Cleopatra VI of Egypt

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Cleopatra VI Tryphaena (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Τρύφαινα) was an Egyptian Ptolemaic queen. She may be identical with Cleopatra V.

There were at least two, perhaps three Ptolemaic women called Cleopatra Tryphaena:

• The daughter of Ptolemy VIII Physcon and Cleopatra III, sister of Ptolemy IX Lathyros, Ptolemy X Alexander I, Cleopatra IV and Cleopatra Selene I ^[1]. If this Tryphaena also bore the name Cleopatra, has not been attested. This Tryphaena may have been born in early 140 or 141 BC. She married Antiochus VIII Grypus, king of Syria, in 124 BC, and bore him five sons: Seleucus VI Epiphanes, the twin Antiochus XI Epiphanes and Philip I Philadelphus, Demetrius III Eucaerus, and Antiochus XII Dionysus. The couple also had a daughter called Laodice. Tryphaena was killed in Antioch (Greek : Αντιόχεια), capital of Syria, by Antiochus IX Cyzicenus, as a revenge for his own wife's (Cleopatra IV) death by her husband Grypus (in 111 BC).^[2]
• Cleopatra V Tryphaena. She was a sister or stepsister and wife of Ptolemy XII Auletes until her mysterious disappearance from the records in 69 BC. If, as some scholars believe, her disappearance is attributable to her death, then it must be assumed that she had a daughter also called Cleopatra Tryphaena.
• This presumed daughter of Cleopatra V and Ptolemy XII Auletes,^[3] is called Cleopatra VI Tryphaena by some modern historians and she would have been an older sister of the famous Cleopatra VII.^[4] If so, her birth year would correctly be c. 75 BC. Some sources say she died as a child.^[5] Others say that when Ptolemy XII fled to Rome to avoid an uprising in Alexandria against him (in 58 BC), she and her sister Berenice IV took control of Ptolemaic Egypt.^[6] At the time she and Berenice IV had become very powerful in Egypt, mainly due to the unpopularity of Ptolemy XII after failing to save Cyprus from the Romans. Cleopatra VI Tryphaena is said to have died in 57 BC of unknown reasons, however most historians believe that Cleopatra V did not die in 69 BC and that it was she, together with Berenice IV, who assumed power after the expulsion of Ptolemy XII. In this case a daughter of Ptolemy XII called Cleopatra Tryphaina would be unhistoric. When Ptolemy XII later regained power in 55 BC he had Berenice IV executed.

Preceded by: Ptolemy XII

Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt with Ptolemy XII

Succeeded by: Cleopatra V and Berenice IV

[edit] References

1. ^ Brian Kritt (April). "Numismatic Evidence For A New Seleucid King: Seleucus (VII) Philometor". The Celator 16 (4year=2002). http://www.sfagn.info/information/kritt.html. 
2. ^ Justin 39.2.3 and 39.3.4-12, our only source for these events
3. ^ "Cleopatra VII, the Last Pharaoh". http://www.royalty.nu/Africa/Egypt/Cleopatra.html. Retrieved on 2007-04-04. 
4. ^ "Cleopatra VII". http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn33/13cleo7.html. Retrieved on 2007-04-04. 
5. ^ "Cleopatra Study Guide". About.com. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/cleopatra/a/CleopatraGuide.htm. Retrieved on 2007-04-04. 
6. ^ Porphyry, cited by Felix Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 260 F 2, 14