Meanings
plural Kleopatras · plural Kleopatrai
- alternativeAlternative spelling of Cleopatra.
The last section once again treats the Kleopatrai of Ptolemaic descent (203-208).
2022, Altay Coşkun, “A New Book and Further Recent Scholarship on Seleukid Royal Women”, in Karanos: Bulletin of Ancient Macedonian Studies, volume 5, Cerdanyola del Vallès: Autonomous University of Barcelona, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 805 more examples
The famous Kleopatra was not done to death by an asp, as has been the traditional story; […]
1890 May 10, Alexander Wilder, “The Serpent. Serpent Symbols in Religion.”, in J[ohn] R[eynolds] Francis, editor, The Progressive Thinker, volume I, number 24, Chicago, Ill.: J. R. Francis, page [3], column 1For a brief period the two Kleopatras, mother and daughter, ruled with the elder son, Ptolemy IX Soter II. The king’s younger brother Alexander was meanwhile based in Cyprus, while the queen who continued to rule with Soter II was probably Kleopatra III.
1988, Dorothy J[oan] Thompson, “Ptolemies and Temples”, in Memphis under the Ptolemies, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 153Shortly afterwards Euergetes II raped Kleopatra’s teenage daughter, his own niece, but by 142 he had also married her, raising her to be joint queen along with her mother and so monopolizing all potential sources of dynastic influence. For us she is therefore known as Kleopatra III. Official royal protocol thereafter distinguished the two ruling Kleopatrai as “Kleopatra the Sister” (II) and “Kleopatra the Wife” (III) (though actually both were wives).
2008, R[obert] Malcolm Errington, “Ptolemy VIII ‘Euergetes’ II”, in A History of the Hellenistic World: 323–30 bc (Blackwell History of the Ancient World), Malden, Mass.; […]: Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, part IV (Rome in the Hellenistic World), chapter 15 (Egypt Becomes Roman), page 296The roles played by royal women in the Hellenistic royal houses were cast and re-cast by every generation of royal women stretching back to Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, but by the time these Kleopatrai stepped onto the Mediterranean stage the influence of such women was certainly nothing new.
2023, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Alex McAuley, “Introduction”, in Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period: Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III (Routledge Studies in Ancient History), Abingdon, Oxforshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →DOI, →ISBNThe three most famous films are highlighted here. Space prevents inclusion of additional well-known stage and filmic Kleopatras, such as the stage production of Cléopâtre (1890), staring Sarah Bernhardt, the silent film Cleopatra (1912), staring Helen Gardner, or Caesar and Cleopatra (1946), staring Vivian Leigh, which was based on the child-like Kleopatra of George Bernard Shaw’s play of the same name (1898). On the actresses who played Kleopatra in the cinema, see Wenzel (2005: 93-125).
2023, Tara Sewell-Lasater, “Eternally Maligned as the Power-hungry Femme Fatale: Kleopatra VII in Assassin’s Creed Origins and Other Video Games”, in Abraham I[gnacio] Fernández Pichel, editor, How Pharaohs Became Media Stars (Archaeopress Egyptology; 48), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Archaeopress, →ISBN, footnote 30, page 196
Origin
- Ancient GreekΚλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ
- Ancient GreekΚλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ
- EnglishKleopatra
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Κλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ (Kleopắtrā).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Kleopatra. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kleopatra
“Kleopatra.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kleopatra. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Kleopatra,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kleopatra.
Source: Kleopatra on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.