Caesar had never named his son his heir, choosing instead his grandnephew Octavian. This two-year idyll came to an end with the Ides of March. There Cleopatra and her Egyptian entourage were ensconced in one of Caesar’s country estates, while Caesar’s wife Calpurnia resided in their home in Rome. Despite the faux marriage, Caesar and Cleopatra continued their torrid affair, and soon enough went to Rome, dragging along the latest Ptolemy and Caesarion (“little Caesar,” Julius’ son). Caesar reaffirmed Cleopatra as ruler of Egypt and married her to her younger brother Ptolemy XIV to keep the locals complaisant (the three legions he stationed in the country may have helped in this). Ptolemy XIII, rather than be happy in exile, raised an army and challenged Caesar and Cleopatra, only to be decisively defeated in the Battle of the Nile (another of many in Egyptian history) and drowned in the river. But before that, Caesar declared the sister and brother co-rulers, oversaw renewed nuptial vows, had Pothinus executed, weathered a siege of the palace and put down a rebellion in the city (accidentally burning most of the Great Library there in the process).
It must have been a spectacular first meeting between the stoic Roman general and fiery Egyptian queen, for nine months later she gave birth to their son. Cleopatra had herself smuggled into the palace, where she beguiled the 52-year-old Julius. In the ensuing negotiations, Pothinus, acting on Ptolemy’s behalf, was openly insolent to Julius Caesar, another miscalculation (and really bad career move). He seized the capital and so inserted himself into the dynastic sibling spat as arbitrator. Pothinus whipped up the local rabble in opposition. When Julius arrived two days later, he was furious and announced his intention to execute Ptolemy and Pothinus in turn. The somewhat-less-than-genius Ptolemy, on the advice of Pothinus, had Pompey murdered hoping to ingratiate himself with Caesar, a miscalculation of epic proportions. When things went awry, Pompey fled to Alexandria seeking sanctuary. Meanwhile, the general Gnaeus Pompey had the bad fortune to be on the opposite side than Julius Caesar in the latest Roman civil war. Although she raised a rebellion, Cleopatra was soon forced into hiding herself. A palace revolution in 48 BC led by the eunuch Pothinus and Ptolemy’s tutor Theodotus disposed Cleopatra and made Ptolemy XIII sole ruler. Ptolemy, showing more sense than expected, went into hiding. Cleopatra dropped Ptolemy’s name from official records and put her face alone on the new coinage. Although now married to her younger brother, Cleopatra – the seventh of that name to rule – had no intention of sharing power with her sibling.īy August 51 BC, any pretense of filial harmony had disappeared. Four years later, in March 51 BC, her father died, leaving her and her ten-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII as joint rulers. After some poisonings and executions among the female Ptolemies, at the age of 14 she was made regent and deputy to her father.
#Civilization vi cleopatra full
A full life by anyone’s standards.īorn to Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V in 69 BC, the young Cleopatra declared herself the reincarnation of the goddess Isis, a typical claim to political legitimacy. But in that short span of years, she had been married to two of her brothers, had affairs with two of the most powerful men in Rome, and lost an empire. She also managed to miss the ravages of time, being dead at the age of 40. Cleopatra Thea Philopator was considered quite alluring in her time (although standards of beauty have certainly changed since).
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