the ptolemies
interest in her family made me look them up. and boy what a family
shareThey were a Dynasty who inbred to keep their bloodline as 'pure' as possible. Cleopatra's family, the Ptolemys a Greek-Macedonian dynasty which inherited the pharoah's throne from Alexander the Great, was a dysfunctional family. With their unique blend of habitual incest, infidelity, profligacy, fratricide, patricide, matricide and perennial regicide, it is amazing they survived as along as they did. Provided you can get your head around relationships like "wife-mother" and "uncle-husband," who intermarried only within their royal bloodlines.
shareThey didn't do the Inbreeding so much at first however, it was primarily Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III who started it.
"It's not about money
It's about sending a Message
Everything Burns!"
ptolemy VIII married his sister then rapes his niece.
shareNo he divorced his Sister to marry his niece, there is no evidence of Rape there, in fact Cleopatra III comes off as quite the opportunist.
"It's not about money.... It's about sending a Message..... Everything Burns!!!"
yea i guess she must have been quite a catch for ptolemy VIII
shareIt's really with Ptolemy Psycon that the family starts to get really dysfunctional.
"It's not about money.... It's about sending a Message..... Everything Burns!!!"
Indeed, Cleopatra's family was extremely dysfunctional.
Regarding inbreeding, incest was the norm in ancient Egyptian royalty for many centuries. Not only was it intended to keep the bloodline pure, but marrying the queen or oldest princess guaranteed a man to have the throne.