film to
depict the character of Cleopatra.[473]
Hollywood films of the 20th century were
influenced by earlier Victorian media,
which helped to shape the character of
Cleopatra played by Theda Bara in
Cleopatra (1917), Claudette Colbert in
Cleopatra (1934), and Elizabeth Taylor in
Cleopatra (1963).[474] In addition to her
portrayal as a "vampire" queen, Bara's
Cleopatra also incorporated tropes
familiar from 19th-century Orientalist
painting, such as despotic behavior, mixed
with dangerous and overt female
sexuality.[475] Colbert's character of
Cleopatra served as a glamour model for
selling Egyptian-themed products in
department stores in the 1930s, targeting
female moviegoers.[476] In preparation for
the film starring Taylor as Cleopatra,
women's magazines of the early 1960s
advertised how to use makeup, clothes,
jewelry, and hairstyles to achieve the
"Egyptian" look similar to the queens
Cleopatra and Nefertiti.[477] By the end of
the 20th century there were forty-three
separate films, two hundred plays and
novels, forty-five operas, and five ballets
associated with Cleopatra.[478]

Written works

Whereas myths about Cleopatra persist in

popular media, important aspects of her
career go largely unnoticed, such as her
command of naval forces, administrative
acts, and publications on ancient Greek
medicine.[376] Only fragments exist of the
medical and cosmetic writings attributed
to Cleopatra, such as those preserved by
Galen, including remedies for hair disease,
baldness, and dandruff, along with a list of
weights and measures for
pharmacological purposes.[479][19][480]
Aëtius of Amida attributed a recipe for
perfumed soap to Cleopatra, while Paul of
Aegina preserved alleged instructions of
hers for dyeing and curling hair.[479] The
attribution of certain texts to Cleopatra,
however, is doubted by Ingrid D. Rowland,
who highlights that the "Berenice called
Cleopatra" cited by the 3rd- or 4th-century
female Roman physician Metrodora was
likely conflated by medieval scholars as
referring to Cleopatra.[481]

Ancestry

Left: A Hellenistic bust of Ptolemy I Soter, now in the

Louvre, Paris
Right: A bust of Seleucus I Nicator, a Roman copy of a
Greek original, from the Villa of the Papyri,
Herculaneum, and now in the National Archaeological
Museum, Naples
Cleopatra belonged to the Macedonian
Greek dynasty of the
Ptolemies,[8][482][483][note 76] their European
origins tracing back to northern
Greece.[484] Through her father, Ptolemy
XII Auletes, she was a descendant of two
prominent companions of Alexander the
Great of Macedon: the general Ptolemy I
Soter, founder of the Ptolemaic Kingdom
of Egypt, and Seleucus I Nicator, the
Macedonian Greek founder of the Seleucid
Empire of West Asia.[8][485][486][note 77] While
Cleopatra's paternal line can be traced, the
identity of her mother is
unknown.[487][488][489][note 78] She was
presumably the daughter of Cleopatra VI
Tryphaena (also known as Cleopatra V
Tryphaena),[note 4] the sister-wife of
Ptolemy XII who had previously given birth
to their daughter Berenice
IV.[13][488][490][note 79]

Cleopatra I Syra was the only member of

the Ptolemaic dynasty known for certain to
have introduced some non-Greek
ancestry.[491][492] Her mother Laodice III
was a daughter born to King Mithridates II
of Pontus, a Persian of the Mithridatic
dynasty, and his wife Laodice who had a
mixed Greek-Persian heritage.[493] Laodice
III's father Antiochus III the Great was a
descendant of Queen Apama, the Sogdian
Iranian wife of Seleucus I
Nicator.[491][492][494][note 80] It is generally
believed that the Ptolemies did not
intermarry with native
Egyptians.[40][495][note 81] Michael Grant
asserts that there is only one known
Egyptian mistress of a Ptolemy and no
known Egyptian wife of a Ptolemy, further
arguing that Cleopatra probably did not
have any Egyptian ancestry and "would
have described herself as
Greek."[491][note 82] Stacy Schiff writes that
Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek with
some Persian ancestry, arguing that it was
rare for the Ptolemies to have an Egyptian
mistress.[496][note 83] Duane W. Roller
speculates that Cleopatra could have been
the daughter of a theoretical half-
Macedonian-Greek, half-Egyptian woman
from Memphis in northern Egypt belonging
to a family of priests dedicated to Ptah (a
hypothesis not generally accepted in
scholarship),[note 84] but contends that
whatever Cleopatra's ancestry, she valued
her Greek Ptolemaic heritage the
most.[497][note 85] Ernle Bradford writes that
Cleopatra challenged Rome not as an
Egyptian woman "but as a civilized
Greek."[498]

