why did cleopatra marry her brother

He agreed to protect Egypt and Cleopatras crown, pledging support for the removal of her younger sister and rival Arsinoe, then in exile. Conflict ensued.



Contemporary visual sources show Cleopatra with a large pointed nose, narrow lips and sharp, jutting chin. Coin portraits of Cleopatra show a countenance alive rather than beautiful, with a sensitive mouth, firm chin, liquid eyes, broad forehead, and prominent nose. Per Smithsonian Magazine, she is remembered for her influence and power as afemale pharaoh and seductress. Corrections? david_jones/FlickrOctavian had Caesarion killed so hed have no competition for Romes throne. Cleopatra was determined to keep her throne and, if possible, to restore the glories of the first Ptolemies and recover as much as possible of their dominions, which had included southern Syria and Palestine.

She set out for Tarsus in Asia Minor loaded with gifts, having delayed her departure to heighten Antonys expectation.

Ptolemy was killed in the fighting and another brother was created Ptolemy XIII. Their marriage was short-lived, as Cleopatra likely had him murdered the only fate harsher than puberty. According to ancient sources, they spent the winter of 41-40 B.C. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar became lovers. Cleopatra had one son with Julius Caesar, who she named Caesarion little Caesar. For Cleopatra, life as a royal daughter was one of luxury. When he had the chance to have a month named in his own honour, instead of choosing September the month of his birth he chose the eighth month, in which Cleopatra died, to create a yearly reminder of her defeat. She was 22; he was 12. He fell on his sword, and died just as news arrived that the rumor had been false. Plutarch, the Greek biographer of Mark Antony, claimed it wasnt so much her looks that were so compelling, but her conversation and her intelligence. Known for: Being the last pharaoh of Egypt, being a fabled beauty, her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and alongside Mark Antony waging a war on Rome, which she ultimately lost. Hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and subscriber rewards. Did you know?

Cleopatra inspired numerous books, plays, and movies. With his death, History Hit notes that Cleopatra subsequently married her 12-year-old brother Ptolemy XIV when she was 22. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Many didnt believe the little royal was actually Caesars child.

The conflict reached its climax the following year in a famous naval battle at Actium.

Julius Caesar died. 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). From there, the couple would marry, according to History, giving Octavian reason to claim Antony was being led on a metaphorical leash by the queen. In 42 B.C., after defeating the forces of Brutus and Cassius in the battles of Philippi, Mark Antony and Octavian divided power in Rome.

Cleopatra believed herself to be a living goddess, and she often used clever stagecraft to woo potential allies and reinforce her divine status. But by allying herself with Octavians rival, she helped defend Egypt from becoming a vassal of Rome. It didn't work. Following the war, Cleopatra remarried to her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, but she is believed to have had him murdered in a bid to make her son her co-ruler. Explore her incredible life, her quest her for power and her untimely end.

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Medieval Arab texts praise Cleopatra for her accomplishments as a mathematician, chemist and philosopher. Her romantic liaisons and military alliances with the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, as well as her supposed exotic beauty and powers of seduction, earned her an enduring place in history and popular myth. There may have been a further elder sister, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena, but she too had died by this point. From the makers of HistoryExtra, try 6 issues of BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed for just 9.99 + FREE access to HistoryExtra (including ad the free Podcast) worth 34.99. But it was also because Caesar had no other sons though he was married to Calpurnia, and had had two wives before her and he had just made himself the most powerful man in Rome. Meanwhile, a conflict between Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Pompey leads both to Egypt, where Pompey is killed. Roman historians portrayed her as a harlot who used sex to bewitch powerful men into giving her power.

She would appear dressed as the goddess Isis at ceremonial events, and surrounded herself with luxury.

After returning to Egypt after her parents' death, Cleopatra Selene lived with her siblings at Octaivas house. Not surprisingly, Cleopatra had been much disliked in a city that had got rid of its kings, for shed insisted on being addressed as queen.

Cleopatra wasn't a pushover, and she wasn't going to take this loss lightly, so she raised an army of her own to match her (probably) husband's slight with military force. She was said to have written scientific books and, in the words of the historian Al-Masudi: She was a sage, a philosopher, who elevated the ranks of scholars and enjoyed their company.

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His assassination put her own life in danger, and she fled with their young son across the river Tiber. None of her descendants lived to inherit Egypt. known as the Donations of Alexandria, Antony declared Caesarion as Caesars son and rightful heir (as opposed to his adopted son, Octavian) and awarded land to each of his children with Cleopatra. Antony needed Cleopatra's location and riches, and the Ptolemaic queen needed Roman support to solidify her uneasy claim to the throne. After Cleopatras surrender and suicide in 31 BC, the pair are captured by Octavian and paraded through Rome in gold chains, behind an effigy of their mother. She was a descendant of Ptolemy I Soter, a general and friend of Alexander the Great. She was married to her youngest brother until his death, after which she became the sole ruler of Egypt. She seduced Julius Caesar, who came, saw, and conquered her brother. Though Cleopatra bore him a son, Caesar was already married, and Egyptian custom decreed that Cleopatra marry her remaining brother, Ptolemy XIV. Ptolemy was killed in the fighting and another brother was created Ptolemy XIII. Caesar was dazzled by the sight of the young queen in her royal garb, and the two soon became allies and lovers.

