Cleopatra Selene
(daughter of Cleopatra & Mark Antony)
Cleopatra VII’s relationship with Mark Antony was simply the equivalent of a dynastic marriage. She gave birth to twins with Mark Antony. She also gave birth to a son with Julius Caesar. All three children Cleopatra Selene, her twin brother Alexander Helios, and Ptolemy XV Caesar (Caesarion) had their names very carefully selected. They had Macedonian and Ptolemaic precedents linking them to the royal house of Alexander the Great. Alexander’s second name Helios (Sun) and Selene (Moon) associated them with prophecies that Rome was to enter a new golden age. That was coming from astrology, but it turned out to be the new imperial age for Rome – not the of restoring Macedonia’s Empire which was the dream of Cleopatra.
Cleopatra Selene was the only daughter of Cleopatra VII. After the Battle of Actium and the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC, Selene, and her brother were brought to Rome and placed in the household of Octavian’s sister, Octavia the Younger, a former wife of Mark Antony.
Selene was raised in Rome and educated there. When she came of age, she was married to Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania. She had her mother’s intelligence and was a major influence in running the kingdom. Under her reign, Mauretania became extremely wealthy. Cleopatra Selene’s tomb still remains standing.
The couple had a son and successor, Ptolemy of Mauretania who was therefore the grandson of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. He reigned until 40AD when Emperor Caligula (37-41AD) invited him to Rome and had him executed. In truth, because of the bloodline to Mark Antony, meant that there was a blood connection to Ptolemy. Thanks to Caligula, the final bloodline that had any connection to Cleopatra and her Macedonian roots, was extinguished.
Monetary System
Mints: Zama, Numidia
Obverse Legends:
DENOMINATIONS
AR Denarius (Portrait left/Bull right)
Æ34 (25 BC) κλεοπατρα, diademed and draped bust left, rev. crocodile right