Claims that Cleopatra was an illegitimate

child never appeared in Roman
propaganda against her.[35][499][note 86]
Strabo was the only ancient historian who
claimed that Ptolemy XII's children born
after Berenice IV, including Cleopatra, were
illegitimate.[35][499][500] Cleopatra V (or VI)
was expelled from the court of Ptolemy XII
in late 69 BC, a few months after the birth
of Cleopatra, while Ptolemy XII's three
younger children were all born during the
absence of his wife.[41] The high degree of
inbreeding among the Ptolemies is also
illustrated by Cleopatra's immediate
ancestry, of which a reconstruction is
shown below.[note 87] The family tree given
below also lists Cleopatra V, Ptolemy XII's
wife, as a daughter of Ptolemy X
Alexander I and Berenice III, which would
make her a cousin of her husband,
Ptolemy XII, but she could have been a
daughter of Ptolemy IX Lathyros, which
would have made her a sister-wife of
Ptolemy XII instead.[501][35] The confused
accounts in ancient primary sources have
also led scholars to number Ptolemy XII's
wife as either Cleopatra V or Cleopatra VI;
the latter may have actually been a
daughter of Ptolemy XII, and some use her
as an indication that Cleopatra V had died
in 69 BC rather than reappearing as a co-
ruler with Berenice IV in 58 BC (during
Ptolemy XII's exile in Rome).[55][502]
 Ptolemy V Cleopatra I
Epiphanes Syra

Ptolemy VI
Cleopatra
Philometor

Ptolemy VIII Cleopatra

Physcon III

Cleopatra
Ptolemy IX Cl
Selene of
Lathyros
Syria
 Ptolemy Berenice
X III
Alexander
I

Cleopatra V Ptolemy X
Tryphaena Auletes

Cleopatra
VII

See also
List of female hereditary rulers

Notes
1. For further validation about the Berlin
Cleopatra, see Pina Polo (2013, pp. 184–
186), Roller (2010, pp. 54, 174–175), Jones
(2006, p. 33), and Hölbl (2001, p. 234).
2. Roller (2010, p. 149) and Skeat (1953,
pp. 99–100) explain the nominal short-lived
reign of Caesarion as lasting 18 days in 30
August BC. However, Duane W. Roller,
relaying Theodore Cressy Skeat, affirms
that Caesarion's reign "was essentially a
fiction created by Egyptian chronographers
to close the gap between [Cleopatra's]
death and official Roman control of Egypt
(under the new pharaoh, Octavian)", citing,
for instance, the Stromata by Clement of
Alexandria (Roller 2010, pp. 149, 214,
footnote 103).

Plutarch, translated by Jones (2006,

p. 187), wrote in vague terms that "Octavian
had Caesarion killed later, after Cleopatra's
death."
3. 12 August 30 BC in the later Julian
calendar. Skeat (1953, pp. 98–100).
4. Grant (1972, pp. 3–4, 17), Fletcher (2008,
pp. 69, 74, 76), Jones (2006, p. xiii), Preston
(2009, p. 22), Schiff (2011, p. 28) and
Burstein (2004, p. 11) label the wife of
Ptolemy XII Auletes as Cleopatra V
Tryphaena, while Dodson & Hilton (2004,
pp. 268–269, 273) and Roller (2010, p. 18)
call her Cleopatra VI Tryphaena, due to the
confusion in primary sources conflating
these two figures, who may have been one
and the same. As explained by Whitehorne
(1994, p. 182), Cleopatra VI may have
actually been a daughter of Ptolemy XII
who appeared in 58 BC to rule jointly with
her alleged sister Berenice IV (while
Ptolemy XII was exiled and living in Rome),
whereas Ptolemy XII's wife Cleopatra V
perhaps died as early as the winter of 69–
68 BC, when she disappears from historical
records. Roller (2010, pp. 18–19) assumes
that Ptolemy XII's wife, who he numbers as
Cleopatra VI, was merely absent from the
court for a decade after being expelled for
an unknown reason, eventually ruling jointly
with her daughter Berenice IV. Fletcher
(2008, p. 76) explains that the Alexandrians
deposed Ptolemy XII and installed "his
eldest daughter, Berenike IV, and as co-ruler
recalled Cleopatra V Tryphaena from 10
years' exile from the court. Although later
historians assumed she must have been
another of Auletes' daughters and
numbered her 'Cleopatra VI', it seems she
was simply the fifth one returning to
replace her brother and former husband
Auletes."
5. She was also a diplomat, naval
commander, linguist, and medical author;
see Roller (2010, p. 1) and Bradford (2000,
p. 13).
. Southern (2009, p. 43) writes about
Ptolemy I Soter: "The Ptolemaic dynasty, of
which Cleopatra was the last
representative, was founded at the end of
the fourth century BC. The Ptolemies were
not of Egyptian extraction, but stemmed
from Ptolemy Soter, a Macedonian Greek in
the entourage of Alexander the Great."

