[112] Thus, it is possible that Cleopatra Selene had a daughter captured by Tigranes II. Cleopatra Selene II (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Σελήνη; summer 40 BC – c. 5 BC; the numeration is modern) was a Ptolemaic princess and Queen of Numidia (briefly in 25 BC) and Mauretania (25 BC – 5 BC). [41] The manner in which Antiochus IX took control of Antioch and his new wife in 95 BC is not clear; he could have taken the city by force or it could be that Cleopatra Selene herself opened the gates for him. She was the fraternal twin of Ptolemaic prince Alexander Helios. Controversy surrounds her exact date of death. She was the most important royal woman in the early Augustan age. [78] They returned to Syria in 240 SE (73/72 BC);[79] the brothers claimed the throne of Egypt based on their mother's birthright. ... Cleopatra Selene II and King Juba were great rulers of Numidia. She had great influence in Mauretania's government decisions, especially regarding trade and construction projects. [76] The year in which this event took place is debated; 83 BC is, without any proof, commonly accepted as Philip I's year of death by the majority of scholars who count on the account of Appian, who assigned a reign of fourteen years for Tigranes II, which ended in 69 BC. Cleopatra Selene was born in approximately 40 BC in Egypt, as Pharaoh Cleopatra VII's only daughter. [7] Her brothers are not recorded in any known historical account and are presumed to have died, possibly from either illness or assassination. Of those that occurred around the time she disappeared from the historic record, the one roundly accepted by historians as the likely culprit happened on March 23rd, 5 BCE, which would have made Cleopatra Selene II 35 years old at the time of her death. [14] These buildings included a lighthouse in the style of Pharos of Alexandria in the harbour, a royal palace situated in the seafront, and numerous temples dedicated to Roman and Egyptian deities. [35] The queen mother feared an alliance against her between Ptolemy IX and his friend Antiochus IX of Syria, who was fighting a civil war with his brother Antiochus VIII; this led her to send troops to Syria. [10] Cleopatra Selene had many siblings, including Ptolemy IX, Ptolemy X, and Cleopatra IV. Can any of the experts in this area of history provide an estimated year of death for her? Selene, Alexander, and Ptolemy Philadelphos went south to Thebes. But the people of Antioch and the governor of Damascus, exhausted by the Seleucids' civil wars, invited foreign monarchs to rule them: Tigranes II of Armenia took Antioch, while Aretas III of Nabataea took Damascus. The younger Cleopatra was ten years old when she and her brothers were shipped off to Rome following her mother's death. During his triumph, he paraded the twins dressed as the moon and the sun in heavy golden chains, behind an effigy of their mother clutching an asp to her arm. In 88 BC, Mithridates VI captured all the Egyptian royals in Kos; the two children of Cleopatra Selene mentioned by Justin, if they actually existed and were sent to Kos by Cleopatra III, w… The kingdom developed a significant export throughout the Mediterranean region,[13] particularly with Spain and Italy. [14] On the other hand, modern scholars, such as Arthur Houghton and Catharine Lorber, believed that Selene was actually an epithet. [33] Cleopatra III and Ptolemy X conquered Ptolemais, and according to Justin, the king, shocked by his mother's cruelty, abandoned her and ran away; Cleopatra III then decided to marry Cleopatra Selene to Antiochus VIII,[36] as a step to bring Antiochus VIII to her side in order to counter an alliance between Ptolemy IX and Antiochus IX. [note 1]. [109] Cleopatra Selene's maternity of Ptolemy XI can not be confirmed,[34] and which of Ptolemy X's wives bore Ptolemy XI remains unknown. It is possible that Selene and Juba separated for a time, but that their rift was mended after Juba's divorce from Glaphyra. [citation needed] Between 26 and 20 BC, Cleopatra Selene is the only known surviving member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. With Debra Paget, Ettore Manni, Erno Crisa, Corrado Pani. She was raised and highly educated in Alexandria in a manner appropriate for a princess. Seleucus Kybiosaktes: the second son of Cleopatra Selene, who was unnamed by Cicero and does not appear in other ancient sources, This page was last edited on 2 March 2021, at 03:54. The Death of Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, occurred on either 10 or 12 August, 30 BC, in Alexandria, when she was 39 years old. [note 6][50] Antiochus X pushed Seleucus VI out of Antioch in 94 BC and ruled northern Syria and Cilicia,[49][53] while Seleucus VI's brothers Philip I and Demetrius III ruled Beroea and