
Well-known ancient monarch Cleopatra is only one of a long line of Egyptian queens spanning 3,000 years.

Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra the Great and Mark Antony, saw her dynasty collapse amid her parents' defeat and suicide; taken to Rome as a prisoner, all looked lost for Selene, but she rose from the embers to marry the African king Juba II.

Cleopatra II, namesake of the great Cleopatra VII, had a reign of incest, murder, rape and mutilation; she wielded great power and would do anything to keep it, and she saw her dynasty torn apart by hatred but also saved it from destruction.