Ptolemy XIV of Egypt

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Numbering the Ptolemies is a modern invention; the Greeks distinguished them by nickname. The number given here is the present consensus; but there has been some disagreement about which Ptolemies should be counted as reigning. Older sources may give a number one higher or lower, but the same epithet.

Ptolemy XIV (Greek: Πτολεμαίος, who lived 60 BC/59 BC – 44 BC and reigned 47 BC – 44 BC), was a son of Ptolemy XII of Egypt and one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Following the death of his older brother Ptolemy XIII of Egypt on January 13, 47 BC, he was proclaimed Pharaoh and co-ruler by their older sister and remaining Pharaoh, Cleopatra VII of Egypt. Cleopatra also married her new co-ruler but continued to act as lover of Roman dictator Julius Caesar. Ptolemy is considered to have reigned in name only, with Cleopatra keeping actual authority to herself. On March 15, 44 BC Caesar was murdered in Rome by a group of conspirators whose most notable members were Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Ptolemy soon followed him in death. An inscription mentioning him as alive was dated at July 26, 44 BC. It has been assumed but remains uncertain that Cleopatra poisoned her co-ruler to replace him with Ptolemy XV Caesarion, her son by Caesar who was proclaimed co-ruler on September 2, 44 BC and whom his mother intended to support as successor of his father.