Cleopatra is one of the most well-known monarchs of the ancient world. Most people know of her but not much about her, so who was this enigmatic woman who stole the heart of not one, but two of the ancient world’s most important men?

Family

Cleopatra was born in 69 BC in Alexandria to Ptolemy XII and most probably Cleopatra V. She was a direct descendant of Ptolemy I, one of.Alexander the Great’s generals and ruler of Egypt after the sudden death of Alexander in 323 BC. Therefore Cleopatra was not Egyptian but Macedonian, a fact many people do not know or choose to forget. She was one of six children, her siblings were Cleopatra VI, Berenice IV, Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, both her younger brothers, Ptolemy XIII and XIV, she later married. She herself gave birth to 4 children, fathered by two (very powerful) men.