It's challenging to piece together Cleopatra's biography with any confidence because no contemporary reports of her life remain. Based on the information that I know, her life comes from Greek and Roman historians, mainly Plutarch(Auletes). Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII, a descendant of Ptolemy I Soter, one Alexander the Great's generals and the founder of Alexandrian Empire that was born in 70 or 69 B.C. Cleopatra V Tryphaena,the king's wife,was thought to be her mother. The Egyptian crown went to the 18-year old Cleopatra and her 10-year old brother, Ptolemy XIII, in 51 B.C, afterthe natural death of Auletes. Ptolemy's advisers acted against Cleopatra soon after the brother's ascent to the kingdom, forcing her to abandon Egypt for Syria in 49 B.C. She gathered a mercenary army and returned the following year to fight her brother's armies in a civil war near Egypt's eastern border at Pelusium. Futhermore, after permitting the assassination of the Roman leader Pompey, Ptolemy XIII welcomed Julius Caesar, Pompey's opponent, to Alexandria. Cleopatra supposedly smuggled herself into the royal palace to plead her case with Caesar in order to gain his support for her cause.
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THE LEGENDARY CLEOPATRA
Historical FictionCleopatra VII Philopator was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. A member of Ptolemy dynasty, she was a descendant of it's founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.
