Cleopatra's father was Ptolemy and was the Pharaoh of Egypt before Cleopatra. Interestingly he was the complete opposite to his daughter and was a horrible ruler. He had six children with a woman or 2 woman who we can not yet identify. He named his children Cleopatra, Berenice, Cleopatra Ptolemy, Ptolemy and Arsinoe. Ptolemy was a bad ruler because he ruled in such a self centred manner and during his reign the little things he did do didn't impact or help the public but only helped himself. He was said to have been really good at playing his musical instrument and focused more on his playing that actually ruling Egypt and taking on his responsibilities.
From a very young age Cleopatra saw her father's failing attempts of ruling a country especially when he was in court. Cleopatra would have especially seen this highlighted when Ptolemy had to flee Egypt as people were threatening him from ROme and also in Egypt. When her father left Cleopatra's oldest sisters Cleopatra and Berenice took on the throne of Egypt whilst their father was away.Early on in this procedure Cleopatra's eldest sister Cleopatra died though the way in which she died is unknown today. Later on though when Ptolemy came back to Egypt he was so angry that his two oldest daughters had taken on his rightful throne. Out of anger he murdered Brenice by having her executed. This would have been very hard emotionally on CLeopatra as she is said to have been very close to her sister Berenice and she would have been stunned that her father would do such a thing. It is believed Ptolemy was very into Cleopatra and her siblings education . This meant that he made sure that each child had the best tutors of that time and had one each. He believed education was incredibly important and was very into long hours, harsh rules and not going out of school that often. In the theme of learning and education Ptolemy would also take Cleopatra ad her siblings on excursion to tach them how to be a leader using stories and simply teaching them. Ptolemy was an interesting father as well as ruler. Interestingly though he was quite a protective father and tried his best to not let his political affairs impact his children and their family. |