Cleopatra’s bloody rise to power

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. It's the second episode today of our four-part Sunday series exploring the world of Cleopatra, and I'm delighted to say that I'm joined once again by Islamisa, Professor of Public Humanities at Birmingham City University, and author of books including Alexandria, The city that changed the world. In today's installment, we're going to be exploring the shifting sands that Cleopatra had to navigate to reach power, from mighty overseas leaders to bloody family politics. Islam, thank you so much for being back with us to discuss the life and times of Cleopatra.

In this episode, we're going to be focusing on her rise to power and some of the challenges that she faced. When we left her at the end of the previous episode, Her father had just announced her co-regency in 52 BC. Before we get on to what happened next, I'd like to rewind just a bit to explore some of the wider context. Can you tell us about the relationship between Rome and Egypt and how the story of a man called Ptolemy X is important?

Well, we're back with lots of Ptolemies. So many Ptolemies. Yes. And just to put it into context, Ptolemy XII is her father, so we're talking about Ptolemy X. I guess Egypt at this stage is is a kind of breadbasket for Rome.

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