Cleopatra's Early Life
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Born around 69 B.C. in Alexandria, Cleopatra VII was eventually the last pharaoh of Egypt. Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and perhaps Cleopatra V. Cleopatra VII briefly shared power with her father, Ptolemy XII, the king of the Ptolemaic Empire. However, Cleopatra immediately thirsted for complete control of the empire. Her family members became her greatest rival for the throne. While her father was in Rome, she began devising plans to crush her political opposition. She began killing off her siblings; she poisoned one and planned the murder of another. When her father died in 51 B.C. after a lifetime of struggling to maintain his throne, his will determined Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII, her brother, to be joint rulers of the empire. Eighteen year old Cleopatra married her ten year old brother, Ptolemy XIII, though the union did little to discourage Cleopatra's greed for total power. She viewed her brother only as a threat to her rule-- a threat that needed to be exterminated.
Civil War
Her greatest advantage against her brother became his age. As co-regent and new wife of her Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra began to leave his name off of legal documents. She essentially ignored her brother’s claim to power and even released a coin with only her depiction, which was unheard of at the time; traditionally, female rulers were always accompanied by their male counterpart on the face of currency. In addition to Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy XIII was also threatened by his other sister, Arsinoe IV, who claimed right to the throne as well. Angered by his siblings’ claims to power, Ptolemy XIII began to conspire with Pothinus and other advisors. Conveniently, the Nile didn't flood as predicted the first two years of Cleopatra's rule, causing famine to drive the people to rebellion. Three years after Cleopatra declared herself sole ruler, she was overthrown by Ptolemy XIII in a bloody civil war and pushed out of the capital of Alexandria to Syria with Arsinoe. Without hesitation, Cleopatra began gathering an army to take back her throne. As she says, “I will not be triumphed over.”