Cleopatra's Family Tree

During the Ptolemaic Period in Ancient Egypt, several queens named Cleopatra rose to power. The most famous and influential of these was Cleopatra VII, the daughter of Ptolemy XII (Ptolemy Auletes) and Cleopatra V. She was highly educated, spoke nine languages, and came to power at the age of 18 in March of 51 B.C.E., ruling jointly with her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII, whom she eventually overthrew.

Cleopatra VII's romantic liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, as well as her tragic fate with the fall of Egypt to Rome, have solidified her as one of history's most captivating figures.

Incest, Conquest and Cleopatra's Death

As the last true pharaoh of Egypt, Cleopatra married two of her own brothers (as was custom in the royal family), won a Civil War against Ptolemy XIII, was mistress to and fathered a son (Caesarion, Ptolemy XIV) with Julius Caesar, and finally met and married her love, Mark Antony. 

Cleopatra’s reign ended with her suicide at the age of 39 after she and Antony were defeated by Caesar’s heir, Octavian, at the Battle of Actium. It is believed that she chose the bite of an Egyptian cobra snake, known as an asp, as the means of her death to ensure her immortality as a goddess. Caesarion briefly reigned after her death before Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.  

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Biography of Cleopatra, Last Pharaoh of Egypt

By Jone Johnson Lewis

Cleopatra's Family Tree

Cleopatra VII was born in 69 B.C.E. in Egypt and died in 30 B.C.E., also in Egypt.

Cleopatra's father and mother both were children of the same father, one by a wife, and another by a concubine. Therefore, her family tree has fewer branches, some of them unknown. You will see the same names crop up frequently, going back six generations.

Family Tree of Ptolemy VIII (Paternal and Maternal Great-Grandfather of Cleopatra VII)

Family Tree of Cleopatra III (Paternal and Maternal Great-Grandmother of Cleopatra VII)

Cleopatra III was the daughter of a brother and sister, so her grandparents and great-grandparents were the same on both sides.

What Happened to Cleopatra's Children?

Some of Cleopatra's history and fate, as well as that of her family, remains uncertain because much of what we know emerged posthumously and was influenced by political agendas of the time, which sought to depict Cleopatra as a threat to Rome's stability.

Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian took Cleopatra's four children to Rome, where Ptolemy Caesarion faced execution under the rule of Roman emperor Caligula. However, the fate of her other two sons remains unclear. As for Cleopatra's only daughter, Cleopatra Selene, she married Juba II, the monarch of Numidia and Mauritania; they had two children before Cleopatra Selene died in her early 30s.