17. The Queen Who Married and Killed Her Brother
Cleopatra VII, of Caesar and Marc Antony fame, carried on Ptolemaic family’s tradition of incest by marrying her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII. Also carrying on another family tradition, this one of infighting, the siblings fell out, and Cleopatra was forced to flee Egypt to Syria. She returned with an army, and fought a civil war that devastated the realm. The conflict seesawed, until Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt in 48 BC, and sided with Cleopatra, who became his mistress.
Her brother refused to accept the Roman dictator’s decision, and it ended badly for him. In the Battle of the Nile in December of 48 BC, Ptolemy XIII’s army was routed by Caesar. Cleopatra’s brother/ husband drowned in the aftermath, either accidentally or at the hands of his sister’s agents. Cleopatra then married another brother, Ptolemy XIV, while continuing her affair with Caesar.