One of my favorite subjects. Here is a woman who captivated two Caesars and made one tremble. Not a bad days work at all. LOL

Her brother....Ptolemy XIII was 10 years old at the time of their accession to the throne of Egypt. The 10 year old king had been provided with a council of guardians made up of the dioiketes Pothinus, a eunuch in charge of finance and administration, the tropheus Theodotus, the king's tutor, and the army commander Achillas. Ptolemaic law, regarding co rulers, had always given kings precedence over queens. If the guardians wished to advance their own ambitions through the manipulation of a child king, they had a keen interest in limiting and controlling this determined queen.

In Alexandria, the strains of joint rule, made worse by the impending Roman civil war, had destroyed the already fragile harmony within the royal family. Alexandrians had always detested signs of subservience to Rome; the Gabinians resisted the break up of their community. Pothinus and the council acting (as Caesar wrote) through the king's 'friends and relatives', fastened the blame on Cleopatra as the senior of the co-rulers and the dominating figure in government. By the end of 49 BCE, the sentiment of the people of Alexandria had turned against her and she was driven from the capital. Decrees began to be issued in the name of Ptolemy XIII alone.

Caesar forced a reconciliation between the two monarchs but his continued presence in Egypt and obvious favoritism toward Cleopatra ultimately produced a war with her brother that literally came to the palace door in Alexandria. Her defeated brother drowned in the Nile while trying to escape.

She then married her younger brother, Ptolemy XIV. After her notorious visit to Rome (during which Julius Caesar was murdered), she returned to Egypt. Shortly after her return, this brother is heard of no more. There really is no evidence she killed him or had him killed though she had the best motive. Shortly after his disappearance, Caesarion (her son with Caesar) was elevated to joint monarch.

She was a remarkable woman who proved herself to be a match for the men of her times both in intellect and in her ability to rule.....which, I think, was her greatest charm. She rebuilt Egypt's economy which had suffered greatly because of the civil war with her brother and because of the lack of the Nile floods over a 3 year period.

More to come on Cleopatra's relationship with Antony (whom she married) and her actions at Actium.