Illegitimate son of Cleopatra
VII & Julius Caesar,
born while Caesar was in Egypt to settle the civil war between Cleopatra
& her brother (Ptolemy
XIII). When his mother brought him to Rome (46 BCE) Caesar publicly
acknowledged his paternity. After his father's assassination (44
BCE),
Caesarion returned to Alexandria & (at the age of 3) was officially
installed as his mother's co-ruler. He had just reached puberty when
his mother's lover (Mark Antony)
rashly hailed him as "King of Kings." During the ensuing war
between Antony & Octavion
(31
BCE), Caesarion was kept away from
Alexandria. But after his mother's suicide, Octavion
enticed him to return, only to have him executed, ending the Ptolemaic dynasty.
References: Suetonius,
Twelve
Caesars: Julius Caesar 52.
Cassius Dio, Roman
History
47.31.
Plutarch, Caesar
49.
______, Antony
54, 71, 81-82.
Other resources on line:
* [Note: Bevan's numbering of the
Ptolemies differs since he drops Ptolemy VII from classical lists
because there is no historical evidence of his reign].