For additional sources that describe the

Ptolemaic dynasty as "Macedonian Greek",
please see Roller (2010, pp. 15–16), Jones
(2006, pp. xiii, 3, 279), Kleiner (2005, pp. 9,
19, 106, 183), Jeffreys (1999, p. 488) and
Johnson (1999, p. 69). Alternatively, Grant
(1972, p. 3) describes them as a
"Macedonian, Greek-speaking" dynasty.
Other sources such as Burstein (2004,
p. 64) and Pfrommer & Towne-Markus
(2001, p. 9) describe the Ptolemies as
"Greco-Macedonian" or just Macedonians
who possessed a Greek culture, as in
Pfrommer & Towne-Markus (2001, pp. 9–
11, 20).
7. Grant (1972, pp. 5–6) notes that the
Hellenistic period, beginning with the reign
of Alexander the Great, came to an end with
the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. Michael
Grant stresses that the Hellenistic Greeks
were viewed by contemporary Romans as
having declined and diminished in
greatness since the age of Classical
Greece, an attitude that has continued even
into the works of modern historiography.
Regarding Hellenistic Egypt, Grant argues,
"Cleopatra VII, looking back upon all that
her ancestors had done during that time,
was not likely to make the same mistake.
But she and her contemporaries of the first
century BC had another, peculiar, problem
of their own. Could the 'Hellenistic Age'
(which we ourselves often regard as
coming to an end in about her time) still be
said to exist at all, could any Greek age,
now that the Romans were the dominant
power? This was a question never far from
Cleopatra's mind. But it is quite certain that
she considered the Greek epoch to be by no
means finished, and intended to do
everything in her power to ensure its
perpetuation."
. The refusal of Ptolemaic rulers to speak the
native language, Late Egyptian, is why
Ancient Greek (i.e. Koine Greek) was used
along with Late Egyptian on official court
documents such as the Rosetta Stone
("Radio 4 Programmes – A History of the
World in 100 Objects, Empire Builders (300
BC – 1 AD), Rosetta Stone" . BBC.
Archived from the original on 23 May
2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.).

As explained by Burstein (2004, pp. 43–54),

Ptolemaic Alexandria was considered a
polis (city-state) separate from the country
of Egypt, with citizenship reserved for
Greeks and Ancient Macedonians, but
various other ethnic groups resided there,
 especially the Jews, as well as native
Egyptians, Syrians, and Nubians.

For further validation, see Grant (1972,

p. 3).

For the multiple languages spoken by

Cleopatra, see Roller (2010, pp. 46–48) and
Burstein (2004, pp. 11–12).

For further validation about Ancient Greek

being the official language of the Ptolemaic
dynasty, see Jones (2006, p. 3).
9. Tyldesley (2017) offers an alternative
rendering of the title Cleopatra VII Thea
Philopator as "Cleopatra the Father-Loving
Goddess".
10. For a thorough explanation about the
foundation of Alexandria by Alexander the
Great and its largely Hellenistic Greek
nature during the Ptolemaic period, along
with a survey of the various ethnic groups
residing there, see Burstein (2004, pp. 43–
61).

For further validation about the founding of

Alexandria by Alexander the Great, see
Jones (2006, p. 6).

For further validation of Ptolemaic rulers

being crowned at Memphis, see Jeffreys
(1999, p. 488).
11. For further information, see Grant (1972,
pp. 20, 256, footnote 42).
12. For the list of languages spoken by
Cleopatra as mentioned by the ancient
historian Plutarch, see Jones (2006,
pp. 33–34), who also mentions that the
rulers of Ptolemaic Egypt gradually
abandoned the Ancient Macedonian
language. For further information and
validation see Schiff (2011, p. 36).
13. Grant (1972, p. 3) states that Cleopatra
could have been born in either late 70 BC or
early 69 BC.
14. For further information and validation see
Schiff (2011, p. 28) and Kleiner (2005,
p. 22). For alternate speculation, see
Burstein (2004, p. 11) and Roller (2010,
pp. 15, 18, 166).
15. Due to discrepancies in academic works, in
which some consider Cleopatra VI to be
either a daughter of Ptolemy XII or his wife,
identical to that of Cleopatra V, Jones
(2006, p. 28) states that Ptolemy XII had six
children, while Roller (2010, p. 16) mentions
only five.
1 . For further information and validation, see
Grant (1972, pp. 12–13). In 1972, Michael
Grant calculated that 6,000 talents, the
price of Ptolemy XII's fee for receiving the
title "friend and ally of the Roman people"
from the triumvirs Pompey and Julius
Caesar, would be worth roughly £7 million
or US$17 million, roughly the entire annual
tax revenue for Ptolemaic Egypt.
17. Fletcher (2008, p. 87) describes the
painting from Herculaneum further:
"Cleopatra's hair was maintained by her
highly skilled hairdresser Eiras. Although
rather artificial looking wigs set in the
traditional tripartite style of long straight
hair would have been required for her
appearances before her Egyptian subjects,
a more practical option for general day-to-
day wear was the no-nonsense 'melon
hairdo' in which her natural hair was drawn
back in sections resembling the lines on a
melon and then pinned up in a bun at the
back of the head. A trademark style of
Arsinoe II and Berenice II, the style had
fallen from fashion for almost two
centuries until revived by Cleopatra; yet as
both traditionalist and innovator, she wore
 her version without her predecessor's fine
head veil. And whereas they had both been
blonde like Alexander, Cleopatra may well
have been a redhead, judging from the
portrait of a flame-haired woman wearing
the royal diadem surrounded by Egyptian
motifs which has been identified as
Cleopatra."
1 . For political background information on the
Roman annexation of Cyprus, a move
pushed for in the Roman Senate by Publius
Clodius Pulcher, see Grant (1972, pp. 13–
14).
19. For further information, see Grant (1972,
pp. 15–16).
20. Fletcher (2008, pp. 76–77) expresses little
doubt about this: "deposed in late summer
58 BC and fearing for his life, Auletes had
fled both his palace and his kingdom,
although he was not completely alone. For
one Greek source reveals he had been
accompanied 'by one of his daughters', and
since his eldest Berenice IV, was monarch,
and the youngest, Arisone, little more than a
toddler, it is generally assumed that this
must have been his middle daughter and
favourite child, eleven-year-old Cleopatra."
21. For further information, see Grant (1972,
p. 16).
22. For further information on Roman financier
Rabirius, as well as the Gabiniani left in
Egypt by Gabinius, see Grant (1972, pp. 18–
19).
23. For further information, see Grant (1972,
p. 18).
24. For further information, see Grant (1972,
pp. 19–20, 27–29).
25. For further information, see Grant (1972,
pp. 28–30).
2 . For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 88–92) and Jones (2006, pp. 31, 34–
35).

