
Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar (23 June 47 BC-23 August 30 BC), better known by the nickname Caesarion (meaning "Little Caesar") was the final ruler of Egypt, reigning as Pharaoh from 44 BC to 30 BC. He was the legitimized son of Julius Caesar and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, and Cleopatra had him named co-ruler of Egypt in 44 BC. He was strangled on the orders of Octavian in 30 BC, and Octavian became Emperor of Rome, ruling Egypt as the Roman province of Aegyptus.
Biography[]
Caesarion was born on 23 June 47 BC in Alexandria, Egypt, the product of an affair between the Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. She had wooed Caesar with the promise of bearing him a son, as his wife Calpurnia was widely known to be barren. From 46 to 44 BC, he was raised in Rome by his mother and Caesar, as Cleopatra was Caesar's guest at the time; they were also married. After Caesar's assassination, mother and son returned to Egypt, where Caesarion was named co-ruler with his mother. In 34 BC, he was deified and proclaimed as Caesar's true heir by Cleopatra, a direct attack on Octavian, who was having trouble sharing the vast lands of the Roman Republic with Cleopatra's lover Mark Antony. In 30 BC, when Octavian invaded Egypt, Caesarion was captured by the Romans, and Octavian had him strangled to ensure that he was the only Caesar. Cleopatra later saw through Octavian's lie that Caesarion was still alive, as she noticed Caesarion's ring on Octavian's finger; she would later kill herself.