Cleopatra was the daughter of Idas and Marpessa, and she married Meleager, the Calydonian prince who took part in the Calydonian boar hunt.

The couple had a daughter named Polydora. According to the geographer Pausanias, Polydora became the wife of Protesilaus — the first Greek soldier to leap ashore at Troy and, in consequence, the first casualty of the Trojan War.

The mythology surrounding Cleopatra varies across the ancient accounts, all of which turn on the aftermath of the Calydonian boar hunt. After Meleager slew the boar, he gave its skin to Atalanta rather than keeping it for himself. His uncles, Plexippus and Agenor, took offense and seized the prize, whereupon Meleager killed them in his anger.

In one version, his mother Althaea responded by casting into the fire the magical log on which Meleager's life depended, killing him at once. In another version, his killing of his kinsmen provoked war between the Calydonians and the Curetes. When Althaea cursed her son, he withdrew from the fighting until Cleopatra finally pleaded with him to protect the city, persuading him to take up arms again. His return secured victory for the Calydonians, yet Althaea had prayed for his death in battle, and so he was slain.

On learning of Meleager's death, Cleopatra either died of grief or hanged herself. This produced a tragic pattern across the family: three generations of women — Marpessa, Cleopatra, and Polydora — all took their own lives upon the deaths of their husbands.

Cleopatra is the name by which she is most often known, but she is also called Alcyone. The name Cleopatra means "father's glory," while Alcyone means "kingfisher," the halcyon bird of Greek legend.