Cleopatra Selene II family Ptolemaic dynasty
Early life
Childhood
Cleopatra Selene was born in approximately 40 BC in Egypt, as Queen Cleopatra VII's only daughter. Her second name ("moon" in Ancient Greek) opposes the second name of her twin brother, Alexander Helios ("sun" in Ancient Greek). She was raised and highly educated in Alexandria in a manner appropriate for a princess. The twins were formally acknowledged by their father, Triumvir Mark Antony, during a political meeting with their mother in 37 BC. Their younger brother, Ptolemy Antony Philadelphos, was born a year later. Their mother most likely planned for Selene to marry her older half-brother Caesarion, son of Cleopatra by Julius Caesar, after whom he was named.
Over the next two years, Antony bestowed a great deal of land on Cleopatra and their children under his triumviral authority. 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. 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. Neither of the children were old enough to assume control of their lands, but it was clear that their parents intended they should do so in the future. This event, along with Antony's marriage to Cleopatra and divorce of Octavia Minor, older sister of Octavian (future Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus), marked a turning point that led to the Final War of the Roman Republic.
In 31 BC. during a naval battle at Actium, Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian. By the time Octavian arrived in Egypt in the summer of 30 BC, the couple had sent the children away. Caesarion went to India, but en route he was betrayed by his tutor, intercepted by Roman forces and executed. Selene, Alexander, and Ptolemy Philadelphos went south to Thebes. Meanwhile, their parents committed suicide as Octavian and his army invaded Egypt. The deaths of their mother and Caesarion left Selene and Alexander nominally in charge of Egypt until the kingdom was officially annexed by the Roman Empire two weeks later.Life at Rome
Octavian captured Selene and her brothers, and took them to Rome. 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. The chains were so heavy that the children were unable to walk in them, eliciting unexpected sympathy from many of the Roman onlookers.Once Egypt had ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, there remained the question of what to do with Selene and her brothers. In the absence of any surviving relative, responsibility for the children passed to Augustus, who in turn gave the siblings to Octavia to be raised in her household on the Palatine Hill. 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. Between 26 and 20 BC, Cleopatra Selene is the only known surviving member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Her brothers are not recorded in any known historical account and are presumed to have died, possibly from either illness or assassination.Marriage and issue
Octavia arranged for Cleopatra Selene to marry the intellectual King Juba II of Numidia, whose father had committed suicide in 46 BC. He was sent to be raised in Caesar's household; on Caesar's death in 44 BC custody passed to Octavian, the future Augustus. The marriage likely took place in 25 BC and was commemorated in an epigram that survives in its entirety:Ptolemy of Mauretania born in 10 BC  He was named after his mother's dynasty and her younger brother. In naming her son, Cleopatra created a distinct Greek-Egyptian tone and emphasized her role as heiress of the Ptolemies in exile.
A daughter, whose name has not survived, is mentioned in an inscription. It has been suggested that she was the Drusilla who was the first wife of Antonius Felix, but this woman was more likely a granddaughter through Ptolemy instead.A hoard of Selene's coins has been dated at 17 AD. 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. 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. However, even contemporary client kings with Roman citizenship took multiple wives. It is possible that Selene and Juba separated for a time, but that their rift was mended after Juba's divorce from Glaphyra.Legacy
Cleopatra was survived by her husband and their son Ptolemy, who ruled Mauretania together until Juba's death in AD 23. Ptolemy then reigned until 40, when he was executed by Emperor Caligula, his mother's great nephew, who was probably jealous of Mauretania's wealth. 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. Thereafter, Cleopatra, Juba and Ptolemy were mostly forgotten.One of the two satellites of the asteroid (216) Kleopatra was named Cleoselene in her honor.
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