After Caesar was murdered in March 44 B.C., Cleopatra went back to Egypt Ptolemy XIV was killed soon after (possibly by Cleopatra’s agents) and the three-year-old Caesarion was named co-regent with his mother, as Ptolemy XV. By this point, Cleopatra had strongly identified herself with the goddess Isis, the sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Sometime in 46-45 B.C., Cleopatra traveled with Ptolemy XIV and Caesarion to Rome to visit Caesar, who had returned earlier.

He was believed to be Caesar’s child, and was known by the Egyptian people as Caesarion, or Little Caesar. Caesar remained in Egypt with Cleopatra for a time, and around 47 B.C. Entering Alexandria as an unpopular conqueror, Caesar restored the throne to the equally unpopular Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy XIV (then 13 years old). After four months of war between Caesar’s outnumbered forces and those of Ptolemy XIII, Roman reinforcements arrived Ptolemy was forced to flee Alexandria, and was believed to have drowned in the Nile River. In order to help her cause, Cleopatra sought Caesar’s support, reportedly smuggling herself into the royal palace to plead her case with him.įor his part, Caesar needed to fund his own return to power in Rome, and needed Egypt to repay the debts incurred by Auletes. Meanwhile, after allowing the Roman general Pompey to be murdered, Ptolemy XIII welcomed the arrival of Pompey’s rival, Julius Caesar, to Alexandria. She raised an army of mercenaries and returned the following year to face her brother’s forces in a civil war at Pelusium, on Egypt’s eastern border. Soon after the siblings’ ascension to the throne, Ptolemy’s advisers acted against Cleopatra, who was forced to flee Egypt for Syria in 49 B.C. He had no way of taking power, however, and was captured and executed shortly after his mother's suicide. In 51 B.C., upon the apparently natural death of Auletes, the Egyptian throne passed to 18-year-old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII.ĭid you know? In the days between Cleopatra's death and Octavian's formal annexation of Egypt, her 16-year-old son Caesarion was officially sole ruler. Her mother was believed to be Cleopatra V Tryphaena, the king’s wife (and possibly his half-sister). Born in 70 or 69 B.C., Cleopatra was a daughter of Ptolemy XII (Auletes), a descendant of Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander The Great’s generals and the founder of the Ptolemaic line in Egypt. Much of what is known about her life comes from the work of Greco-Roman scholars, particularly Plutarch. Since no contemporary accounts exist of Cleopatra’s life, it is difficult to piece together her biography with much certainty. Cleopatra: Early Life and Ascension to Throne

Julius cesar and cleopatra