Fletcher (2008, pp. 85–86) states that the

partial solar eclipse of 7 March 51 BC
marked the death of Ptolemy XII and
accession of Cleopatra to the throne,
although she apparently suppressed the
news of his death, alerting the Roman
Senate to this fact months later in a
message they received on 30 June 51 BC.

However, Grant (1972, p. 30) claims that the

Senate was informed of his death on
1 August 51 BC. Michael Grant indicates
that Ptolemy XII could have been alive as
late as May, while an ancient Egyptian
source affirms he was still ruling with
Cleopatra by 15 July 51 BC, although by this
point Cleopatra most likely "hushed up her
father's death" so that she could
consolidate her control of Egypt.
27. Pfrommer & Towne-Markus (2001, p. 34)
writes the following about the sibling
marriage of Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II:
"Ptolemy Keraunos, who wanted to become
king of Macedon ... killed Arsinoë's small
children in front of her. Now queen without
a kingdom, Arsinoë fled to Egypt, where she
was welcomed by her full brother Ptolemy
II. Not content, however, to spend the rest
of her life as a guest at the Ptolemaic court,
she had Ptolemy II's wife exiled to Upper
Egypt and married him herself around 275
B.C. Though such an incestuous marriage
was considered scandalous by the Greeks,
it was allowed by Egyptian custom. For that
reason, the marriage split public opinion
into two factions. The loyal side celebrated
the couple as a return of the divine
 marriage of Zeus and Hera, whereas the
other side did not refrain from profuse and
obscene criticism. One of the most
sarcastic commentators, a poet with a very
sharp pen, had to flee Alexandria. The
unfortunate poet was caught off the shore
of Crete by the Ptolemaic navy, put in an
iron basket, and drowned. This and similar
actions seemingly slowed down vicious
criticism."
2 . For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 92–93).
29. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 96–97) and Jones (2006, p. 39).
30. For further information, see Jones (2006,
pp. 39–41).
31. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
p. 98) and Jones (2006, pp. 39–43, 53–55).
32. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 98–100) and Jones (2006, pp. 53–55).
33. For further information, see Burstein (2004,
p. 18) and Fletcher (2008, pp. 101–103).
34. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
p. 113).
35. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
p. 118).
3 . For further information, see Burstein (2004,
p. 76).
37. For further information, see Burstein (2004,
pp. xxi, 19) and Fletcher (2008, pp. 118–
120).
3 . For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 119–120).

As part of the siege of Alexandria, Burstein

(2004, p. 19) states that Caesar's
reinforcements came in January, but Roller
(2010, p. 63) says that his reinforcements
came in March.
39. For further information and validation, see
Anderson (2003, p. 39) and Fletcher (2008,
p. 120).
40. For further information and validation, see
Fletcher (2008, p. 121) and Jones (2006,
p. xiv).

Roller (2010, pp. 64–65) states that at this

point (47 BC) Ptolemy XIV was 12 years old,
while Burstein (2004, p. 19) claims that he
was still only 10 years of age.
41. For further information and validation, see
Anderson (2003, p. 39) and Fletcher (2008,
pp. 154, 161–162).
42. Roller (2010, p. 70) writes the following
about Caesar and his parentage of
Caesarion: "The matter of parentage
became so tangled in the propaganda war
between Antonius and Octavian in the late
30s B.C.—it was essential for one side to
prove and the other to reject Caesar's role—
that it is impossible today to determine
Caesar's actual response. The extant
information is almost contradictory: it was
said that Caesar denied parentage in his
will but acknowledged it privately and
allowed the use of the name Caesarion.
Caesar's associate C. Oppius even wrote a
pamphlet proving that Caesarion was not
Caesar's child, and C. Helvius Cinna—the
poet who was killed by rioters after
Antonius' funeral oration—was prepared in
 44 B.C. to introduce legislation to allow
Caesar to marry as many wives as he
wished for the purpose of having children.
Although much of this talk was generated
after Caesar's death, it seems that he
wished to be as quiet as possible about the
child but had to contend with Cleopatra's
repeated assertions."
43. For further information and validation, see
Jones (2006, pp. xiv, 78).
44. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 214–215).
45. As explained by Burstein (2004, p. 23),
Cleopatra, having read Antony's personality,
boldly presented herself to him as the
Egyptian goddess Isis (in the appearance of
the Greek goddess Aphrodite) meeting her
divine husband Osiris (in the form of the
Greek god Dionysus), knowing that the
priests of the Temple of Artemis at
Ephesus had associated Antony with
Dionysus shortly before this encounter.
According to Brown (2011), a cult
surrounding Isis had been spreading across
the region for hundreds of years, and
Cleopatra, like many of her predecessors,
sought to identify herself with Isis and be
venerated. In addition, some surviving coins
of Cleopatra also depict her as Venus–
 Aphrodite, as explained by Fletcher (2008,
p. 205).
4 . For further information about Publius
Ventidius Bassus and his victory over
Parthian forces at the Battle of Mount
Gindarus, see Kennedy (1996, pp. 80–81).
47. Ferroukhi (2001a, p. 219) provides a
detailed discussion about this bust and its
ambiguities, noting that it could represent
Cleopatra, but that it is more likely her
daughter Cleopatra Selene II. Kleiner (2005,
pp. 155–156) argues in favor of its
depicting Cleopatra rather than her
daughter, while Varner (2004, p. 20)
mentions only Cleopatra as a possible
likeness. Roller (2003, p. 139) observes that
it could be either Cleopatra or Cleopatra
Selene II, while arguing the same ambiguity
applies to the other sculpted head from
Cherchel featuring a veil. In regards to the
latter head, Ferroukhi (2001b, p. 242)
indicates it as a possible portrait of
Cleopatra, not Cleoptra Selene II, from the
early 1st century AD while also arguing that
 its masculine features, earrings, and
apparent toga (the veil being a component
of it) could likely mean it was intended to
depict a Numidian nobleman. Fletcher
(2008, image plates between pp. 246–247)
disagrees about the veiled head, arguing
that it was commissioned by Cleopatra
Selene II at Iol (Caesarea Mauretaniae) and
was meant to depict her mother, Cleopatra.
4 . According to Roller (2010, pp. 91–92),
these client state rulers installed by Antony
included Herod, Amyntas of Galatia,
Polemon I of Pontus, and Archelaus of
Cappadocia.
49. Bringmann (2007, p. 301) claims that
Octavia Minor provided Antony with 1,200
troops, not 2,000 as stated in Roller (2010,
pp. 97–98) and Burstein (2004, pp. 27–28).
50. Roller (2010, p. 100) says that it is unclear
if Antony and Cleopatra were ever truly
married. Burstein (2004, pp. xxii, 29) says
that the marriage publicly sealed Antony's
alliance with Cleopatra and in defiance of
Octavian he would divorce Octavia in 32
BC. Coins of Antony and Cleopatra depict
them in the typical manner of a Hellenistic
royal couple, as explained by Roller (2010,
p. 100).
51. Jones (2006, p. xiv) writes that "Octavian
waged a propaganda war against Antony
and Cleopatra, stressing Cleopatra's status
as a woman and a foreigner who wished to
share in Roman power."
52. Stanley M. Burstein, in Burstein (2004,
p. 33) provides the name Quintus
Cascellius as the recipient of the tax
exemption, not the Publius Canidius
Crassus provided by Duane W. Roller in
Roller (2010, p. 134).
53. Reece (2017, p. 203) notes that "[t]he
fragmentary texts of ancient Greek papyri
do not often make their way into the
modern public arena, but this one has, and
with fascinating results, while remaining
almost entirely unacknowledged is the
remarkable fact that Cleopatra's one-word
subscription contains a blatant spelling
error: γινέσθωι, with a superfluous iota
adscript." This spelling error "has not been
noted by the popular media", however, being
"simply transliterated [...] including, without
comment, the superfluous iota adscript"
(p. 208). Even in academic sources, the
misspelling was largely unacknowledged or
quietly corrected (pp. 206–208, 210).
Although described as " 'normal'
orthography" (in contrast with " 'correct'
orthography") by Peter van Minnen (p. 208),
the spelling error is "much rarer and more
puzzling" than the sort one would expect
from the Greek papyri from Egypt (p. 210)—
so rare, in fact, that it occurs only twice in
the 70,000 Greek papyri between the 3rd
century BC and 8th century AD in the
Papyrological Navigator's database. This is
especially so when considering it was
added to a word "with no etymological or
morphological reason for having an iota
adscript" (p. 210) and was written by "the
well-educated, native Greek-speaking,
queen of Egypt" Cleopatra VII (p. 208).
54. As explained by Jones (2006, p. 147),
"politically, Octavian had to walk a fine line
as he prepared to engage in open hostilities
with Antony. He was careful to minimize
associations with civil war, as the Roman
people had already suffered through many
years of civil conflict and Octavian could
risk losing support if he declared war on a
fellow citizen."
55. For the translated accounts of both
Plutarch and Dio, Jones (2006, pp. 194–
195) writes that the implement used to
puncture Cleopatra's skin was a hairpin.
5 . Jones (2006, p. 187), translating Plutarch,
quotes Arius Didymus as saying to
Octavian that "it is not good to have too
many Caesars", which was apparently
enough to convince Octavian to have
Caesarion killed.
57. Contrary to regular Roman provinces, Egypt
was established by Octavian as territory
under his personal control, barring the
Roman Senate from intervening in any of its
affairs and appointing his own equestrian
governors of Egypt, the first of whom was
Gallus. For further information, see
Southern (2014, p. 185) and Roller (2010,
p. 151).
5 . Walker (2001, p. 312) writes the following
about the raised relief on the gilded silver
dish: "Conspicuously mounted on the
cornucopia is a gilded crescent moon set
on a pine cone. Around it are piled
pomegranates and bunches of grapes.
Engraved on the horn are images of Helios
(the sun), in the form of a youth dressed in
a short cloak, with the hairstyle of
Alexander the Great, the head surrounded
by rays ... The symbols on the cornucopia
can indeed be read as references to the
Ptolemaic royal house and specifically to
Cleopatra Selene, represented in the
crescent moon, and to her twin brother,
Alexander Helios, whose eventual fate after
the conquest of Egypt is unknown. The
viper seems to be linked with the
 pantheress and the intervening symbols of
fecundity rather than the suicide of
Cleopatra VII. The elephant scalp could
refer to Cleopatra Selene's status as ruler,
with Juba II, of Mauretania. The visual
correspondence with the veiled head from
Cherchel encourages this identification, and
many of the symbols used on the dish also
appear on the coinage of Juba II."
59. Jones (2006, p. 60) offers speculation that
the author of De Bello Alexandrino, written
in Latin prose sometime between 46–43
BC, was a certain Aulus Hirtius, a military
officer serving under Caesar.
0. Burstein (2004, p. 30) writes that Virgil, in
his Aeneid, described the Battle of Actium
against Cleopatra "as a clash of
civilizations in which Octavian and the
Roman gods preserved Italy from conquest
by Cleopatra and the barbaric animal-
headed gods of Egypt."
1. For further information and extracts of
Strabo's account of Cleopatra in his
Geographica see Jones (2006, pp. 28–30).
2. As explained by Chauveau (2000, pp. 2–3),
this source material from Egypt dated to
the reign of Cleopatra includes about 50
papyri documents in Ancient Greek, mostly
from the city of Heracleopolis, and only a
