The fifth Cleopatra of Egypt was the daughter of Pharaoh Ptolemy X Alexander I by his wife Berenice III, and was born in Alexandria around 95 BC. Her father was the youngest son of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III, and had spent a major part of his youth in dynastic disputes between his mother, and elder brother Ptolemy IX, known as Lathyros.
The Later Ptolemies
Her mother, Berenice was Ptolemy Alexander’s double-niece, being the daughter of Lathyros, by his sister-wife Cleopatra Selene I. In fact brother-sister and uncle-niece intermarriages within the Ptolemaic dynasty meant that 100 years before she was born, she had only two living ancestors, Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I.
Early Life in Alexandria
When she was around seven years old in 88 BC her father Ptolemy Alexander died, and Cleopatra remained at the palace with her mother who had ruled Egypt as co-ruler with her husband, Ptolemy Alexander, who was succeeded by his brother, Lathyros who offended the Alexandrians by melting the golden sarcophagus of the city’s founder, Alexander the Great, using the gold to mint emergency coins. Lathyros was killed in 81.
The People’s Queen
Lathyros left no legitimate issue, and with his death, Berenice ruled Egypt alone for a period of six months, during which time she won the respect and the love of Alexandria, towards the later part of her rule she was forced to marry her stepson, Ptolemy XI Alexander II, but he had Berenice murdered nineteen days later, probably seeing her as too old to bear children and setting his sights on her daughter, Cleopatra, Berenice was too popular for her own good and a rebellion immediately broke out and Ptolemy was killed by the Alexandrians.
A New King
He was Lathyros’ illegitimate son, by an unknown concubine and had spent his youth in exile in Pontus, following the disposition of Ptolemy XI he was brought to Alexandria in 80 BC where he was proclaimed king, and married to Cleopatra, who became Cleopatra V Tryphaena. The king was around thirty-seven and Cleopatra was fifteen, the couple were half-uncle and niece, and cousins at the same time.
Bribing Rome
The will of Ptolemy XI stipulated that Egypt would pass into Roman hands, but Rome did not contest when Ptolemy XII succeeded, but Ptolemy did adopt a pro-Roman policy during his reign, his tried to bribe Rome into protecting his rights to the Egyptian crown, and continued sending riches, and even travelled to Rome to bribe Pompey and Julius Caesar in person, and they forged an alliance of friendship.
Ptolemy’s Exile and Cleopatra’s Rule
Cyprus originally belonged to Egypt, but when Rome invaded the island in 58 BC, Ptolemy failed to respond, and consequently the Egyptians rebelled, partly angered by his heavily imposed taxes to pay his bribes to Rome, and Ptolemy was forced out and he fled to Rome, with the king gone, Cleopatra V Tryphaena assumed joint rule with their daughter, Berenice IV.
Daughter Against Mother
Meanwhile in Rome, Ptolemy who had left with their younger daughter Cleopatra VII, who would have been a young teenager, pleaded their cases before the Senate, protesting that Cleopatra V Tryphaena had became too powerful, but she soon died. The exact year of her death is controversial, but it is widely believed that she died in 57 BC, and that her twenty-year-old daughter, Berenice IV, ruled Egypt alone.
Executing One Child and Ruling with Another
Ptolemy offered Rome further bribes to invaded Egypt, and his bribes gained the support of Gabinius who brought an army with Ptolemy to attack the palace in 55 BC, his daughter Berenice IV surrendered and Ptolemy XII Auletes was restored, he had Berenice beheaded, and he ruled with his teenage daughter, Cleopatra VII who later became the scheming seductress of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
Sources:
A History of the Ptolemaic Empire, by Gunther Holbl, Routledge Publishing, 2001.
Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, by Joyce Tyldesley, Basic Books, 2008.
Karl Leon Ciccone - Karl was born in Sunderland, United Kingdom in 1981. His ancestry which is mostly English, is mixed Scottish, Irish, Italian, French, ...
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