This page is a stub. It will be expanded to a full-fledged article.

Cleopatra Berenice III

Cleopatra Berenice III (c.120-80): queen of the Ptolemaic Empire.

Relatives

Portrait of a Ptolemaic queen, perhaps Cleopatra Berenice III

Father: Ptolemy IX Soter
Mother: Cleopatra IV
Husband: her uncle Ptolemy X Alexander
- Child: a daughter
Second husband: her father Ptolemy IX Soter
Third husband: her stepson Ptolemy XI Alexander

Main deeds

c.120: Born
28 June 116: Death of Ptolemy VIII Physcon, who is succeeded by Cleopatra III. She wants to rule with Ptolemy X Alexander, but the Alexandrines force her to accept Ptolemy IX Soter as co-ruler. Ptolemy X is briefly made general of Cyprus.
114: Ptolemy X starts to call himself king
October 107: Ptolemy IX is forced to flee to Cyprus; Ptolemy X Alexander finally becomes co-ruler
c.105: Birth of Ptolemy XI Alexander, son of Ptolemy X and an unknown lady
Ptolemy X Alexander marries Cleopatra Berenice III; they have a daughter
20 February 102: Cleopatra III defeats Ptolemy IX Soter near Pelusium
26 October 101: Ptolemy X Alexander orders the killing of Cleopatra III; Ptolemy X Alexander and Cleopatra Berenice III are now sole rulers
100: Cleopatra Berenice III adopts Ptolemy XI Alexander; the boy is and stays in Greece
88: The Alexandrines expell their king, perhaps because his ties with the Jews were considered to be too close; Ptolemy IX Soter becomes king and defeats Ptolemy X Alexander (October 88)
Ptolemy IX marries Cleopatra Berenice III, his daughter, because as wife of Ptolemy X she can offer some legitimation
December (?) 88: On Cyprus, Ptolemy X Alexander fights against general Chaereas, is defeated and killed
December 81: Death of Ptolemy IX; Cleopatra Berenice III is briefly monarch.
Sulla appoints Ptolemy XI Alexander as king of Egypt.
80: Ptolemy XI Alexander marries Cleopatra Berenice III. After eighteen days, he kills her, and is immediately lynched by the Alexandrine mob.

Information on the web

E.R. Bevan, The House of Ptolemy (1927), chapter 12.