Childhood , mid-1st century BC,
Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleopatra Selene was born 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 Ptolemaic 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 approximately 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. Cleopatra Selene, Alexander Helios, and Ptolemy Philadelphos were sent south to
Thebes, but were apprehended by Roman soldiers en route and brought back to Alexandria. Meanwhile, their parents committed suicide as Octavian and his army invaded Egypt. The deaths of their mother Cleopatra VII and older half-brother Caesarion left Selene and Alexander as the nominal heirs to the throne of Egypt until the kingdom was officially annexed by the
Roman Empire two weeks later, bringing the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the entirety of pharaonic Egypt to an end.
Life in Rome When Octavian returned to
Rome he brought the captured Cleopatra Selene and her surviving brothers with him as captives. During his
triumph celebrating his conquest of Egypt, 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
Claudia Marcella Major and
Claudia Marcella Minor. Cleopatra Selene is the only known surviving member of the
Ptolemaic dynasty. Her brothers are not recorded in any further historical accounts and are presumed to have died, possibly from either illness or assassination.{{refn|group=note|In his Roman History,
Cassius Dio mentions that the brothers were spared by Augustus as a wedding present (51.15.6), but Dio's adherence to facts is debatable. ==Marriage and issue==