Cleopatra then seized her opportunity and, due to her exile, secretly gained an audience with Caesar after being delivered to him rolled up in a bundle of hemp or leather (Schiff 2010, 26). Hoping to gain Caesar’s favour, Ptolemy XII presented the Roman leader with the head of Pompey as a show of his loyalty, though this only led to Caesar’s distress at the sight (Schiff 2010, 5). It is in this climate that she encountered Julius Caesar as he followed Pompey the Great to Egypt following his defeat in 18 BCE during the Roman Civil War (Schiff 2010, 5). Cleopatra was also ambitious, which led to her attempt to push her brother-husband, Ptolemy XIII, aside, resulting in her exile (Schiff 2010, 18). ![]() Cleopatra is perhaps most notorious for her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony during the civil wars of Rome and the rise of Octavian to become Caesar Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, after her suicide in 30 BCE.Ĭleopatra was well prepared to enter into the role of Queen of Egypt following the death of her father in 51 BCE as she was a shrewd politician and diplomat who was known to be witty, intelligent, imaginative, a patron of the arts, and well versed in literature and many languages – including Egyptian (Miles 2011, 1 & Johnson 1967, 387). Her father was Ptolemy XII Auletes and her mother is unknown, though she could have possibly been a sister-wife of his, Cleopatra Tryphene (Miles 2011, 1). Children: Caeserion (by Caesar), Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy Philadelphos (by Marc Antony)Ĭleopatra VII was born in 69 BCE and ruled in Egypt from 51-30 BCE alongside her brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV successively (Miles 2011, 21).Spouse/Lover(s): Ptolemy VIII Theos Philopator, Ptolemy XIV, Julius Caesar, and Marc Antony.Sibling(s): Berenice IV, Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIII, and Ptolemy XIV.Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Meeting of Cleopatra and Antony, 1885, Private Collection.
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