The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, c. 2024.

The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, c. 2024.

 

October 29, 2026: 

I've been reading The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones for the past couple of weeks. Today, I'm reading the story of the relationship between the Ptolemy reign (Egypt) and the Seleucid reign (Persia/Iran). Either I had forgotten or never knew of the relationship between these two families. So, I'm going to stop reading here -- about halfway through the book and start over. I want to get a good foundation for this history before proceeding.

My first note, October 19, 2026, link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/fVwaYfdJy7Qr62P8o.   

Updated first note, October 19, 2026, link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/Xm8LFV40fFAOlYm7U.

 

Introduction

To be re-read later; notes later.

Part One

Beginnings

Cleopatra 1 Syra

Cleopatra II 

Chapter 1: The Bartered Bride 

Alexander had died 323 BC.

Cleopatra, Alexander's sister, wielded too much power; ruled for awhile, but ultimately assassinated on order of Antigonus, around 308. Antigonus had been given the satrapy of Phrygia by Alexander. Phrygia: west-central modern day Turkey along the Sangarius river, encompassing Ankara and Konya.

All this time, 323 to 308, the successors fought each other in Babylon and across Macedon to Greece to Turkey to Persia. 

The history of the Cleopatras begins not in the Egypt of the Ptolemies but further to the east, in the empire of the Seleucids -- the dynastic name given to the Greek-speaking monarchs of an empire that incorporated the modern states of Syria, Lebaanon, Palestine and Israel, Jordan, armenia, Kuwait, Iraq, Azerbaijan and parts of eastern Turkey as wellas , at times, significatnt portions of Iran and even Afghanistan. 

So, what was the background of Cleopatra Syra? 

Born in Antioch, Syria, around 209 BC -- daughter of a formidable warrior king, Antiochus III, known even in his lifetime as Antiochus Magus, 'the great.' He was the latest scion of the Seleucid dynasty, the heirs of Alexander the Great. 

The diadochoi, successors:
Macedon: Antigoni monarchs (descendents of Philip II, Alexander, Antipater);
Egypt: the Ptolemies; and,
Syria, the Levant and Mesopotamia (sometimes called Asia): the Seleucids.

To the Greeks/Macedonians, Syria, the Levant, and Mesopotamis was the "heart" of the Persians through with they controlled modern-day Turkey which was Asia. 

Her mother a the renowned Laodice, the third Seleucid queen to bear that name. 

Seleucus, Alexander's general -- huge city-building campaign, particularly in Syria, which to all extents and purposes was the "home" of the empire.

Antioch-on-the-Orontes on the banks of the Orontes River, became the primary royal residence for all successive Seleucid rulers .... also Sardia and Ephesus in Asia Minor, Susa in Persia, and Antioch on the Mediterranean coast....

So, we will come back to page 16.

 

Chapter 2: A Stranger in a Strange Land

Cleopatra Syra was aware of the myth of Egypt.

Discussion of Egypt as Alexandria discovered it and conquered it.

Ptolemy: takes control of Egypt, in June 323 BC, when Alexander dies, page 37.

Family of minor nobility but distinguished himself before Alexander died ... administered Egypt as its satrap, but in 305 BC he finally proclaimed himself Egypt's basileus -- "king." -- page 37.

Aha! Ptolemy's wife and greatly loved queen was Berenice I --> daughter Arsinoē II, and a son and heir, Ptolemy II Philadelphus. 

Co-regencies.

Ptolemy I Soter died 282 BC; succeeded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. He was married to (another) Arsinoē, daughter of king of Thrace; referred to as Arsinoē I. Ptolemy repudiated her late in her life and he married his full-blood sister Arsinoē II, top of page 38....

.... long story of Cleopatra Syra arriving in Alexander... 

Cleopatra I Syra arrives in Alexandria; lives in the Basileia of Alexandria and marries Ptolemy V. 

Skip ahead.

Chapter 3: Seeing Double

Author goes back to "King Tut" era to give us background of Egypt and what Ptolemy/Greeks had "inherited." 

Chapter 4: A Little Apocalypse

Still Egypt's queen, Cleopatra Syra and her husband, Ptolemy V. 

Rebels in Thebes (Egypt).

Chapter ends with Cleopatra Syra and Ptolemy V sailing up the Nile with this new baby, the heir.

Chapter 5: It Takes a Woman

Her first baby, a son, to become Ptolemy VI. 

Then, a daughter, Cleopatra II; and, then a third child, a son, to become Ptolemy VIII -- the most notorious and unconventional of the already eccentric Ptolemaic kings, page 89, know to history as Potbelly.

Back to the happy family, Ptolemy V, Cleopatra Syra, and the new baby, Ptolemy VI.

Start at page 90.

The rest of the chapter discusses the family...come back to this....

Chapter 6: Flesh of My Flesh

Begins with the second child, Cleopatra II, born shortly after Ptolemy VI was born, page 103. Move quickly ... in 176 BC, 12-y/o Cleopatra married her elder brother Ptolemy VI, just as their mother had wished. 

Long discussion of such marriages.

Chapter 7: Brothers (and Sisters) in Arms 

Ptolemy VI (teenager) married to Cleopatra II (Cleopatra 1 Syra suddenly died, 176 BC). Too young to rule without regents: Eulaeus and Lenaeus -- inept. The regents decided to keep Ptolemy VI's power constrained -- put a third sibling on the throne along with Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II -- their young brother Potbelly. 

The three ruled together but the real power was with Cleopatra II.

Huge changes with the tripartite monarchy. The monarchy weakened remarkable. Egypt lost a lot of territory. But the most noticeable feature of this period: rise in authority of the queens. It soon became known in Syria that Egypt was in a state of collapse.

Sixth Syrian War: Syria looks to conquer Egypt.

Bottom line: 

• tripartite monarchy  
• two brothers, one sister
• often asked Rome to step in to settle conflicts
• Jews starting to gain attention in this part of the world
• Cleopatra II gives birth for four children: son-daughter-daughter-son
• Egypt: two parts: Egypt proper and Cyrpus; over time, three parts: upper and lower Egypt; and, Cyprus.Ends with the Ptolemies (brother[s] and sister[s] still in charge. 

Chapter 8: