14. Cleopatra Had Four Kids – And One of Her Descendants May Have Been Another Rebel Queen
Cleopatra did her dynastic duty and had four heirs to the Ptolemaic throne, but none of them succeeded her after her death. What happened to her children? Her eldest, Ptolemy Caesarion (“Little Caesar”), was her kid by Julius Caesar, although some Roman authorities doubted his paternity. Before Cleopatra’s demise, she sent Caesarion into exile in India with a great deal of money to support himself, but he hesitated on the way and turned back, and Caesar’s adopted son/great-nephew, Octavian, got to Caesarion and killed him.
Cleo’s three younger kids were sired by her second Roman lover, Mark Antony. They were twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (named after the Greek gods of the sun and moon) and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Each got their own realm to rule, but Philadelphus and Helios likely died, whether naturally or due to foul play, after they were brought to Rome and under Octavian’s watchful eye.
But Cleopatra Selene had a different fate. She was married to Juba, the Roman client king of Mauretania in North Africa. Her son was later killed by his cousin, the Roman emperor Caligula. He may have had heirs, however, including another great rebel against Rome: Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra in Syria.
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