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70 free Cleopatra trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Cleopatra trivia quiz covers the last active pharaoh of Egypt: a Macedonian Greek queen who spoke a stack of languages, ruled as sole lawgiver, financed Roman civil wars and ended the Hellenistic age with her death in 30 BC. The easy questions cover the famous outline: her dynasty, her language, Caesar and Antony, the son called Caesarion, the pearl in the vinegar and the asp. The harder half is for readers of Plutarch and Stacy Schiff: the debt she inherited from her father, the sacred bull she installed in her first act as queen, the pleasure barge on the Kydnos, the calendar-maker at her court, the will Octavian stole from the Vestal Virgins, her flagship at Actium, the words Livy says she spoke to Octavian, the king who burned her Red Sea fleet, and what became of her daughter, her statues and her hairstyle. Every answer was checked against Cleopatra's encyclopaedia entry before publishing. If you enjoy this, try our Ancient Egypt, Egyptian mythology and Roman mythology quizzes next.
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Q 01Cleopatra VII belonged to which Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt?
The Ptolemies
She was the last active Hellenistic pharaoh; after her death Egypt became a Roman province.
Q 02The founder of Cleopatra's dynasty, Ptolemy I Soter, had been a general and companion of which conqueror?
Alexander the Great
Through her father she was also descended from Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire.
Q 03What was Cleopatra's first language?
Koine Greek
Her Roman contemporaries would have preferred to speak with her in it rather than in Latin.
Q 04Cleopatra is the only ruler of her dynasty known to have learned which language?
Egyptian
Plutarch implies she also spoke Ethiopian, Hebrew or Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Median and Parthian.
Q 05What does the Greek name Cleopatra mean?
Glory of her father
Her adopted title Thea Philopatora means goddess who loves her father.
Q 06Which pharaoh was Cleopatra's father?
Ptolemy XII Auletes
Nicknamed Auletes, the flute-player, he bankrupted himself bribing Roman statesmen to keep Egypt independent.
Q 07Who was Cleopatra's childhood tutor, from whom she learned oration and philosophy?
Philostratos
She presumably also studied at the Musaeum, home of the Library of Alexandria.
Q 08On taking the throne, how much did Cleopatra owe the Roman Republic in inherited debts?
17.5 million drachmas
The debt came from her father's borrowing from the Roman banker Rabirius Postumus.
Q 09In her first recorded act as queen, Cleopatra sailed to Hermonthis to install what?
A sacred bull
The Buchis bull was worshipped as an intermediary for the god Montu.
Q 10Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 BC after losing which battle to Caesar?
Pharsalus
Egypt seemed a safe refuge because Pompey had been a political ally of Cleopatra's father.
Q 11What did Ptolemy XIII send to Caesar after having Pompey murdered near Pelousion?
His severed, embalmed head
Caesar expressed grief and outrage rather than the gratitude Ptolemy had expected.
Q 12According to Plutarch, Cleopatra was smuggled into the palace to meet Caesar hidden inside what?
A bed sack
Cassius Dio tells a different story: she simply arrived dressed attractively and charmed him with her wit.
Q 13How did Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy XIII die in 47 BC?
He drowned when his boat capsized
Q 21How did Cleopatra's brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIV allegedly die in 44 BC?
Poisoned on her orders
His death let her elevate her own son as co-ruler.
Q 22To meet Antony at Tarsos in 41 BC, Cleopatra sailed up which river?
The Kydnos
She hosted him and his officers for two nights of banquets aboard her barge.
Q 23When she met Antony at Tarsos, Cleopatra was dressed as which goddess?
Aphrodite
Some of her coins also depict her as Venus-Aphrodite.
Q 24What were the twins born to the queen and Antony in 40 BC named?
He had been trying to flee after Caesar's reinforcements broke the siege of the palace.
Q 14Which sister of Cleopatra was paraded in Caesar's triumph and later exiled to Ephesus?
Arsinoe IV
Years later Cleopatra persuaded Antony to have her executed at the Temple of Artemis there.
Q 15What was the name of the huge Ptolemaic pleasure barge on which Cleopatra later hosted Antony at Tarsos?
Thalamegos
Built by Ptolemy IV, it was 90 metres long with dining rooms, shrines and promenades on two decks.
Q 16What was the popular name of Cleopatra's son with Julius Caesar?
Caesarion
Caesar stayed publicly silent about his parentage, but Cleopatra declared it in repeated official statements.
Q 17Which member of Cleopatra's court helped Caesar with the calculations for the Julian calendar?
Sosigenes of Alexandria
The new calendar took effect on 1 January 45 BC.
Q 18Caesar placed a golden statue of Cleopatra in the temple of which goddess in his new Forum?
Venus Genetrix
It was the first time a living person's statue stood beside a deity's in a Roman temple, and it survived at least until the 3rd century AD.
Q 19The senator Cicero, who visited Cleopatra during her stay in Italy, reportedly found her what?
Arrogant
He later mocked her at the Lupercalia by asking where Caesar's offered diadem had come from.
Q 20Where was Cleopatra when Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC?
In Rome
She lingered about a month, vainly hoping her son would be recognised as Caesar's heir before his will named Octavian.
Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene
Sun and Moon signalled a new era, and a hope that Antony would repeat Alexander's conquest of the East.
Q 25Which Roman woman, Octavian's sister, did Antony marry in 40 BC as a rival to Cleopatra?
Octavia the Younger
The marriage sealed the pact of Brundisium after the death of Antony's previous wife Fulvia.
Q 26Which future king arrived at Cleopatra's court as a refugee in December 40 BC before going on to Rome?
Herod
She offered him a military post; he declined and was instead named king of Judea by the triumvirs.
Q 27Antony granted Cleopatra the land around which city in Palestine, which she then leased back to Herod?
Jericho
She also gained nearly all of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyrene and part of the Nabataean coast.
Q 28What was the name of Cleopatra's youngest child, born in 36 BC?
Ptolemy Philadelphus
At the age of two he was declared king of Syria and Cilicia.
Q 29Roughly how many men did Antony lose in his disastrous 36 BC Parthian campaign?
30,000
It was more than Crassus had lost at Carrhae, the very defeat Antony had hoped to avenge.
Q 30In his 34 BC victory parade in Alexandria, Antony rode into the city dressed as which god?
Dionysus
Rome saw the mock triumph, staged for an Egyptian queen on a golden throne, as a perversion of sacred rites.