Ptolemy XIV

Ptolemy XIV Philopator was a ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty who reigned from about 47 BC to 44 BC, with dates uncertain by about a year. The son of Ptolemy XII Auletes, he was elevated to the throne as an adolescent by Julius Caesar following the death of his older brother Ptolemy XIII during the Alexandrian War. He was married to his older sister Cleopatra VII and served as her nominal co-regent.

Throughout his short reign, Ptolemy XIV held no genuine administrative power, as Cleopatra maintained absolute control over Egyptian governance and foreign relations. He accompanied Cleopatra on her famous visit to Rome in 46 BC, residing in Caesar's villa. Shortly after Caesar's assassination in Rome in 44 BC, Ptolemy XIV died in Alexandria, with contemporary and later historians widely suspecting that Cleopatra poisoned him to install her infant son Caesarion as co-ruler.

Scholars know Ptolemy XIV through surviving administrative papyri, inscriptions, and Roman historical accounts. He left no known personal monuments, and his burial site in Alexandria has not survived.

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