Queen Cleopatra: 7 Surprising Takeaways From the Netflix Docuseries

Cleopatra Married Both of Her Brothers

Born in 69 B.C., Cleopatra ruled Egypt from 51 B.C. until her death in 30 B.C. During her lifetime, she accomplished many great things, but had an absolutely wild life along the way.

For example: The great female ruler of Egypt actually married her brother, Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, after her father’s death when she was a teenager. When the first brother died, she then had to marry her other, even younger brother, Ptolemy XIV Philopator.

Although this sounds pretty wild by today’s standards, according to scholars interviewed in Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docuseries, it was considered pretty normal back in ancient Egypt.

“There has to be a male and female Pharaoh because Isis and Osiris were the major Gods in Egyptian religion, and since the male and female Pharaohs are also Gods, they have to reflect Isis and Osiris,” Shelley P. Haley, professor of Africana Studies and Classics at Hamilton College, explains in the docuseries Queen Cleopatra.

So, essentially, Cleopatra married each brother for religious reasons, so that Egypt could have both a male and female ruler. After each of her brother’s deaths, her son, Caesarion, became her co-regent, fulfilling the symbolic role of the Egyptian God Osiris. But don’t worry — she didn’t have to marry her son.

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