few papyri from Faiyum, written in the
Demotic Egyptian language. Overall this is a
much smaller body of surviving native texts
than those of any other period of Ptolemaic
Egypt.
3. For the description of Cleopatra by
Plutarch, who claimed that her beauty was
not "completely incomparable" but that she
had a "captivating" and "stimulating"
personality, see Jones (2006, pp. 32–33).
4. Fletcher (2008, p. 205) writes the following:
"Cleopatra was the only female Ptolemy to
issue coins on her own behalf, some
showing her as Venus-Aphrodite. Caesar
now followed her example and, taking the
same bold step, became the first living
Roman to appear on coins, his rather
haggard profile accompanied by the title
'Parens Patriae', 'Father of the Fatherland'."
5. For further information, see Raia & Sebesta
(2017).
. There is academic disagreement on
whether the following portraits are
considered "heads" or "busts". For instance,
Raia & Sebesta (2017) exclusively uses the
former, while Grout (2017b) prefers the
latter.
7. For further information and validation, see
Curtius (1933, pp. 182–192), Walker (2008,
p. 348), Raia & Sebesta (2017) and Grout
(2017b).
. For further information and validation, see
Grout (2017b) and Roller (2010, pp. 174–
175).
9. For further information, see Curtius (1933,
pp. 182–192), Walker (2008, p. 348) and
Raia & Sebesta (2017).
70. The observation that the left cheek of the
Vatican Cleopatra once had a cupid's hand
that was broken off was first suggested by
Ludwig Curtius in 1933. Kleiner concurs
with this assessment. See Kleiner (2005,
p. 153), as well as Walker (2008, p. 40) and
Curtius (1933, pp. 182–192). While Kleiner
(2005, p. 153) has suggested the lump on
top of this marble head perhaps contained
a broken-off uraeus, Curtius (1933, p. 187)
offered the explanation that it once held a
sculpted representation of a jewel.
71. Curtius (1933, p. 187) wrote that the
damaged lump along the hairline and
diadem of the Vatican Cleopatra likely
contained a sculpted representation of a
jewel, which Walker (2008, p. 40) directly
compares to the painted red jewel in the
diadem worn by Venus, most likely
Cleopatra, in the fresco from Pompeii.
72. For further information about the painting
in the House of Giuseppe II (Joseph II) at
Pompeii and the possible identification of
Cleopatra as one of the figures, see Pucci
(2011, pp. 206–207, footnote 27).
73. In Pratt & Fizel (1949, pp. 14–15), Frances
Pratt and Becca Fizel rejected the idea
proposed by some scholars in the 19th and
early 20th centuries that the painting was
perhaps done by an artist of the Italian
Renaissance. Pratt and Fizel highlighted the
Classical style of the painting as preserved
in textual descriptions and the steel
engraving. They argued that it was unlikely
for a Renaissance period painter to have
created works with encaustic materials,
conducted thorough research into
Hellenistic period Egyptian clothing and
jewelry as depicted in the painting, and then
precariously placed it in the ruins of the
Egyptian temple at Hadrian's Villa.
74. Walker & Higgs (2001, pp. 314–315)
describe her hair as reddish brown, while
Fletcher (2008, p. 87) describes her as a
flame-haired redhead and, in Fletcher
(2008, image plates and captions between
pp. 246–247), likewise describes her as a
red-haired woman.
75. Preston (2009, p. 305) comes to a similar
conclusion about native Egyptian
depictions of Cleopatra: "Apart from certain
temple carvings, which are anyway in a
highly stylised pharaonic style and give little
clue to Cleopatra's real appearance, the
only certain representations of Cleopatra
are those on coins. The marble head in the
Vatican is one of three sculptures generally,
though not universally, accepted by
scholars to be depictions of Cleopatra."
7 . For further information on Cleopatra's
Macedonian Greek lineage, see Pucci
(2011, p. 201), Grant (1972, pp. 3–5),
Burstein (2004, pp. 3, 34, 36, 43, 63–64)
and Royster (2003, pp. 47–49).
77. For further information and validation of the
foundation of Hellenistic Egypt by
Alexander the Great and Cleopatra's
ancestry stretching back to Ptolemy I Soter,
see Grant (1972, pp. 7–8) and Jones (2006,
p. 3).
7 . For further information, see Grant (1972,
pp. 3–4) and Burstein (2004, p. 11).
79. For further information, see Fletcher (2008,
pp. 69, 74, 76). Contrary to other sources
cited here, Dodson & Hilton (2004, pp. 268–
269, 273) refer to Cleopatra V Tryphaena as
a possible cousin or sister of Ptolemy XII
Auletes.
0. For the Sogdian ancestry of Apama, wife of
Seleucus I Nicator, see Holt (1989, pp. 64–
65, footnote 63).
1. As explained by Burstein (2004, pp. 47–50),
the main ethnic groups of Ptolemaic Egypt
were Egyptians, Greeks, and Jews, each of
whom were legally segregated, living in
different residential quarters and forbidden
to intermarry with one another in the
multicultural cities of Alexandria, Naucratis,
and Ptolemais Hermiou. However, as
explained by Fletcher (2008, pp. 82, 88–93),
the native Egyptian priesthood was strongly
linked to their Ptolemaic royal patrons, to
the point where Cleopatra is speculated to
have had an Egyptian half-cousin,
Pasherienptah III, the High Priest of Ptah at
Memphis, Egypt.
2. Grant (1972, p. 5) argues that Cleopatra's
grandmother, i.e. the mother of Ptolemy XII,
might have been a Syrian (though
conceding that "it is possible she was also
partly Greek"), but almost certainly not an
Egyptian because there is only one known
Egyptian mistress of a Ptolemaic ruler
throughout their entire dynasty.
3. Schiff (2011, p. 42) further argues that,
considering Cleopatra's ancestry, she was
not dark-skinned, though notes Cleopatra
was likely not among the Ptolemies with
fair features, and instead would have been
honey-skinned, citing as evidence that her
relatives were described as such and it
"would have presumably applied to her as
well." Goldsworthy (2010, pp. 127, 128)
agrees to this, contending that Cleopatra,
having Macedonian blood with a little
Syrian, was probably not dark-skinned (as
Roman propaganda never mentions it),
writing "fairer skin is marginally more likely
considering her ancestry," though also
notes she could have had a "darker more
Mediterranean complexion" because of her
mixed ancestry. Grant (1972, p. 5) agrees to
Goldsworthy's latter speculation of her skin
color, that though almost certainly not
Egyptian, Cleopatra had a darker
complexion due to being Greek mixed with
Persian and possible Syrian ancestry.
Preston (2009, p. 77) agrees with Grant
that, considering this ancestry, Cleopatra
was "almost certainly dark-haired and olive-
skinned." Bradford (2000, p. 14) contends
that it is "reasonable to infer" Cleopatra had
dark hair and "pale olive skin."
4. For further information on the identity of
Cleopatra's mother, see Burstein (2004,
p. 11), Fletcher (2008, p. 73), Goldsworthy
(2010, pp. 127, 128), Grant (1972, p. 4), and
Roller (2010, pp. 165–166). Joann Fletcher
finds this hypothesis to be dubious and
lacking evidence. Stanley M. Burstein
claims that strong circumstantial evidence
suggests Cleopatra's mother could have
been a member of the priestly family of
Ptah, but that historians generally assume
her mother was Cleopatra V Tryphaena,
wife of Ptolemy XII. Adrian Goldsworthy
dismisses the idea of Cleopatra's mother
being a member of an Egyptian priestly
family as "pure conjecture," adding that
either Cleopatra V or a concubine "probably
of Greek origin" would be Cleopatra VII's
mother. Michael Grant contends that
Cleopatra V was most likely Cleopatra VII's
mother. Duane W. Roller notes that while
Cleopatra could have been the daughter of
the priestly family of Ptah, the other main
candidate would be Cleopatra VI,
maintaining the uncertainty stems from
Cleopatra V/VI's "loss of favor" that
"obscured the issue." Roller (2010, pp. 165–
166) also posits that Cleopatra being the
only known ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty
to speak Egyptian, along with her daughter
Cleopatra Selene II as Queen of Mauretania
publicly honoring the native Egyptian elite,
both lend credence to the priestly class
mistress hypothesis for maternity.
5. Schiff (2011, pp. 2) concurs with this,
concluding that Cleopatra "upheld the
family tradition." As noted by Dudley (1960,
pp. 57), Cleopatra and her family were "the
successor[s] to the native Pharaohs,
exploiting through a highly organized
bureaucracy the great natural resources of
the Nile Valley."
. Grant (1972, p. 4) argues that if Cleopatra
had been illegitimate, her "numerous
Roman enemies would have revealed this
to the world."
 7. The family tree and short discussions of
the individuals can be found in Dodson &
Hilton (2004, pp. 268–281). Aidan Dodson
and Dyan Hilton refer to Cleopatra V as
Cleopatra VI and Cleopatra Selene of Syria
is called Cleopatra V Selene. Dotted lines in
the chart below indicate possible but
disputed parentage.

