Cleopatra's Childhood, her siblings, and her Journey to Rome  with Ptolemy XII

* Cleopatra's siblings

Cleopatra had five siblings, two older sisters namely "Trevina and Berenice", and a younger sister "Arsinoe", She also had two brothers younger than her, namely "Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV" who Participated Cleopatra in ruling later.

* Cleopatra's Childhood

In the midst of the atmosphere that characterized the life in the beautiful Alexandria, and amid the suffering of the Egyptians under the Ptolemaic rule, Cleopatra grew up spoiled in the palace of her father, where the palace was extremely in luxury filled with spacious rooms, and its walls were covered with the finest types of marble and the exquisite drawings, and it was decorated with statues and valuable furnishings.

There were maids and slaves take care of Cleopatra and her siblings, so Cleopatra did not go to school like the sons and daughters of the wealthy, where she was receiving her education inside the palace, she was taking lessons in arithmetic, astronomy, poetry, etc., and her genius and intelligence appeared early where she was understanding and learning quickly.

Cleopatra was particularly inclined to learn foreign languages, and after she grew up and ascended to the throne of Egypt, she became considered the only queen of the Family of The Ptolemaic who was speaking the Egyptian language, all of her family members who preceded her were speaking the ancient Greek language, so she did not find it difficult to talk to the princes and kings whom she met where she was speaking with "Julius Caesar" and "Mark Anthony" in the Roman language, and she talks to the leader of the Jews 'Herod' in the Hebrew language, and thus she dispensed with translators, as for Cleopatra's talk, it was full of tact and intelligence, and her voice was beautiful like a harp voice.

* The Journey of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra to Rome

When Ptolemy XII ruled Egypt in the year 60 BC, Cleopatra was still 10 years old, and her father was an incompetent and failed king, and the trouble of the Egyptians increased under his rule, where they suffered from poverty, especially after he imposed exorbitant taxes on them, and within his family, his adult sons wrestled for the acquisition of authority, while the little Cleopatra kept watching the events from a distance.

The Egyptians could not still keep silent for a long time on the failed of Ptolemy XII's rule, where unrest and protests spread throughout Egypt, and the Egyptians attacked his palace and forced him to leave the country, so Ptolemy resorted to Rome asking for support him and strengthening his position, and maintaining his continuity in ruling the country.

and Cleopatra accompanied him on his journey, she was twelve years old at the time, and Ptolemy tried to appease the politicians of Rome in various ways to remain ruler of Egypt, and carried with him gifts and bribes, even mention that he carried with him a huge sum of money that was estimated at half of Egypt's annual income In his attempt to win the support of Rome's politicians and leaders, and there Emperor of Rome "Pompey" hosted Ptolemy and his daughter Cleopatra.

During the travel of Ptolemy to Rome, his two eldest daughters took over the rule, and at that time one of them died, while the great sister of Cleopatra "Berenice" ruled the country, "Berenice" and Her husband "Archelaus" worked  to satisfaction the Egyptians so that her father would not return to monopolize the rule again, and the Egyptians initially supported the rule of the new queen and her husband, but they returned to protest again against the rule of the Ptolemaic and unrest spread in the country.

On the other hand, Ptolemy succeeded in obtaining the satisfaction of Rome's politicians, and "Pompey" ordered to directing a strong army to Egypt to control the unrest and restore Ptolemy to the rule again, and one of the most prominent knights of that army was "Mark Anthony".