Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator

Hello. My name is Ptolemy XIII, and I was a prince, and then a pharaoh, of ancient Egypt a very long time ago. I was born around the year 62 BCE. My family, the Ptolemies, had ruled Egypt for many years. My father was Pharaoh Ptolemy XII, and I had a very famous older sister named Cleopatra. When our father passed away in 51 BCE, I was only ten years old, but it was my turn to be the king. My father’s will said that I had to share the throne with my sister, so we became co-rulers of our beautiful kingdom.

Ruling a big kingdom is a very important job, especially for a kid. Cleopatra was older than me and had her own ideas about how to rule. My advisors and I had different ideas. Soon, we began to disagree on many things. The powerful people at my palace wanted me to be the only ruler, not her. So, in 48 BCE, my supporters forced Cleopatra to leave our capital city, Alexandria. For a short time, I was the only pharaoh in charge.

While my sister was away, a big civil war was happening in another powerful place called Rome. One of the Roman generals, named Pompey the Great, lost a battle and sailed to Egypt in 48 BCE, hoping I would help him. My advisors thought it would be better to side with his enemy, the other general, Julius Caesar. They made a terrible choice and had Pompey killed. When Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria and found out what happened, he was very upset. He decided to stay and help sort out who should rule Egypt.

Julius Caesar brought Cleopatra back to the palace and said we should rule together again, just as our father wanted. But my advisors and I did not want that. This led to a big fight right in our city of Alexandria. My army battled against Caesar’s Roman soldiers. The fighting lasted for months and ended with a final big fight called the Battle of the Nile in early 47 BCE.

My story ended during that battle on January 13th, 47 BCE. I was only about 14 years old. After I was gone, Caesar made my sister Cleopatra the main ruler of Egypt. Today, people remember me as the boy pharaoh who ruled during a very exciting and important time, when the stories of ancient Egypt and ancient Rome came together. My life was short, but it was part of a very big story.