Kleopatra is asteroid #216 and belongs to the largest asteroids of the Asteroid Main Belt, where Kleopatra is found in the main area (the Main Belt of the Asteroid Main Belt). The shape of Kleopatra is described as a dog-bone and Kleopatra is hence believed to be a contact binary and it is still believed that contact binaries are something unusual, although they are the most common celestial objects, that can be found in the Solar System. Kleopatra is known to have two “asteroid moons”. These satellites are named Alexhelios (Kleopatra I) and Cleoselene (Kleopatra II). Kleopatra and her satellites are rubble piles and of the spectral type M or Xe. Kleopatra is a non-family background asteroid and the fourth discovered multiple asteroid system of the Asteroid Main Belt and the sixth discovered multiple asteroid system in the Solar System. It remains mysterious how Kleopatra can be categorized as a trinary system and at the same time as a contact binary.

Kleopatra was named after the last Egyptian queen, who is frequently misspelled as Cleopatra. She was of Macedonian descent and already because if this is she correctly spelled Kleopatra. She and Julius Caesar were a famous couple, but their relationship was a scandal because Julius Caesar was married to a Roman woman. Kleopatra was probably married to two of her brothers subsequently, but only for the sake of being able to rule Egypt. This last queen of Egypt wasn’t the first queen of Egypt, but because her dynasty was Macedonian in origin, so being accepted as a ruler was more difficult for her. She was the first of her dynasty, the Ptolemaic dynasty, who was able to communicate in Egyptian. She was also famous for her seduction skills, even before she met Caesar. Kleopatra had a son with Caesar. Soon after the death of Caesar had Kleopatra a relationship with his best friend Marcus Antonius. With him had she two children, named Alexander Helios and Kleopatra Selene, after these two are the satellites of asteroid Kleopatra named. Kleopatra ruled Egypt in behalf of her first son (Ptolemaios XV.) as soon as he was old enough. Kleopatra (VII.) had all her siblings murdered for this purpose, even including her younger sister Arsinoë (IV.). Finally Kleopatra became also famous for her death, which was a staged suicide.

I chose to write about the asteroid Kleopatra or #216 here because I saw Kleopatra and Caesar be listed somewhere else as an asteroid couple, which should represent a fairy tale love similar to Eurydike and Orpheus. I have to oppose the “asteroid moons” of Kleopatra to this point of view because they are named after the children, who Kleopatra had with Marcus Antonius, and not after the son, who she had with Caesar. So it simply can’t be true. Kleopatra was known for doing everything, including using her seduction skills, only for her political power. The term paramount leader describes her, although it was invented for the dictators of modern times. Getting rid of her siblings had finally proven her ambitions. Many astrological meanings could be derived from the life of the last queen of Egypt, including cultural links to Egypt or Macedonia. Asteroid #216 is for sure important for feminism or at least certain types of feminism.