CLEOPATRA'S FAMILY TREE

Rom-Com

Family Tree squished and expanded to Roman emperors

Broken arrow-links to cited texts repaired

Over 275 years, there were a lot of Ptolemies. There always seemed to be plenty of children to marry off for political liasons, and enough to replace the Pharaohs and queens when they got murdered by each other. This list only covers the direct ancestors of Cleopatra VII, with the exceptions of Ptolemies VII & XI ... because it seemed like people would wonder what happened to them if I left them out.

It all starts with Ptolemy I, of course. Arsinoe was a concubine of Philip II of Macedonia. Lagus married her when she was pregnant. The baby, Ptolemy, LEGALLY was the son of Lagus and Arsinoe. GENETICALLY, he was the son of Philip II and half-brother to Alexander the Great ... or so the story goes.

"The Macedonians consider Ptolemy to be the son of Philip, the son of Amyntas, though putatively the son of Lagus, asserting that his mother was with child when she was married to Lagus by Philip. And among the distinguished acts of Ptolemy in Asia they mention that it was he who, of Alexander's companions, was foremost in succoring him when in danger among the Oxydracae."

--- Pausanius, Description of Greece, 1.6.2

"Ptolemy, who was wounded in the left shoulder, slightly it is true but with greater danger than that caused by the wound, had caused the king [Alexander] special anxiety. He was a blood-relation, and some believed him to be a son of Philip; at any rate it was known for certain the he was the offspring of one of that king's concubines."

--- Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, IX. viii. 22

Alexander certainly treated him as a brother. Ptolemy was one of his most trusted generals and recorded all Alexander's campaigns in his histories. He was at Alexander's deathbed in Babylon, and stole Alexander's body on the way to Macedonia to bury it in Memphis, where Alexander had been crowned Pharaoh.

Even though Alexander wanted to be buried in Egypt (Siwa oasis where he was declared divine), Ptolemy wasn't being a good brother. It was Macedonian tradition for the new king to bury the old, but Ptolemy feared that if his rival Perdiccas buried Alexander in Macedonia as was planned, his claim to power in Egypt would be undermined. As it was, he was a king burying the preceding king, and brother of a god in Egypt.

FULL DISCLAIMER: Despite multiple references in primary sources, some historians actually doubt that Philip II was the father of Ptolemy. It is suggested that this is a rumor that Ptolemy started and encouraged through his lifetime. It had enough of an element of truth that the rumor just caught on. Or it could have been true. He rode it to be Pharaoh of Egypt either way.

--- I did this in .pdf so you can zoom-in using the "+" button. For those fascinated with ethnicity, note how the Ptolemies wind

up horribly shuffling around exactly the same genetic material, once they defeated Lysimachus and the Seleucids and

stopped worrying about pesky political marriages. Double lines indicate scholastic speculation. ---

The mother Ptolemy XII is unknown ... or, at least, that's what most people think:

"How, on the death of King Ptolemy Physcon [Ptolemy VIII],
his son Ptolemy Lathyros [Ptolemy IX] assumed the throne
but was driven from Alexandria to Cyprus by his mother [Cleopatra III], and how he was later attacked by the

same in Syria, after she had replaced him on the throne with his brother, Alexander [Ptolemy X],
until eventually the mother was killed by Alexander and he [Ptolemy IX] recovered the throne of Egypt.
Next comes the history of the reign of Alexander's son [Ptolemy XI], who followed Lamyrus, and
his expulsion and replacement by Ptolemy Nothus [Ptolemy XII]."
--- Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Prologi, The Book of the Philippic Histories and the Origin of the Whole

World and Geography of the Whole Earth, Prologus of Book XXXIX

["Ptolemy Nothus" means "Ptolemy the Bastard"]

"Shortly after this Ptolemy [Ptolemy IX] met with his appointed fate [moira], and the Athenians, who had been

benefited by him in many ways, which I need not stop to relate, set up a bronze [statue] of him and of Berenikē, his

only legitimate child."

--- Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.9.3

This leaves Ptolemy XII and his brother as "illegitimate" ... except it's not what you think:

his mother was most likely Cleopatra IV (see below)

The mother of Cleopatra VII is unknown ... or, at least, that's what most people think:

--- Strabo, Geography, XVII.1

Except that's not true. The mother of Cleopatra VII is Cleopatra V. It's literally "carved in stone".

