Cleopatra IV

Cleopatra IV was the daughter of Ptolemy VIII Physcon and Cleopatra III. Cleopatra was the queen of Egypt in exactly 116-115 BC. Later on she became queen of Syria and married Lathyros in 116 BC. Cleopatra’s position only lasted a few months, when their mother and Cleopatra III replaced her with Cleopatra Selene. Cleopatra was upset of her mother so she went to Cyprus where she raised an army and where she brought over her other brother Ptolemy X Alexander she wanted to marry Antiochus IX Cyzicenus. When Cleopatra had arrived from Syria Antiochus IX accepted her offer and married her.

Antiochus was the half brother of the king of Syria, Antiochus VIII Grypus. When Grypus tried to assassinate Antiochus IX Cyzicenus he invaded Syria with Cleopatra's army. His invasion was succesful, and Cleopatra IV became queen in the capital, Antioch. Grypus fought back and shortly he defeated his brother's army and he entered Antioch. Cleopatra tried to find an asylum inside the city's temple but then she was arrested and put to death. Grypus was reluctant to have Cleopatra killed, because what she had done was an insult to the Temple and to the Gods. But, Cleopatra's older sister Cleopatra Tryphaena forced Grypus to kill her but she didn't ive much after Cleopatra's IV death. Cyzicenus had tortured and killed Cleopatra's sister in order to seek revenge in 111 B.C.

Cleopatra's IV daughter was named Cleopatra Berenice III who was married to Ptolemy X Alexander. On the 28th of Junes 116 B.C. Ptolemy VIII died, he was succeeded by his wife Cleopatra III, she wanted to rule with Ptolemy X Alexander but the Alexandrines forced her to Ptolemy IX Sorter to be co-ruler. Cleopatra's husband Ptolemy IX Sorter goes to Alexandria, when he got there Cleopatra IV remained on Cyprus. On March, 115 B.C. Cleopatra IV was divorced because her husband wanted to marry Cleopatra V Selene, their sister. Then, Cleopatra assembled an army and offers her hand to the Seleucid, prince Antiochus IX Cyzicenus, and they marry.

In 115 B.C. Antiochus revolts against his brother the lawful king. In 112 B.C. Cleopatra was captured by Antiochus VIII and killed by the command of Trypheana. Cleopatra IV was a victim of the rivalries that divided the house of Ptolemy. Also, the looting and destruction of cultural property during wartime is probably as old as war itslef. Julius Caesar's intervention in Egypt to support Cleopatra IV's royal claims against her brother Ptolemy XIII was accompanied by a fire that burned thousands of books in the ancient library of Alexandria, Egypt, at the time the most extensive collection of scholarship in the world.

Cleopatra III was the niece of Physcon and was married to him, while her mother Cleopatra II was his official wife.he bore Physcon two sons,Philometor Soter II Ptolemy X Alexander I as well as three daughters, Cleopatra IV, Cleopatra Trypheana, and Cleopatra Selene. Physcon left the ruling of Egypt to Cleopatra III and whichever one of her sons she chose. Since she hated her first son Ptolemy IX Lathyros and showed love for her second son Ptolemy X she was quite put out when the Alexandrians demanded that he would be back as co-regent.

Ptolemy X Alexander I was married to Cleopatra IV. When Cleopatra ran off to Cypress. Cleopatra IV attempted to marry Ptolemy X Alexander, but he wouldn't have her. So she ran off to Syria and asked Antochus IX Cyzicenus, and had accepter her offer. Cleopatra succeeded in despoing her older son in an excuse to try to murder her. He left behind his wife and sons, and his brother returned from Cyprus and assumed the throne. When Alexander died in a battle, Lathyros was called back to try to regain the power Ptolemaic dynasty. He only ruled for a few years before his death at the age of 62, both of his sons died at a young age, but his daughter Cleopatra Berenice ruled for a time after his death.