Ptolemy XV Caesarion (47–30 bc). The last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt; son of Cleopatra VII and successor of Ptolemy XIV.

Cleopatra claimed that Julius Caesar was the father of Ptolemy XV, and some people said that the boy resembled Caesar, but it is impossible to know whether Cleopatra’s claim was valid. Regardless, the possibility that Ptolemy was Caesar’s son made him a rival to Octavian, Caesar’s grandnephew and adopted son.

After the deaths of both Ptolemy XIV and Julius Caesar in 44 bc, three-year-old Ptolemy XV was named coregent of Egypt with Cleopatra. In 34 bc, her lover Mark Antony pompously declared the boy “King of Kings.” War erupted between Antony and Octavian, and Ptolemy XV was kept away from Alexandria for his own safety. After Octavian’s victory at Actium in 31 bc, both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Ptolemy returned to Egypt, where Octavian had him executed.