MAURETANIAN KINGDOM. Juba II, with Cleopatra Selene (25 BC-AD 24). AR denarius (18mm, 3.34 gm, 7h). NGC VF 4/5 - 3/5. Caesarea, ca. 20 BC-AD 24. REX IVBA, diademed head of Juba right / BAC-I·AIC-CA·KΛЄΟΠΑΤΡA, headdress of Isis on crescent. SNG Copenhagen, 574. From the Historical Scholar Collection Cleopatra Selene (Moon), the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, born in about 40 BC; her fraternal twin was named Alexander Helios (Sun). After her parents' deaths in the Civil War (30 BC), Octavian, the future Augustus Caesar, brought Cleopatra and her siblings home and they were raised by Octavia, his sister. In 26 BC, Augustus arranged for Cleopatra to marry Juba II, king of Numidia, and provided a rich dowry in return for him making his kingdom a province of Rome. Juba and Cleopatra returned to Africa as client rulers of an adjacent kingdom, Mauritania, retained its nominal independence until the reign of Caligula (AD 37-41). The date of Cleopatra's death is a mystery; she was thought to have died in AD 6 as Juba is known to have remarried around this time (to Glaphyra, a princess of Cappadocia), but coins bearing Cleopatra Selene's name are known that bear the regnal date equivalent to AD 17, indicating she was still alive and queen of Mauritania at this time.

HID09801242017

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