You mean Cleopatra VII? There wasn’t an VIII. Her father, Ptolemy XII, doesn’t seem to have been assassinated. He specifically wanted her to be co-ruler with her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, presumably because Cleo was both massively more competent and not ten years old, but thought their vassals might not have accepted a woman as sole ruler. XIII didn’t like that Cleo was more popular than him and the real ruler of Egypt, so he tried to have her killed, starting a civil war. Cleopatra’s faction won the war when XIII actually managed to accidentally drown himself fleeing a battle. Cleo then married her youngest brother, Ptolemy XIV, to solidify her rule. She likely had XIV assassinated to make her son the undisputed future Pharaoh after her, but there isn’t anything resembling solid evidence either way.
Or actively assassinating all your family members, like Cleopatra VIII.
In her defense, given the inbreeding of her line and her recorded intelligence she was probably the only competent person for the job.
You mean Cleopatra VII? There wasn’t an VIII. Her father, Ptolemy XII, doesn’t seem to have been assassinated. He specifically wanted her to be co-ruler with her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, presumably because Cleo was both massively more competent and not ten years old, but thought their vassals might not have accepted a woman as sole ruler. XIII didn’t like that Cleo was more popular than him and the real ruler of Egypt, so he tried to have her killed, starting a civil war. Cleopatra’s faction won the war when XIII actually managed to accidentally drown himself fleeing a battle. Cleo then married her youngest brother, Ptolemy XIV, to solidify her rule. She likely had XIV assassinated to make her son the undisputed future Pharaoh after her, but there isn’t anything resembling solid evidence either way.