"Illegitimate" might not mean what you think. Could Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII have been the children of concubines? In his book, A History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty, John Mahaffy makes the point that a "legitimate child" was born to a reigning king and queen. If the mother had stepped down from the throne but remained married, any offspring after that time would be "illegitimate" in terms of inheriting rule. Also, Strabo says the "eldest" is legitimate, he doesn't say the other girls weren't, but implies something about the boys. Infants? Ptolemy XIII was 4, and Ptolemy XIV was 2, and neither had any legal obstacles to gaining the throne later. Perhaps what he meant was that they were excluded because they were too young.

Speaking of Ptolemy I:

"The point of interest to us is that he did not divorce his first wife, so far as we know, but openly adopted the practice of polygamy, recognised both at the Macedonian and the Egyptian courts."

--- Mahaffy, p35

What about Ptolemy XII?

"The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the lord of the two countries, the father-loving, brother-loving, the young Osiris, the son of the Sun, lord of diadems, Ptolemaius the everliving, gave me the great dignity of chief of the attendants at the altar in [my] fourteenth year; I was placing the uraeus-crown on the head at the conduction of the king on the day when he united the Upper and Lower Countries, and performed all the ceremonies in the temples and festivals. ... The monarch went to the White Wall daily, passing a repassing at Maamat; when he arrived at the canal of the life of the North and South he went to my temple with his chiefs, his women, and royal children, and all things, ..."
--- This comes from the stela of the priest Pasherenptah (found in Memphis, now in the British Museum collection).

This establishes that at the coronation of Ptolemy XII, he already had wives and children ... prior to Berenike

IV by Cleopatra V. Why don't we know about them? They appeared before he was king. If they ran out of "legitimate" Ptolemies (like they did with Ptolemy XII), then that stash of children could be drawn from, but otherwise, "royal" but not legitimate (possibly from Cleopatra V before coronation, or not) ... Ptolemaic women were usually careful about that sort of thing (as far as we know).

"All these kings, after the third Ptolemy, were corrupted by luxury and effeminacy, and the affairs of government were very badly administered by them; but worst of all by the fourth, the seventh, and the last (Ptolemy), Auletes (or the Piper), who, besides other deeds of shamelessness, acted the piper; indeed he gloried so much in the practice, that he scrupled not to appoint trials of skill in his palace; on which occasions he presented himself as a competitor with other rivals. He was deposed by the Alexandrines; and of his three daughters, one, the eldest [Berenike IV], who was legitimate, they proclaimed queen; but his two sons, who were infants, were absolutely excluded from the succession."

Falling in line even more closely with Egyptian tradition, only the children of the "great wife" would have legitimate claims to the throne.

In his paper, "Cleopatra V Tryphaena and the Genealogy of the Later Ptolemies", Christopher Bennett makes the case that the simplest explanation for obscure references and known timelines is that both mothers were Ptolemies, and either the father or mother (or both) were not sitting on the throne at the time of the births.

For Ptolemy XII, it goes something like this:

There are multiple references to two brothers of Ptolemy IX: some say illegitimate, some say royal. Either there were two

sets of brothers. roughly the same age, in the same places, at the same times ... or just one set with confused references. I

agree with Christopher Bennet on this: the simplest answer seems the most logical. In my diagram, I double-lined the

speculated mother, Cleopatra IV, to indicate it is not a positive identify. His mom, Cleopatra III, made him divorce her and

marry Cleopatra Selene (who never sat on the throne, hence no number).

For Cleopatra V, it goes something like this:

79 BC: Ptolemy XII was coronated king alongside Cleopatra V

77 BC: Berenike IV was born

69 BC: Cleopatra VII was born <--- Born while Cleopatra V still queen (see Not What You Think)

68 BC: Cleopatra V referenced as Queen "with her children" (Berenike IV, Cleopatra VII)

64 BC: Sometime before this, Arsinoe IV was born

63 BC: Sometime before this Cleopatra V steps down from the throne

62 BC: Ptolemy XIII was born

61 BC: Ptolemy XII still ruling alone

60 BC: Ptolemy XIV was born

58 BC: Cleopatra V returns to the throne but steps down before the year is over - again

54 BC: Cleopatra V returns to the throne, then disappears from history (probably died this time)

So what?

