The Life and Rule of Cleopatra Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria which was the capital of Egypt. Her father was the pharaoh, Ptolemy XII. Cleopatra’s mother was probably his sister, Cleopatra V Tryphaena. The family was Macedonian, not really Egyptian. Her father, Ptolemy XII was a weak and cruel ruler and in 58 B. C. was overthrown by the people. He fled to Rome and his eldest daughter, Bernice, took the thrown, she married her cousin but soon had him strangled because she wanted to marry again. In 55 B.C. Ptolemy XII returned and had Bernice beheaded and her husband executed. Cleopatra VII was th