Cleopatra’s Ptolemaic Origins in Alexandria

orn in 69 BCE in Alexandria—the cosmopolitan jewel of the Hellenistic world—Cleopatra VII Philopator was

the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, a weak and deeply unpopular king whose reliance on Roman

backing had plunged Egypt into debt and humiliation. The Ptolemaic dynasty, founded by Ptolemy

I Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s most trusted generals, had ruled Egypt

for nearly three centuries. Though ethnically Macedonian Greek, the Ptolemies adopted

many pharaonic titles and customs to legitimize their rule over the native Egyptian population.

Yet for generations, they had largely ignored the Egyptian language, religion,

and daily life, governing from their Greek-speaking court in Alexandria while treating the Nile