Cleopatra real face

Cleopatra: Early Life and Ascension to Throne

Since no contemporary accounts exist of Cleopatra’s life, it is difficult to piece together her biography with much certainty.

Much of what is known about her life comes from the work of Greco-Roman scholars, particularly Plutarch. Born in 70 or 69 B.C., Cleopatra was a daughter of Ptolemy XII (Auletes), a descendant of Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander The Great’s generals and the founder of the Ptolemaic line in Egypt.

How old was cleopatra when she died

How old was cleopatra when she died

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Where was cleopatra born

Her mother was believed to be Cleopatra V Tryphaena, the king’s wife (and possibly his half-sister). In 51 B.C., upon the apparently natural death of Auletes, the Egyptian throne passed to 18-year-old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII.

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In the days between Cleopatra's death and Octavian's formal annexation of Egypt, her 16-year-old son Caesarion was officially sole ruler. He had no way of taking power, however, and was captured and executed