Damascus respectively. The couple ruled Mauretania for almost two decades, until Cleopatra’s early death at the age of 35. Their remains have not been found at the site, perhaps due to tomb raids, possibly shortly after the mausoleum's construction; or because the structure was meant to serve as a memorial and not as a place of burial. Their products included fish, grapes, pearls, figs, grain, wooden furniture and purple dye harvested from shellfish. The reign of Cleopatra VII of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt began with the death of her father, the ruling pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes, by March 51 BC.It ended with her death on 10 or 12 August 30 BC. Cleopatra Selene took Damascus after Antiochus XII's death and was replaced by Aretas III before 73 BC: Aretas III's rule in Damascus did not last long before Cleopatra Selene took control: According to Justin, Cleopatra Selene and Ptolemy IX had two children; Antiochus XIII: this son is the Antiochus of Cicero. [18], Selene was placed in the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania in modern Algeria, built by her and Juba east of Caesarea and still visible. She was the most important royal woman in the early Augustan age. Appian wrote an anecdote concerning the epithet of Antiochus X, "Eusebes" ("the pious"): the Syrians gave it to him to mock his show of loyalty to his father by bedding his widow. [88], Cleopatra Selene's long career, as the wife of three successive Syrian monarchs, and the mother of one and a ruler in her own right, in addition to her divine status, turned her into a symbol of Seleucid continuity. Cleopatra Selene II - Wikipedia. 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. Juba II, king of Mauretania. The event in 5 BC most closely resembles the description given in the eulogy. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. Yet, not everyone in Mauretania was a fan of Selene and Juba’s Roman ways. She imported many important advisers, scholars, and artists from her mother's royal court in Alexandria to serve in Caesarea. He was also intelligent and a renowned scholar, and eventually wrote fifty books and discovered a new type of sea sponge. [83], The regency of Cleopatra Selene probably ended in 75 BC as the journey of Antiochus XIII to Rome indicates that he had already reached his majority or was close to it. Wikipedia. Cleopatra Selene II (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Σελήνη; summer 40 BC – c. 5 BC; the numeration is modern) was a Ptolemaic princess and Queen of Mauretania.She was the most important royal woman in the early Augustan age.. Cleopatra Selene was the only daughter of Greek Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark Antony.In the Donations of Antioch and of Alexandria, she was made ruler … [note 5][47], The queen held out in the capital for a while before marrying Antiochus IX. Soon afterwards, Seleucus entered the capital. If this poem isn't simply literary license, Selene's death seems to have ironically coincided with a lunar eclipse. In 34 BC, during the Donations of Alexandria, huge crowds assembled to witness the couple sit on golden thrones on a silver platform with Caesarion, Cleopatra Selene, Alexander Helios, and Ptolemy Philadelphus sitting on smaller ones below them. [113], This article is about the daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III of Egypt. [note 4][45] The capital of Syria, Antioch, was part of Antiochus VIII's realm at the time of his assassination; Cleopatra Selene probably resided there. [92] Cleopatra Selene is the most suitable candidate; among several arguments in favor of Cleopatra Selene, Bennett noted that Berenice III was called by Cicero a sister of Ptolemy XI. [60] The 1st-century historian Josephus wrote of "Selene ... who ruled in Syria",[68] indicating her continued influence despite her never controlling the capital Antioch. [20] As a queen of Syria, she was the second to rule with the name 'Cleopatra'. [85] Those accounts seem to contradict each other, but in the view of the seventeenth century historian William Whiston, they do not, since Josephus does not mention that Tigranes II captured the queen in Ptolemais. [33] If it is accepted that Cleopatra Selene married Ptolemy X, then Cleopatra III divorced her from him after he deserted. The first of them to act was Seleucus VI who was established in Cilicia. When the Romans ended the Seleucid dynasty in 64 BC, they attempted to simply replace the Syrian monarchs as an imperial authority, but the political reality of Rome as a republic meant that its legitimacy in the East was questioned. Her second name ("moon" in Ancient Greek) opposes the second name of her twin brother, Alexander Helios ("sun" in Ancient Greek). [11] Ancient