Cleopatra Selene II

Cleopatra Selene II was the daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony who became queen of Mauretania. Taken to Rome after her parents’ defeat, she was raised in Octavia’s household and later ruled with Juba II, combining Ptolemaic, Roman and North African traditions.

Cleopatra Selene II also held the offices or ranks of queen consort. Cleopatra Selene II belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty. Cleopatra Selene II was born in Alexandria and died in Cherchell.

In Michelle Moran’s Cleopatra’s Daughter, after the defeat and deaths of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, their ten-year-old twins Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios are taken from Alexandria and displayed in Octavian’s Roman triumph. In Michael Livingston’s The Ark and the Empire, after Julius Caesar’s assassination, Rome fractures between Octavian, Mark Antony and the surviving defenders of the Republic. Antony’s alliance with Cleopatra draws the struggle towards Egypt, while Caesarion and Cleopatra’s other children become living claims to political legitimacy. Behind the civil wars, Juba of Numidia searches for relics called the Shards of Heaven, weapons associated with the gods and with the sacred traditions of several peoples. Exiled legionaries, spies, librarians and Cleopatra Selene are drawn into the contest as battles from Rome to Alexandria determine the future of the Mediterranean. Further fictional perspectives on Cleopatra Selene II can be found in Margaret George’s The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Michael Livingston’s The Ring and the Ruin, and Michael Livingston’s The Spear and the Storm.