Arsinoe I of Egypt
Encyclopedia
Arsinoe I was a Greek
Princess who was of Macedonian
and Thessalian
descent. She was the second daughter and youngest child born to the diadochus
who was King of Thrace
, Asia Minor
and Macedonia
Lysimachus
from his first wife the Queen consort
, Nicaea of Macedon. Arsinoe I had two older siblings: a brother called Agathocles
and a sister called Eurydice
.
Her paternal grandfather was Agathocles of Pella
a nobleman who was a contemporary to King Philip II of Macedon
who reigned 359 BC-336 BC, while her maternal grandfather was the powerful Regent
Antipater
. Arsinoe I was named in honor of an unnamed grandmother, who may have been the mother of Lysimachus or the mother of Nicaea whose both names of these women are unknown. Little is known on her life prior to her marrying.
Arsinoe I between 289/288 BC-281 BC, married as his first wife the Ptolemaic Greek Egyptian Pharaoh
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
, who was also her distant maternal cousin. Arsinoe I married Ptolemy II as part of an alliance between her father and Ptolemy II, against Seleucus I Nicator
.
Arsinoe I through marriage was a Queen Regnant
of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Arsinoe I bore Ptolemy II three children; two sons: Ptolemy III Euergetes
, Lysimachus of Egypt
and a daughter called Berenice
. At an unknown date between after 279 BC-274/3 BC, a sister of Ptolemy II called Arsinoe II arrived in Egypt, who was the last wife of Lysimachus and had fled from her half-brother-husband Ptolemy Keraunos
. Probably at the instigation of Arsinoe II, charges of conspiring to assassinate Ptolemy II were soon brought against Arsinoe I.
Ptolemy II had convicted Arsinoe I of plotting against him. He ended his marriage to Arsinoe I and divorced her. Ptolemy II had exiled Arsinoe I to Coptos
in southern Egypt. It can be chronologically plausible that these events were also connected to the banishment of Ptolemy II’s niece, Theoxena of Egypt
as Theoxena was sent to the Thebaid
, perhaps to Coptos
. Afterwards Ptolemy II married his sister Arsinoe II and after the death of Arsinoe II, Ptolemy II’s children with Arsinoe I were officially regarded as the children of Arsinoe II.
Arsinoe I lived in exile for twenty years. During her exile, Arsinoe I lived in great splendour and exercised considerable power, although she was a wife of a former Pharaoh and her first son with Ptolemy II, succeeded his father after his death.
A surviving Stele
has been found at Coptos which refers to Arsinoe I. The Stele is of Senu-sher, a steward of Arsinoe I and the Stele is assigned to Arsinoe I’s exile. The stele calls Arsinoe I the ‘king’s wife’, but her name is not enclosed in the royal Cartouche
, as it is customary for an Egyptian Queen. Another piece of surviving evidence connected to Arsinoe I, is a Phoenician inscription found at Lapithos
, Cyprus
, which is dated in the 11th or 12th year in the reign of Ptolemy II. The inscription refers to a sacrifice instituted by Yatonba’al on behalf of ‘the legitimate scion and his wife’, hence refers to Arsinoe I. As Arsinoe I was disgraced as a traitor, the fact the person who did the sacrifice on her behalf strongly suggests that the news of her disgrace had not yet reached him.
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
Princess who was of Macedonian
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
and Thessalian
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
descent. She was the second daughter and youngest child born to the diadochus
Diadochi
The Diadochi were the rival generals, family and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for the control of Alexander's empire after his death in 323 BC...
who was King of Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, Asia Minor
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
Lysimachus
Lysimachus
Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.-Early Life & Career:...
from his first wife the Queen consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
, Nicaea of Macedon. Arsinoe I had two older siblings: a brother called Agathocles
Agathocles (son of Lysimachus)
Agathocles was a Greek Prince who was of Macedonian and Thessalian descent. He was the son born to the diadochus Lysimachus from his first wife the Queen consort, Nicaea a daughter of the powerful regent Antipater...
and a sister called Eurydice
Eurydice (wife of Antipater II of Macedon)
Eurydice was a Greek Princess who was of Macedonian and Thessalian descent.She was the first daughter and second child born to the diadochus who was King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedonia, Lysimachus from his first wife the Queen consort, Nicaea of Macedon. Eurydice had one older brother called...
.
Her paternal grandfather was Agathocles of Pella
Agathocles of Pella
Agathocles was a Greek nobleman who was a contemporary to King Philip II of Macedon who reigned 359 BC-336 BC.Agathocles was a Thessalian Serf from Crannon. His father’s name may have been Alcimachus. It was through his flattery, that Agathocles became an intimate friend of Philip II.Philip II...
a nobleman who was a contemporary to King Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
who reigned 359 BC-336 BC, while her maternal grandfather was the powerful Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
Antipater
Antipater
Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...
. Arsinoe I was named in honor of an unnamed grandmother, who may have been the mother of Lysimachus or the mother of Nicaea whose both names of these women are unknown. Little is known on her life prior to her marrying.
