Cleopatra II (c.185-116 BC), a queen of
Egypt, daughter of
Cleopatra I. She was married to her brother,
Ptolemy VI (c.175). They and their brother,
Ptolemy VIII, were co-rulers of Egypt from
171-
164 during a war with
Antiochus IV of
Syria in which Rome finally rescued Egypt. She became regent for her son
Ptolemy VII in
145 on her husband's death and married her other brother,
Ptolemy VIII, in
144, whereupon he slew Ptolemy VII and made himself king. In
142 he took her younger daughter, his niece,
Cleopatra III[?], as wife without divorcing his sister and made his new wife joint ruler. Cleopatra II led a rebellion against Ptolemy in
132 and she remained hostile to him until a public reconciliation was declared in
124. She had promised the throne of Egypt to her son-in-law,
Demetrius II[?] of Syria, but in 125 Ptolemy had him assassinated. After this she ruled jointly with her brother and daughter until
116 when Ptolemy died, leaving the kingdom to Cleopatra III. She herself died shortly after. Her son by Ptolemy had been murdered by him to promote the interests of his sons by Cleopatra III.
All Wikipedia text
is available under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License