4. Cleopatra III Had No Hesitation About Acknowledging She Had a Favorite Child
Even if a mother has a favorite kid, she’s expected to at least go through the motions of saying that she loves all her kids just the same. Not so, with the Ptolemaic Dynasty‘s Cleopatra III. The Ptolemies were probably history’s most dysfunctional ruling family, and Ptolemaic family intrigues complicated the reign of Ptolemy IX Soter. Among other things, the Ptolemies had an established family tradition of incest, so Ptolemy married his sister Cleopatra IV. When his father, Ptolemy VIII Potbelly died in 116 BC, Ptolemy IX’s mother and the reigning queen, Cleopatra III, made him co-regent. However, Ptolemy IX was not her favorite son, and she only chose him because of public pressure from the citizens of Alexandria.
So Cleopatra III worked out the resulting resentment by forcing Ptolemy IX to divorce his sister-wife Cleopatra IV, and replace her with her own sister, and Ptolemy IX’s aunt, Cleopatra Selene I. Ptolemy IX’s sister and ex-wife fled Egypt to the neighboring Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, where she married Antiochus IX and became queen consort in 114 BC. Her reign proved brief, however, and she was murdered during a spat of dynastic turmoil. As to Ptolemy IX, Cleopatra III accused him of having tried to murder her and deposed him in 107 BC. His place was taken by his brother and Cleopatra III’s favorite son, Alexander, who ascended the throne as Ptolemy X.