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Ptolemy Auletes died in 51 BC and left the kingdom of Egypt to his eighteen year old daughter, Cleopatra, and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII, who was twelve at the time.

Cleopatra was born in the sea town of Alexandria, in 69 BC and had two older sisters, Cleopatra VI and Berenice IV in addition to a younger sister, Arsinoe IV. She also had two younger brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV.

After Ptolemy’s death a Roman leader, by the name of Pompey, was left in charge of the children. During the two hundred years prior to Ptolemy Auletes death, the family were allied with the Romans. However, their strength was waning whilst the Roman Empire was gaining in might. Cities and countries everywhere were falling to the Romans and the Ptolemies could do nothing except create a pact with them.

During the later rule of the Ptolemies, the Romans gained more and more control over Egypt, meaning it was necessary to pay tributes to keep them out of her borders. Under Egyptian law, Cleopatra was forced to have a male counterpart - either a husband, brother or a son, for the duration of her reign. She married her younger brother Ptolemy XIII when he was 12 but soon dropped his name from any official documents, despite the fact that the male name had always come first in cases of joint rule.

She also had her own portrait and name placed on the coins minted at that time. When Cleopatra became co-regent, the world she knew was crumbling down around her. There was anarchy outside of Egypt’s borders and famine within them. Cleopatra though, was strong-willed and brilliant and dreamed of a greater world empire, an empire she very nearly had. We will never know if the way she acted was for her own ambition or for the love of her people and her land.