The Ptolemic Period included several queens in Egypt named Cleopatra, the most famous and influential being Queen Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII (Ptolemy Auletes) and Cleopatra V.

During her lifetime, Cleopatra served as the last pharaoh of Egypt, spoke nine languages, married two of her own brothers (as was custom in the royal family), won a Civil War against her brother, Ptolemy XIII, was mistress to and fathered a son (Caesarion, Ptolemy XIV) with Julius Caesar, and 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 Octavian, Caesar’s heir, at the Battle of Actium. It is believed that she chose the bite from a Egyptian cobra snake (asp) as the means of her death to ensure her immortality as a goddess.

Cleopatras father and mother both were children of the same father, one by a wife, one 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.

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