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Cleopatra

CleopatraAKA Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator

Born: 69 BC
Birthplace: Egypt
Died: 30-Aug-30 BC
Location of death: Alexandria, Egypt
Cause of death: Suicide

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Royalty

Nationality: Ancient Egypt
Executive summary: Queen of Egypt

Daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, born 69 (or 68) BC. At the age of seventeen she became queen of Egypt jointly with her younger brother Ptolemy Dionysus, whose wife, in accordance with Egyptian custom, she was to become. A few years afterwards, deprived of all royal authority, she withdrew into Syria, and made preparation to recover her rights by force of arms. At this juncture Julius Caesar followed Pompey into Egypt. The personal fascinations of Cleopatra induced him to undertake a war on her behalf, in which Ptolemy lost his life, and she was replaced on the throne in conjunction with a younger brother, of whom, however, she soon rid herself by poison. In Rome she lived openly with Caesar as his mistress until his assassination, when, aware of her unpopularity, she returned at once to Egypt. Subsequently she became the ally and mistress of Mark Antony. Their connection was highly unpopular at Rome, and Octavian declared war upon them and defeated them at Actium (31 BC). Cleopatra took to flight, and escaped to Alexandria, where Antony joined her. Having no prospect of ultimate success, she accepted the proposal of Octavian that she should assassinate Antony, and enticed him to join her in a mausoleum which she had built in order that they might die together. Antony committed suicide, in the mistaken belief that she had already done so, but Octavian refused to yield to the charms of Cleopatra who put an end to her life, by applying an asp to her bosom, according to the common tradition, in the thirty-ninth year of her age (29th of August, 30 BC). With her ended the dynasty of the Ptolemies, and Egypt was made a Roman province. Cleopatra had three children by Antony, and by Julius Caesar, as some say, a son, called Caesarion, who was put to death by Octavian. In her the type of queen characteristic of the Macedonian dynasties stands in the most brilliant light. Imperious will, masculine boldness, relentless ambition like hers had been exhibited by queens of her race since the old Macedonian days before Philip and Alexander. But the last Cleopatra had perhaps some special intellectual endowment. She surprised her generation by being able to speak the many tongues of her subjects. There may have been an individual quality in her luxurious profligacy, but then her predecessors had not had the Roman lords of the world for wooers.

Father: Ptolemy XII (d. 51 BC)
Mother: Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Brother: Ptolemy XIII
Brother: Ptolemy XIV
Sister: Arsinoë
Boyfriend: Julius Caesar (Roman dictator)
Husband: Mark Antony
Son: Ptolemy XV Caesarion (ruled 44–30 BC)

    Greek Ancestry (Macedonia)
    Asteroid Namesake 216 Kleopatra


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