writers, such as Cicero and Appian, mention that the queen's name is Selene,[12][13] and Strabo clarified that she was surnamed "Cleopatra". [48], In 218 SE (95/94 BC), Antiochus X, the son of Antiochus IX, proclaimed himself king in Arados,[48] and married Cleopatra Selene. The poem goes: The monarch of Syria as Cleopatra II Selene (82–69 BC). Her vigorous promotion of her mother's legacy stood in sharp contrast to the negative image being disseminated in contemporary Augustan poetry. The exact date of … Cleopatra Selene is said to have exercised great influence on the policies which Juba promoted. Their mother most likely planned for Selene to marry her older half-brother Caesarion, possibly the only biological son of Julius Caesar, after whom he was named. Their younger brother, Ptolemy Philadelphos, was born a year later. Juba died in 23 AD and was buried in the same tomb. After death, she was buried in the Royal Mausoleum of … [5], Once Egypt had ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, there remained the question of what to do with Selene and her brothers. In 102 BC, Cleopatra III decided to establish an alliance with her nephew Antiochus VIII of Syria; Cleopatra Selene was sent as his bride. Helen Gardner in … (71.22.47.232 20:57, 11 July 2010 (UTC)) Historians generally assume that Juba wouldn't have taken a second wife as a thoroughly Romanized king, arguing that if he married Glaphyra before 4 AD, then his first wife must have already been dead. Selene eventually married Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania. Cleopatra Selene stayed in Rome until her marriage at fifteen or sixteen to Juba II. Height, Weight:How tall is Cleopatra – 1,67m. [64] Many of those coins have been found,[note 8][68] and they depict Antiochus XIII in the background and herself in the foreground, in the style of a queen regnant,[69] where Cleopatra Selene's name is written before that of the king's. [23] Classicist Grace Macurdy numbered Cleopatra Selene as "Cleopatra V" within the Ptolemaic dynasty and many historians have used this convention. When Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt, the two formed a relationship that resulted in a son named … Justin wrote that Cleopatra III "made two daughters husbandless by marrying them to their brothers in turn". dispute the idea th… Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Married first her brother Ptolemy IX and second Antiochus IX Cyzicenus, king of Syria. [27] Shortly after his elevation,[28] Cleopatra III forced Ptolemy IX to divorce Cleopatra IV,[29] his sister whom he had married before their father's death;[30] the 2nd-century historian Justin implied that Cleopatra III made this a condition of accepting him as co-ruler. Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was born into the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which makes her of Greek decent. Antony declared Cleopatra to be Queen of Kings, Caesarion to be the true son of Julius Caesar and King of Egypt, and proceeded to bestow kingdoms of their own upon Selene and her brothers. She was made ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya. [64] Damascus' history between the death of Antiochus XII and 241 SE (72/71 BC), when the Armenian king Tigranes II took the city, is obscure. 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. [note 3][36][34], The marriage of Cleopatra Selene and Antiochus VIII took place c. 102 BC;[39][36] historian Leo Kadman suggested that Cleopatra III gave her daughter to the Syrian king in Ptolemais before she retreated to Egypt, and that Cleopatra Selene kept that city as her main base until the end of her life. Zahi Hawass, former Director of Egyptian Antiquities, believes Cleopatra died in 8 AD. Caesarion went to India, but en route he was betrayed by his tutor, intercepted by Roman forces and executed. [71] Two scenarios are possible: In the north, Philip I ruled until his death, after which Cleopatra Selene claimed the rights of her children with Antiochus X to the vacant throne. But she may have died later. [60] The queen's claims of authority were not generally accepted by the Syrians, and the people of Antioch invited Tigranes II to rule Syria, being frustrated by the Seleucids' constant civil wars. Based on her eulogy composed by the poet, Crinagoras of Mytilene, her death seemed to coincide with a lunar eclipse, which took place sometime around 23 March 5 B.C. Cleopatra, after the civil war that followed the assassination of Caesar, met with Marc Antony in Assyria where they planned the defense of Egypt against the Romans. [5] Cleopatra I of Syria married Ptolemy V of Egypt in 193 BC,[6] and her granddaughter Cleopatra Thea married three Syrian kings in succession starting in 150 BC. [63] With the throne of Antiochus XII