The Library › Reel II · The Queen Bee

Was Caesarion really Julius Caesar’s son?

Probably, but it was fought over at the time. Plutarch says the Alexandrians called the boy Caesarion. Suetonius says Caesar let Cleopatra give the child his name, that Mark Antony told the Senate Caesar had acknowledged him, and that Caesar’s friend Gaius Oppius published a whole book arguing the boy was not Caesar’s.

The receipts

1. Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar, 52 (Loeb translation), LacusCurtius, University of Chicago
2. Plutarch, Life of Caesar, 49 (Loeb translation), LacusCurtius, University of Chicago

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• Did Cleopatra really arrive rolled in a carpet?Rumor
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• Was Cleopatra famously beautiful?Disputed
• Did Cleopatra have a big nose? Where does ‘Cleopatra’s nose’ come from?True
• Did Cleopatra speak many languages?True