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Further reading
Chauveau, Michel (2004). Cleopatra: Beyond
the Myth. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-
0-8014-8953-2.
Flamarion, Edith (1997). Cleopatra: The Life
and Death of a Pharaoh . "Abrams
Discoveries" series. Translated by Bonfante-
Warren, Alexandra. New York: Harry N.
Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-2805-3.
Foss, Michael (1999). The Search for
Cleopatra. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-
55970-503-5.
Fraser, P.M. (1985). Ptolemaic Alexandria. 1–
3 (reprint ed.). Oxford: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814278-2.
Lindsay, Jack (1972). Cleopatra. New York:
Coward-McCann. OCLC 671705946 .
Nardo, Don (1994). Cleopatra. Lucent Books.
ISBN 978-1-56006-023-9.
Pomeroy, Sarah B. (1984). Women in
Hellenistic Egypt: from Alexander to Cleopatra.
New York: Schocken Books. ISBN 978-0-
8052-3911-9.
Samson, Julia (1990). Nefertiti & Cleopatra.
Stacey International. ISBN 978-0-948695-18-
6.
Southern, Pat (2000). Cleopatra. Tempus.
ISBN 978-0-7524-1494-2.
Syme, Ronald (1962) [1939]. The Roman
Revolution . Oxford University Press.
OCLC 404094 .
Tyldesley, Joyce (2008). Cleopatra: Last
Queen of Egypt . Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-
465-01892-5.
 Volkmann, Hans (1958). Cleopatra: a Study in
Politics and Propaganda. T.J. Cadoux, trans.
New York: Sagamore Press.
OCLC 899077769 .
Weigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (1914). The Life
and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt .
Edinburgh: Blackwood. OCLC 316294139 .

