Cleopatra And Brother ✦ Bonus Inside

That hammer was Julius Caesar.

Cleopatra, ever the strategist, saw her opening. The famous “carpet scene” (she had herself rolled in a rug and delivered to Caesar’s chambers) worked. She charmed Rome’s most powerful general, and Caesar agreed to enforce their father’s original will: Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII must rule . cleopatra and brother

But Caesar was a general, and Ptolemy XIII was a boy playing king. That hammer was Julius Caesar

Ptolemy XIII, now a teenager, officially became the sole ruler. But he made a fatal miscalculation: he thought his sister would simply fade away. She charmed Rome’s most powerful general, and Caesar

He was 10 years old.

So, they did what royal siblings did in Alexandria. They got married. For a brief moment, the partnership worked. Cleopatra was the brilliant, ambitious adult; Ptolemy XIII was a boy surrounded by scheming eunuchs and generals. But three years in, the regents for Ptolemy XIII decided they didn’t want to share power with a strong-willed queen.

Cleopatra VII (the one we know) was no exception. When her father, Ptolemy XII, died in 51 BCE, he left a shocking legal bomb in his will: Cleopatra, age 18, would rule jointly with her younger brother, .