vacant, Cleopatra Selene declared her son Antiochus XIII king. The construction and sculptural projects at Caesarea and Volubilis display a mixture of Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman architectural styles. First photo: Respectively the busts of Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios Cleopatra’s twin children, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene have been possibly identified in this sandstone sculpture. If Ptolemy XI and Berenice III were both children of Cleopatra Selene, then the statement of Cicero can be taken literally. For the daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III, see, An ancient Roman bust of either Cleopatra Selene II, Queen of Mauretania, or her mother. Primary source … [71] Based on her jugate coins which depict her alongside Antiochus XIII, Hoover suggested that Selene operated from Damascus;[65] those coins used a broken-bar Alpha, cursive Epsilon and squared Sigma. Juba II (left) and Cleopatra Selene II (right) as king and queen of Mauretania. [3] After Antony and Cleopatra's defeat at Actium and their suicides in Egypt in 30 BC, Selene and her brothers were brought to Rome and placed in the household of Octavian's sister, Octavia the Younger, a former wife of her father. [79] In 69 BC, Tigranes II besieged Ptolemais; the city fell according to Josephus, but Tigranes II had to move north fast as the Romans started attacking Armenia. The epigram by Greek Crinagoras of Mytilene is considered to be Cleopatra’s eulogy. [26] In 116 BC, Ptolemy VIII died and his will left Cleopatra III to rule alongside a co-ruler of her choice from between her two sons; she wanted to choose Ptolemy X but the people of Alexandria (the capital of Egypt) opposed this, forcing her to accept Ptolemy IX's ascension to the throne. The following epigram by Greek epigrammatist Crinagoras of Mytilene is considered to be her eulogy: She evidently took shelter with her children somewhere in the kingdom,[60] and possibly fled to Cilicia or Coele-Syria,[61] probably the city of Ptolemais, which she held until her death. [89] The Seleucid diadem was considered a symbol of legitimacy even after the fall of the Seleucid dynasty, and many eastern kings, such as the Parthian monarch Mithridates II, used Seleucid royal iconography to gain the local nobility's support in their domains. The daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III of Egypt, Cleopatra Selene was favoured by her mother and became a pawn in Cleopatra III's political manoeuvres. [7] Those intermarriages helped Egypt destabilize Syria which was especially fragmented between different claimants to the throne;[8] brothers fought between themselves and Egypt interfered by supporting one claimant against the other. Controversy surrounds Cleopatra's exact date of death. Thereafter, Cleopatra, Juba and Ptolemy were mostly forgotten.[15]. An argument in favour of Cleopatra Selene and her son being the sole claimants of Syria in 75 BC is a statement by Cicero: the Roman statesman wrote that Antiochus XIII and his brother were sent to Rome by their mother in 75 BC. [84] Tigranes II, whose invasion probably took place during Antiochus XIII's absence,[79] never controlled the entire country and took Damascus only in 72 BC. That makes Cleopatra Selene the most successful of Cleopatra’s children -by far. 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. He was sent to be raised in Caesar's household; on Caesar's death in 44 BC custody passed to Octavian, the future Augustus. Cleopatra was born in the early part of 69 BCE in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Kingdom. [19], Cleopatra was survived by her husband and their son Ptolemy, who ruled Mauretania together until Juba's death in AD 23. She became queen on the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in 51 BCE and ruled until 30 BCE, when she and Antony committed suicide after their forces were beaten by the Roman armies of Octavian. She was the most important royal woman in the early Augustan age. https://www.encyclopedia.com/.../cleopatra-iii-c-155-101-bce A daughter, whose name has not survived, is mentioned in an inscription. cleopatra Selene Tumblr posts - Tumbral.com. Meanwhile, their parents committed suicide as Octavian and his army invaded Egypt. The Romans generally accepted Ptolemy XII as legitimate. [87] Others see Cleopatra Selene as a pawn in political schemes who later evolved into a schemer in her own right, one who decided her actions effectively based on her own benefit. [92], Identifying Antiochus X and Cleopatra Selene's children is problematic; Cicero wrote that the queen had two sons, one of them named Antiochus. It is written that Cleopatra Selene II survived to adulthood, married, had children, died and was