cleopatra perhaps wedded her brother ptolemy xiii, but it is unknown if their marriage ever took place. by 29 august 51 bc official documents began listing cleopatra as the sole ruler, evidence that she had rejected her brother as a co-ruler by this point. cleopatra faced several pressing issues and emergencies shortly after taking the throne. these included food shortages and famine caused by drought and low-level flooding of the nile and assaults by gangs of armed brigands. the lawless behavior instigated by the gabiniani, the now unemployed, assimilated, and largely germanic and gallic roman soldiers left by aulus gabinius to garrison egypt after restoring ptolemy xii and removing his daughter berenice iv from power was also a problem. as an astute financial administrator of her kingdom, cleopatra eventually brought the combined wealth of tax revenues and foreign trade up to 12,000 talents a year, surpassing the wealth creation of some of her ptolemaic predecessors. in the meantime, however, she inherited her father's debts and owed the roman republic 17.5 million drachmas by the time julius caesar arrived at alexandria in 48 bc.