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Case file s601 · Egypt and Africa · 30 BCE
30 BCE
Cleopatra: Kleopatra-VII.-Altes-Museum-Berlin1
Cleopatra. Louis le Grand. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
30 BC (Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony)
Place
Alexandria, Egypt
Field
Monarchy · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Roman triumviral grant of client kingdoms; disposal of a defeated dynasty by the Roman victor · Roman law
Historical event
Battle of Actium and the Roman annexation of Egypt

Mark Antony gave Cleopatra's children kingdoms in 34 BC, and after 30 BC Octavian killed Caesarion and gave the others to his sister to raise

In autumn 34 BC Mark Antony filled the gymnasium at Alexandria and set two golden thrones on a silver platform, with lower thrones for the children. Plutarch says Cleopatra VII and Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar, were declared rulers of Egypt, Cyprus, Libya and Coele Syria. Alexander Helios was allotted Armenia, Media and Parthia, which Rome did not hold. Ptolemy Philadelphus received Phoenicia, Syria and Cilicia. Cassius Dio adds that Cleopatra Selene received Cyrenaica. After Antony and Cleopatra died in 30 BC, Octavian disposed of the heirs. Caesarion was sent toward India with treasure, brought back on a promise of the kingdom, and killed. Plutarch records the advice: "Not a good thing were a Caesar too many." Antyllus, Antony's son by Fulvia, was also killed. In 29 BC Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene walked in Octavian's triumph in Rome behind an effigy of their mother. Octavia, Octavian's sister and Antony's former wife, raised the surviving children with her own. Selene married Juba II, and the couple received Mauretania. The two sons then vanish from the record. Selene's son Ptolemy ruled Mauretania until Caligula had him executed in AD 40. None of the lands granted in 34 BC passed to the children. The tomb built for Juba and Selene stands near Tipaza, Algeria; their remains are no longer there.

What the law took from it

A gift of property the giver does not securely own passes nothing once the giver loses it.

Record vs. record

Plutarch gives Ptolemy Philadelphus Phoenicia, Syria and Cilicia and does not name a grant to Selene ( ch. 54). Dio gives Ptolemy Syria and the land west of the Euphrates to the Hellespont, and gives Selene Cyrenaica ( 49.41). Dio says the two sons were spared as a favour to Juba ( 51.15.6); Wikipedia calls their fate unrecorded (

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Mark Antony gave Cleopatra's children kingdoms in 34 BC, and after 30 BC Octavian killed Caesarion and gave the others to his sister to raise,” story s601, https://www.celebrity.estate/cleopatra-30-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

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