CLEOPATRA I SYRA

died 176 BC queen of Egypt (193176 BC), wife of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and regent for her minor son, Ptolemy VI Philometor. Daughter of Antiochus III the Great of the Syrian Empire, Cleopatra was married to Ptolemy V in 193 as part of the Peace of Lysimacheia, concluding warfare and border conflicts between Syria and Egypt. She brought as her dowry the revenues (but apparently not the ownership) of Coele-Syria, a land that Egypt had long sought to recover; and the total agreement helped to ensure Egypt's neutrality in Syria's continuing struggles with the Romans. When Ptolemy V died (180), Cleopatra became the true ruler of Egypt as regent for her young son, and she ruled equitably, keeping peace with Syria while doing nothing to alienate Rome, and thereby kept Egypt free of invasion.