Arsinoe I between 289/288 BC-281 BC, married as his first wife the Ptolemaic Greek Egyptian Pharaoh
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BCE to 246 BCE. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos...
, who was also her distant maternal cousin. Arsinoe I married Ptolemy II as part of an alliance between her father and Ptolemy II, against Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucus I was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire...
.
Arsinoe I through marriage was a Queen Regnant
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Arsinoe I bore Ptolemy II three children; two sons: Ptolemy III Euergetes
Ptolemy III Euergetes
-Family:Euergetes was the eldest son of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his first wife, Arsinoe I, and came to power in 246 BC upon the death of his father.He married Berenice of Cyrene in the year corresponding to 244/243 BC; and their children were:...
, Lysimachus of Egypt
Lysimachus of Egypt
Lysimachus was a son of king Ptolemy Philadelphus by Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace...
and a daughter called Berenice
Berenice (Seleucid queen)
Berenice, also called Berenice Syra, was the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his first wife Arsinoe I of Egypt.In 261 BC she married the Seleucid monarch Antiochus II Theos, who, following an agreement with Ptolemy , had divorced his wife Laodice I and transferred the succession to...
. At an unknown date between after 279 BC-274/3 BC, a sister of Ptolemy II called Arsinoe II arrived in Egypt, who was the last wife of Lysimachus and had fled from her half-brother-husband Ptolemy Keraunos
Ptolemy Keraunos
Ptolemy Keraunos was the King of Macedon from 281 BC to 279 BC. His epithet Keraunos is Greek for "Thunder" or "Thunderbolt".He was the eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter, ruler of Egypt, and his third wife Eurydice, daughter of the regent Antipater. His younger half-brother, also called Ptolemy,...
. Probably at the instigation of Arsinoe II, charges of conspiring to assassinate Ptolemy II were soon brought against Arsinoe I.
Ptolemy II had convicted Arsinoe I of plotting against him. He ended his marriage to Arsinoe I and divorced her. Ptolemy II had exiled Arsinoe I to Coptos
Qift
Qift is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km north of Luxor, on the east bank of the Nile.-History:In ancient Egypt, Qift, known then as Gebtu, was an important center for administration, religion, and commerce, being the chief city of the fifth Upper Egyptian Nome of Harawî...
in southern Egypt. It can be chronologically plausible that these events were also connected to the banishment of Ptolemy II’s niece, Theoxena of Egypt
Theoxena of Egypt
For others of this name see Theoxena Theoxena, also known as Theoxena the Younger to distinguish her from her mother was a Syracusan Greek Princess and was a noblewoman of high status.-Family Background:...
as Theoxena was sent to the Thebaid
Thebaid
The Thebaid or Thebais is the region of ancient Egypt containing the thirteen southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan. It acquired its name from its proximity to the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes....
, perhaps to Coptos
Qift
Qift is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km north of Luxor, on the east bank of the Nile.-History:In ancient Egypt, Qift, known then as Gebtu, was an important center for administration, religion, and commerce, being the chief city of the fifth Upper Egyptian Nome of Harawî...
. Afterwards Ptolemy II married his sister Arsinoe II and after the death of Arsinoe II, Ptolemy II’s children with Arsinoe I were officially regarded as the children of Arsinoe II.
Arsinoe I lived in exile for twenty years. During her exile, Arsinoe I lived in great splendour and exercised considerable power, although she was a wife of a former Pharaoh and her first son with Ptolemy II, succeeded his father after his death.
A surviving Stele
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
has been found at Coptos which refers to Arsinoe I. The Stele is of Senu-sher, a steward of Arsinoe I and the Stele is assigned to Arsinoe I’s exile. The stele calls Arsinoe I the ‘king’s wife’, but her name is not enclosed in the royal Cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...
, as it is customary for an Egyptian Queen. Another piece of surviving evidence connected to Arsinoe I, is a Phoenician inscription found at Lapithos
Lapithos
Lapithos or Lapethos is a town of Kyrenia District on the northern coast of Cyprus. According to Strabo, the settlement was founded by Spartans. In Assyrian inscriptions, Lapithos is mentioned as one of the eleven Cypriot kingdoms. During the Persian rule, Lapithos was settled by Phoenicians...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, which is dated in the 11th or 12th year in the reign of Ptolemy II. The inscription refers to a sacrifice instituted by Yatonba’al on behalf of ‘the legitimate scion and his wife’, hence refers to Arsinoe I. As Arsinoe I was disgraced as a traitor, the fact the person who did the sacrifice on her behalf strongly suggests that the news of her disgrace had not yet reached him.
Sources
- H. Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, C.H.Beck, 1977
- Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I
- Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I
- Ptolemaic Genealogy: Theoxena
- Lysimachus’ article at Livius.org
- W. Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, Wiley-Blackwell, 2006
- M. Lightman & B. Lightman, A to Z of ancient Greek and Roman women (Google eBook), Infobase Publishing, 2007