buried in a tomb that still exists (at least in part). Mauretania was a vast territory, but lacked organization. Juba was also a Roman hostage after the death of his father, and knew the humiliation of walking in a triumph. In 1949, one of them, from the collection of. [77] Oliver D. Hoover suggested that Tigranes II invaded Syria only in 74 BC, with Philip I ruling until 75 BC in Northern Syria, allowing Cleopatra Selene and Antiochus XIII to claim the country unopposed for a while. Hence, she is termed "Cleopatra II Selene" to differentiate her from her predecessor and aunt Cleopatra I Thea,[note 2][22] who was the mother of Cleopatra Selene's husbands Antiochus VIII and Antiochus IX. Cleopatra Selene was in her forties and could not simply marry a foreign king. [57][58] Antioch was taken by Demetrius III then Philip I. Cleopatra's promotion of architecture marks a transition between the Hellenistic style and Roman. [81][82] In a paper presented at the 131st annual meeting of the American Historical Association, Nikolaus Overtoom, based on Hoover's chronology, suggested that Cleopatra Selene was in control of the south while Philip I ruled the north until 75 BC; his death meant that Cleopatra Selene's son was the strongest candidate to the throne, but Philip I's faction, being opposed to Cleopatra Selene, offered the crown to Tigranes II who invaded and conquered the country in 74 BC. [15], The couple ruled Mauretania for almost two decades until Cleopatra's death at the age of 35. [62][40] Antiochus XII, another son of Antiochus VIII who was ruling in Damascus, died in 230 SE (83/82 BC). As Egyptian custom dictated, she was married for a time to her brothers, but she bore no children from these unions. Modern historians[who?] Caligula's successor, Emperor Claudius, took advantage of Ptolemy's lack of heirs and assumed control of Mauretania, turning it into the Roman provinces of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. Cleopatra Selene II died at the age of 45, but there are also no records on the cause of her death. Cleopatra Selene II was crowned ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya. His second name in Ancient Greek means "Sun"; this was the … If so, astronomical correlation then can be used to help pinpoint the date of her death: Lunar eclipses occurred in 9, 8, 5 and 1 BC and in AD 3, 7, 10, 11 and 14. In the Donations of Antioch and of Alexandria, she was made ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya. The twins of Cleopatra and Mark Antony - Archaeology Wiki. This article is about the daughter of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Antony. Cleopatra Selene was the only daughter of Greek Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark Antony. The couple had a son and successor, Ptolemy of Mauretania. During their reign, the country became extremely wealthy. The value and quality of Mauretanian coins became recognised throughout the Roman Empire. Within a year of his marriage to Cleopatra Selene, Antiochus IX marched against his nephew but was defeated and killed. One of the two satellites of the asteroid (216) Kleopatra was named Cleoselene in her honor. It is traditionally believed that she was alive to mint them, but this would mean that her husband married Princess Glaphyra of Cappadocia during Selene's lifetime. [6] They were members of an extended family that included their half-brother Iullus Antonius (their father's son with his late wife Fulvia), their half-sisters, both called Antonia (daughters of their father with Octavia), and Octavia's older children from a previous marriage, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and his two sisters called Marcella. [72] This typography appeared in the Damascene coins of Demetrius III and Antiochus XII and is otherwise rare in the Hellenistic world. [90], Ptolemy X's son, Ptolemy XI, might have been the child of Cleopatra IV. Alexander Helios (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος Ἥλιος; late 40 BC – unknown, but possibly between 29 and 25 BC) was a Ptolemaic prince and was a son of the Macedonian queen Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt by Roman triumvir Mark Antony.Alexander's fraternal twin sister was Cleopatra Selene II.Cleopatra named her son after Alexander the Great. For the daughter of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Antony, see, Jugate bronze coin depicting Cleopatra Selene in the foreground with her son Antiochus XIII in the background, Some years in the article are given according to the. According to popular belief, Cleopatra killed herself by allowing an asp to bite her, but for Greek and Roman historians, Cleopatra poisoned herself using either a toxic ointment or by introducing the poison with a sharp implement such as a hairpin.