Cleopatra Selene II (Greek:? ??e?p?t?a Se????, 25 December 40 BC 9 March 8 AD[1]), also known as Cleopatra VIII of Egypt or Cleopatra VIII was a Ptolemaic Princess and was the only daughter to Greek Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman triumvir Mark Antony. She was the fraternal twin of Ptolemaic prince Alexander Helios. Her second name in ancient Greek means "moon", being the counterpart of her twin brothers second name Helios, meaning "sun". She was of Greek and Roman heritage. Cleopatra was born, raised and educated in Alexandria, Egypt. In late 34 BC, during the Donations of Alexandria, she was made ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya.[2]
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Early life
Her parents, Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, were defeated by Octavian (future Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus), during a naval battle at Actium, Greece in 31 BC. In 30 BC, her parents committed suicide as Octavian and his army invaded Egypt. Octavian took Cleopatra and her brothers from Egypt to Italy. Octavian celebrated his military triumph in Rome by parading the three orphans in heavy golden chains in the streets. The chains were so heavy that they could not walk. Octavian gave the siblings to Octavia Minor to be raised in her household in Rome. Octavia Minor, who became their guardian, was Octavian's second eldest sister and was their father's former wife.[3]
Marriage
Between 26-20 BC, Augustus arranged for Cleopatra to marry African King Juba II of Numidia in Rome. The Emperor Augustus gave to Cleopatra as a wedding present a huge dowry and she became an ally to Rome. By then her brothers, Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus had died, probably from illness. When Cleopatra married Juba, she was the only surviving member of the Ptolemaic dynasty.[4]
Juba and Cleopatra could not return to Numidia as it had been provincialized in 46 BC. The couple was sent to Mauretania, an unorganized territory that needed Roman supervision. They renamed their new capital Caesarea (modern Cherchell, Algeria), in honor of the Emperor.[5] Cleopatra is said to have exercised great influence on policies that Juba created. Through her influence, the Mauretanian Kingdom flourished. Mauretania exported and traded well throughout the Mediterranean. The construction and sculptural projects at Caesarea and at another city Volubilis, were built and display a rich mixture of Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman architectural styles.[6]
The children of Cleopatra and Juba were:
Ptolemy of Mauretania born in 10 BC [7]
A daughter of Cleopatra and Juba, whose name has not been recorded, is mentioned in an inscription. It has been suggested that Drusilla of Mauretania was a daughter, but she may have been a granddaughter instead. Drusilla is described as a granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and may have been a daughter of Ptolemy of Mauretania.[7]
Queen of Syria, Zenobia of Palmyra claimed descent from Cleopatra, although this is unlikely.[8]
Historical Evidence
There are few surviving written sources on the life of Cleopatra. Surviving coins and monuments suggest that Cleopatra inherited the iron will and perseverance of the Ptolemaic women. Her various titles on surviving coinage are in Greek: ??S???SS? ????????? or ??S???SS ?????????, which means Queen Cleopatra. These titles were also used on coinage by her late mother. Another title she used on coinage was C???N? or Selene. [9] Cleopatra seemed to have been religious, patriotic of her Egyptian Greek heritage, though she ignored her Roman heritage. She wanted to retain and continue the Ptolemaic Legacy.
Death
Controversy surrounds Cleopatra's exact date of death. A discovered hoard of the Cleopatra's coins, dated at 17, it has traditionally been believed that Cleopatra was alive to mint them. However, this would mean that Juba married the Cappadocian Princess, Glaphyra during Cleopatra's lifetime. To explain this strange marital problem, historians have supposed some sort of rift between Cleopatra and Juba that was eventually mended after Juba's divorce from Glaphyra. Modern historians dispute the idea that Juba, a thoroughly Romanized King, would have taken a second wife. The argument goes that if Juba married Glaphyra before 4 then his first wife Cleopatra, must have already been dead. (The counterargument can be made that even contemporary client kings with Roman citizenship, like Herod the Great, took multiple wives and that Juba's father had more than one.)
The following epigram by Greek Epigrammatist Crinagoras of Mytilene is considered to be Cleopatras eulogy.[10]
The moon herself grew dark, rising at sunset,
Covering her suffering in the night,
Because she saw her beautiful namesake, Selene,
Breathless, descending to Hades,
With her she had had the beauty of her light in common,
And mingled her own darkness with her death.
If this poem is not simply literary license, then astronomical correlation can be used to help pinpoint the date of Cleopatra's death. Lunar eclipses occurred in 9, 8, 5 and 1 BC and 3, 7, 10, 11 and 14. The event in 5 BC most closely resembles the description given in the eulogy, but the date of her death is simply not ascertainable with any certainty. Zahii Hawass former Director of Egypts antiquities believes Cleopatra died in 8 AD in The Cleopatra Exhabit of 2012.[11]
When Cleopatra died, she was placed in the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania in modern Algeria east of Caesarea that was built by her and Juba, which is still visible. A fragmentary inscription was dedicated to Juba and Cleopatra, as the King and Queen of Mauretania.
In Fiction
Cleopatra is mentioned in the novels by Robert Graves, I, Claudius and Claudius the God.
Cleopatra is a significant character in Wallace Breem's historical novel The Legate's Daughter (1974), Phoenix/Orion Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7538-1895-7
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran (2009) tells the story of Cleopatra's early life; from the demise of her parents until her marriage to Juba II of Numidia.
Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray (2011) also follows Cleopatra Selene from the tragic fall of Alexandria to the days before her marriage to Juba II of Numidia.
Querida Alejandría by María García Esperón (Bogotá 2007: Norma, ISBN 958-04-9845-8), a novel in the form of a letter by Cleopatra to the people of Alexandria.
Cleopatra's Daughter by Andrea Ashton (1979) also tells the story of Cleopatra Selene's early life.
Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter (2011) is a novel for teens about Cleopatra Selene.
She and her twin appear briefly in the television series Rome.
She is married to Juba II van Mauretanië.
They got married
Child(ren):
Cleopatra Selena II Anthonia van Mauretanië | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Juba II van Mauretanië | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||