External links

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Ancient Roman depictions of Cleopatra

VII of Egypt , at YouTube
Cleopatra on In Our Time at the BBC
Cleopatra (1852), a Victorian children's
book by Jacob Abbott, Project
Gutenberg edition
"Mysterious Death of Cleopatra" at the
Discovery Channel
Cleopatra VII at BBC History
Cleopatra VII at World History
Encyclopedia
Eubanks, W. Ralph. (1 November 2010).
"How History and Hollywood Got
'Cleopatra' Wrong ". National Public
Radio (NPR) (a book review of Cleopatra:
A Life, by Stacy Schiff).
Jarus, Owen (13 March 2014).
"Cleopatra: Facts & Biography ". Live
Science.
Watkins, Thayer. "The Timeline of the
Life of Cleopatra ." San Jose State
University.
Draycott, Jane (22 May 2018).
"Cleopatra's Daughter: While Antony and
Cleopatra have been immortalised in
history and in popular culture, their
 offspring have been all but forgotten.
Their daughter, Cleopatra Selene,
became an important ruler in her own
right ". History Today.

Cleopatra
Ptolemaic dynasty
Born: 69 BC  Died: 30 BC

Regnal titles

Queen of Egypt Office

51–30 BC abolished
Preceded by with Ptolemy XII, Egypt
Ptolemy XII Ptolemy XIII, annexed by
Ptolemy XIV and Roman
Ptolemy XV Republic
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