According to Mahaffy, regnal "legitimacy" has to do with parents (primarily the mother) who are reigning monarchs.

If the mother is married to the king but not sitting on the throne, the children are regnally "illegitimate" and do not

have a clear path to inheriting the crown.

Clearly, both Cleopatra VII and Berenike IV are legitimate children born to a reigning Queen Cleopatra V.

Depending on when Arsinoe IV was born, she could be regnally legitimate or not. The Alexandrians in 48 BC didn't have any

problems declaring her Queen.

It appears that both Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV were born when Cleopatra V was NOT on the throne, making them

regnally illegitimate ... even though their mother was married to their father the king, Ptolemy XII. Again, the Alexandrians

had no problems declaring them both kings (serially).

What happened to make Cleopatra V step down two times? No one knows. It probably wasn't anything physical since she had

three more children after the first time. Why did she only last a year in 58 BC? Maybe the same reason she stepped down

before, or maybe Berenike IV (not known for her diplomacy) pushed her out. Clearly, Ptolemy XII was glad to have her sit next

to him in 54 BC. Did she step down again or die? No one knows. Maybe, despite all the royal nursemaids, she just wanted to

spend time with her children. It's claimed her daughter Cleopatra VII was very good with her children [citation needed]. Or

maybe it was something along the line of bipolar/depression/anxiety: conditions known by Egyptian/Greek physicians,

treated with some herbs still in use today by alternate medicine.

So who is Cleopatra Selene (the first one, not Cleopatra VII's daughter)?

Cleopatra Selene is the mother of Ptolemy XI and Berenike III. Why doesn't she have a number? She was never Queen of Egypt ... never sat on the throne. TECHNICALLY, even though she was a full-blooded Ptolemy (possibly married to her brothers -- one at a time), her children weren't "legitimate" because she didn't have them as a Queen. The Ptolemies didn't number themselves. This is something that was started in the 1800's AD. All the Ptolemaic men used a single name "Ptolemy". The Queens used Arsinoe, Berenike, and Cleopatra. To keep them straight, modern historians added the number scheme but only to those who actually sat on the throne. Ptolemy XII's brother is known as "Ptolemy of Cyprus" without a number: he was king of Cyprus, but he didn't sit on the EGYPTIAN throne. In any case, since Cleopatra Selene was never a queen, her daughter Berenice III was "illegitimate" but sat on the throne anyway when she married her 1/2 brother (also illegitimate, who became pharaoh).

What's the deal with "Diadochi"?

The generals who fought side-by-side with Alexander the Great, then fought over how to divide his conquests after his death, are known as the Diadochi ("successors"). Cleopatra VII had three of them in her bloodline: Lysimachus, Seleucus, and, of course, Ptolemy. The main reason for this was diplomatic marriages early in the foundation of those kingdoms. Once the Ptolemies established themselves and controlled the Mediterranean with the largest navy, they didn't do that any more.

Did Cleopatra VII's bloodline (the Ptolemies) end with her death?

If you look at the family tree, you will see that through her daughter, Cleopatra Selene, the bloodline continued to four Roman emperors of the five Severans. What happened to her brothers? They were alive and in Cleopatra Selene's care at the marriage to Juba II. There's no mention of them in history afterwards, but in their sister's care they were probably NOT murdered. They just didn't marry anyone significant.

Cleopatra Reading List

A WORD OF NERDINESS:

You may have noticed that I use "Berenike" without fail where most modern authors use "Berenice" ... why is that?

It's because "Berenice" isn't her name.

Cleopatra's name is actually Kleopatra (Κλεοπάτρα). The Greek form appears all over Greek historians' documents, until they translated them to Latin. Latin has a hard "C", so it's a single letter change but it still sounds the same. I don't have a problem with this or the French Cleopatre or the German Kleopatra.

"Berenice's" name is actually Berenike (Βερενίκη). In Latin, "Berenice" would still have a hard "C", but modern English turns a "C" between vowels "soft" (generally). When I see "Berenice", I hear "beh-reh-nees" in my head (I know, this is my problem). I always spell it "Berenike" because I hear "beh-reh-nee-kuh". They're MY webpages: I can do what I want.