Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part Three

Cleopatra was born to Ptolemy XII in 69 B.C. In the old tradition she married her two brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV in succession. These were marriages in name only. The boys were younger than Cleopatra, and were not in very good health. We wonder if Cleopatra realized early on that her brothers lacked her strength and that she would have to find a completely different type of man to make Egypt an even greater kingdom than it already was.

Rome and Egypt had interacted before Cleopatra's reign. Sulla had a great deal to do with Ptolemy XI being installed as Egypt's king. However, he was overthrown. The father of Cleopatra, Ptolemy XII was chosen by the Alexandrian court to replace him. Ptolemy XII and his wife, Cleopatra V appeared to have continued the Ptolemaic tradition of living the good life which drained Egypt's wealth. They made good relations with Rome one of their highest goals. The royal couple's extravagant spending and their love of Rome was not welcome to the Alexandrians, who then proceeded to remove them from power. However, considerable effort was put in trying to put them back on their thrones by Rome. Three Romans were trying to make Egypt a Roman possession at this time. Pompey the Great who had just had a major victory over the Seleucids thought that if he was able to achieve victory over the Ptolemies, that his usurpation of Egypt and it's enormous treasury would give him a great power base. Pompey's fellow triumvirs, Crassus and Caesar had the same ideas. As the three me tried to make Egypt a Roman province or possession their attemps ended up effectively nullifying each other's striving for victory. Cato the Younger, also an ambitious Roman, defeated Ptolemy XII's younger brother, also called Ptolemy, who had ruled over Cyprus, and then proceeded to commit suicide after his loss.

Ptolemy XII was blamed for losing Cyprus. He then fled to the island of Rhodes and left most of his family behind. Cleopatra VI of Tryphaena was appointed queen. However, Ptolemy XII's second daughter, Berenice IV was considered to be in control in some areas of Egypt. This situation was good for the two sisters only for a small time. Cleopatra, while all of this was going on enjoyed seeing the world with her father in exile. I wonder if this is part of what began her fascination with other nations and languages. The royal exiles eventually mad their way back to Alexandria. Ptolemy XII's wife seems to have died of natural causes; he ordered the murder of his eldest daughter for trying to take his throne. This did gain Ptolemy XII back the throne of Egypt, however it bankrupted both his authority and wealth. Ptolemy XII began a personal decline from which he never recovered.

These events led to a power vacuum and a power struggle behind the scenes for the throne of Egypt. It is believed that Ptolemy XII wanted to be succeeded by his eldest living daughter (Cleopatra VII-'our' Cleopatra) and his eldest living son. The reality of this situation was far different than he would have hoped. The daughter and the son were competing for power and supported by different factions. Cleopatra was more competent than her brother, but the tendency towards patriarchy in Ptolemaic society led to co-rule. Ptolemaic society was not as tilted towards patriarchy as other societies and nations of the day were. The image is of Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra's father. I hope to have the next post here very soon, tomorrow if all goes well. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!