Despite not being ethnically Egyptian, Cleopatra embraced many of her countrys ancient customs and was the first member of the Ptolemaic line to learn the Egyptian language. The Secret Holocaust Diary Of Teenager Renia Spiegel Will Be Published After 70 Years In A Vault, Remains And Car Of Missing Man Found After 22 Years Thanks To Google Earth, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. He also dubbed Caesarion Caesars true heir in direct defiance of Octavians claims and nominally distributed kingdoms to his three kids with Cleopatra.

Following the war, Cleopatra remarried to her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, but she is believed to have had him murdered in a bid to make her son her co-ruler. The rumour quickly spread that Antony also intended to transfer the capital from Rome to Alexandria. Cleopatra became a ruler earlier than most would feel comfortable with. Nevertheless, in 34 bce Antony celebrated a triumphal return to Alexandria. Octavian or someone close to Caesarion supposedly quipped, Too many Caesars is not a good thing. With Caesarion, then, died Cleopatras hopes for an independent Egypt. Ager argues that perhaps the Ptolemies practiced incest to honor Egyptian royal traditions. While the rest of Rome was trying to put one foot in front of the other after Caesars death, Octavian was systematically figuring out who was a threat to his inheritance. For centuries, power passed from father to son, mother to daughter, in royal dynasties. Using his troops to regain Egypt was now out of the question, as was staying in Rome. Wikimedia CommonsCleopatra and Caesarion make offerings to the gods in traditional Egyptian royal garb. Julius Caesar was himself assassinated while Cleopatra was in Rome. From the Sphinx of Egypt to the Kama Sutra, explore ancient history videos. Then, discover the real reason why so many ancient Egyptian statues have broken noses. Cleopatra then had to marry another brother for the sake of formality, Ptolemy XIV. Cleopatra portrayed herself and Caesarion as mother goddess and divine heir in temples throughout Egypt. Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII did so, but the arrangement did not last. Cleopatra fled to Syria to marshal her own forces. In the Egyptian scheme of things Pharoahs marry a sister to ensure the rulership never leaves the royal family.

In fact, ThoughtCo reports that Cleopatra's parents, Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V, might have had the same father and, thus, were half-siblings. She was also multilingual historical accounts report her speaking between 5 and 9 languages, including her native Greek, Egyptian, Arabic and Hebrew. Cleopatra eventually married Mark Antony and had three children with him, but their relationship also spawned a massive scandal in Rome. According to Britannica, Cleopatra likely married Ptolemy XIII soon after the 51 BCE death of her father, Ptolemy XII. Elite Romans were meant to share power, but Caesar seemed to want to be supreme, like a monarch. Augustus would have liked to lead Cleopatra as a captive through Rome, as other generals did with their prisoners, in the formal triumphs that celebrated their victories.

The means of her death is uncertain, though Classical writers came to believe that she had killed herself by means of an asp, symbol of divine royalty. This was, firstly, because Egypt and its pleasure-loving culture were despised as decadent. It took Caesar two years to extinguish the last flames of Pompeian opposition. Outside Europe, in Africa and in Islamic tradition, she was remembered very differently. But 250 years then passed before Cleopatra was born 12 generations, with all their love affairs and secret assignations. Cleopatra is about 18 years old and had ruled for a short time as a co-regent with her father. 6 of Historys Greatest Ghost Ship Mysteries, How the Nile River Defeated Alexander the Greats Top General, Polyperchon: How an Unsung Hero Saved Ancient Macedonia, The Last American Battleship: 10 Facts About the USS Missouri, Historical Trips - Book your next historical adventure, 10 Historic Sites You Should Not Miss in 2023, Join Dan Snow for the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Much of what is known about her life comes from the work of Greco-Roman scholars, particularly Plutarch.

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Her reign looks more like a sine wave with all the rise and drops, and it was the marital ladder Cleopatra climbed from Ptolemy XIII to Ptolemy XIV and the other famous lovers speckled throughout her life that helped bring her to the peak of her power. Egypt grew more prosperous under Cleopatras rule, and in 37 B.C. Historical accounts state that while Cleopatra was married to her younger brother and co-regent, she also married Caesar because Egyptian laws at the time allowed for polygamy. WebOriginally Answered: Did Cleopatra married her brothers as stated in Wikipedia? Explore Cleopatra's relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and why they had such fundamental consequences for both Egypt and Rome Cleopatra gives birth to her first child, whom she names Ptolemy Caesar known as Caesarion. For more than 2,000 years Cleopatra VII, final ruler of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty, has been portrayed as a manipulative but tragic beauty. Updated: August 10, 2021 | Original: August 12, 2015. Conveniently enough, she raised her and Caesar's son to the station of co-ruler beside her.
Power grabs and murder plots were as much a Ptolemaic tradition as family marriage, and Cleopatra and her brothers and sisters were no different.