Cleopatra was the name of seven Ptolemic queens.
The most famous was Cleopatra Vll. She and her half-brother Ptolemy Xlll ruled Egypt from 51 BC.
Ptolemy forced his sister out of power, but Cleopatra called on her close ally, the Roman general Julius Caesar. Ptolemy Xlll was killed in a civil war.
Julius Caesar rode into Egypt and made Cleopatra queen, although she had to share the throne with another brother, Ptolemy XlV.
After Caesar returned to Rome, Cleopatra gave birth to a son.
She named him Caesarion, claiming that Caesar was his father.
When her half-brother died, Cleopatra made Caesarion her co-ruler.
Cleopatra's subjects greatly admired her, and the way she ruled the country, comparing her to the goddess Isis, also a single mother.
Cleopatra is famous for her disastrous love affair with the Roman general Mark Antony.
He had promised to Marry the Roman emperor Octavian's sister, and his affair with Cleopatra was to end in tragedy.
Cleopatra and Mark Antony had three children.
She used her great wealth to pay for his armies.
In return, Mark Antony made Alexandria the capital of a new independent Egyptian Empire to be ruled by Cleopatra and her children, in an act called the Donations of Alexandria.
Antony had acted without permission from Rome, so bitter fighting soon erupted.
Antony and Cleopatra were defeated at the battle of Actium by the Roman Emperor Octavian.
Antony killed himself when Octavian closed in upon Alexandria.
Cleopatra committed suicide, using poison from an asp, soon afterwards.
Caesarion was murdered and Egypt was incorporated into the Roman Empire.
Cleopatra's palace has been found underwater at Alexandria.
There is hope that her tomb will be found, and may contain the remains of the queen.
