Arsinoe II of Egypt

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Arsinoe II of Egypt

Arsinoe II (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: , 316 BC-July 270 BC), was queen of Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
, Asia Minor and Macedon

Macedon

Macedon or Macedonia was the name of a monarchy centred in the northernmost part of ancient Greece. The homeland of the ancient Macedonians, it was bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east....
ia as wife of King Lysimachus

Lysimachus

Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and Diadochi of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BCE, ruling Thrace, Anatolia andMacedonia....
(Greek: ??s?µa???), and later co-ruler of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
with her brother and husband Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus , was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BC to 246 BC. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I of Egypt, and was educated by Philitas of Cos....
(Greek: ?t??eµa??? F???de?f??, which means "Ptolemy the brother-love"). She was the daughter of king Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty....
(Greek: ?t??eµa??? S?t??, which means "Ptolemy the Savior"), the founder of the Hellenistic state of Egypt, and his second wife Berenice I.

Arsinoe, at the age of 15, married the King Lysimachus to whom she bore three sons, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Philip.

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Encyclopedia

Arsinoe II (Greek

Greek language

Thrace

Macedon

Lysimachus

Egypt

Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy I Soter

Agathocles (son of Lysimachus)

Agathocles was the son of Lysimachus by an Odrysian woman who Polyaenus calls Macris. Agathocles was sent by his father against the Getae, about 292 BC, but was defeated and taken prisoner....
, poisoned on account of treason. After Lysimachus' death in battle in 281 BC, she fled to Cassandrea (Greek: ?ass??d?e?a) and married her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos

Ptolemy Keraunos

Ptolemy Keraunos was the King of Macedon from 281 BC to 279 BC.He was the eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter and his first wife Eurydice . His younger half-brother, also called Ptolemy, became heir apparent and, in 282 BC, ascended to the throne as Ptolemy II Philadelphus....
, son of Ptolemy I from his first wife, Euridice. The marriage was for political reasons as they both claimed the throne of Macedonia / Thrace (by the time of his death Lysimachus was ruler of both regions, and his power extended to south Greece and Asia Minor as well). Their relationship was never good. As Ptolemy Keraunos was becoming more powerful, she decided it was time to stop him and conspired against him with her sons. This action caused Ptolemy Keraunus to kill two of her sons, Lysimachus and Philip, while the elder, Ptolemy, was able to escape and to flee north, to the kingdom of the Dardanians. She herself went to Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports....
, Egypt to seek protection from her brother, Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus , was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BC to 246 BC. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I of Egypt, and was educated by Philitas of Cos....
. In Egypt, she continued her intrigues and probably instigated the accusation and exile of her brother Ptolemy II's first wife, Arsinoe I of Egypt

Arsinoe I of Egypt

Arsinoe I was queen regnant of Egypt 284 BC/281 BC-ca. 274 BC and first wife of Ptolemy II of Egypt.Arsinoe I was the daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedonia....
. Arsinoe II then married her brother; as a result, both were given the epithet "Philadelphoi" (Greek: F???de?f?? "Brother-Loving") by the presumably scandalized Greeks. Arsinoe II shared all of her brother's titles and apparently was quite influential, having towns dedicated to her, her own cult (as was Egyptian custom), and appearing on coinage. Apparently, she contributed greatly to foreign policy, including Ptolemy's victory in the First Syrian War

Syrian Wars

The Syrian Wars were a series of six wars between the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Egypt during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC over the region of Coele-Syria, one of the few avenues into Egypt....
(274-271 BC) between Egypt and the Seleucid Empire in the Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
. After her death, Ptolemy II continued to refer to her on official documents, as well as supporting her coinage and cult. He also established her worship as a Goddess, a clever move, because by doing this he established also his own worship as a God.

External links

entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith