Magas of Cyrene
Encyclopedia
Magas of Cyrene was a Greek
Macedonian nobleman
. Through his mother’s second marriage he was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty
. He became King of Cyrenaica
(in modern Libya
) and he managed to wrestle independence for Cyrenaica from the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty
of Ancient Egypt
.
and her first husband Philip
. He had two younger sisters: Antigone
and Theoxena
. His father, Philip was the son Amyntas by an unnamed mother. Based on the implying of Plutarch
(Pyrrhus 4.4), his father was previously married and had children, including daughters born to him. Phillip served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great and was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx
in Alexander’s wars.
His mother Berenice was a noblewoman from Eordeaea. She was the daughter of local obscure nobleman Magas
and noblewoman Antigone. Berenice’s mother was the niece of the powerful Regent
Antipater
and was a distant collateral relative to the Argead dynasty
. He was the namesake of his maternal grandfather.
About 318 BC, his father died of natural causes. After the death of Magas’ father, Magas’ mother took him and his siblings to Egypt
where they were a part of the entourage of his mother’s second maternal cousin Eurydice
. Eurydice was then the wife of Ptolemy I Soter
, the first Greek Pharaoh and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
By 317 BC, Ptolemy I fell in love with Berenice and divorced Eurydice to marry her. His mother through her marriage to Ptolemy I, was an Egyptian Queen and the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through his mother’s marriage to Ptolemy I, Magas was a stepson to Ptolemy I; became an Egyptian Prince living in his stepfather’s court and was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. His mother bore Ptolemy I three children: two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera
and the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus
.
, had dedicated an honorific inscription proudly naming him as the ‘the eponymous priest’ and ‘Magas son of Philip’. Following the death of his stepfather in 283 BC; Magas tried on several occasions to wrestle independence for Cyrenaica until he crowned himself as King around 276 BC, during the reign of his maternal half-brother Ptolemy II.
Magas then married Apama II
, his third maternal cousin and one of the daughters of Seleucid King
Antiochus I Soter
and Stratonice of Syria
. Antiochus I used his marital alliance to foment a pact to invade Egypt. Apama II and Magas had a daughter called Berenice II
, who was their only child. Magas opened hostilities against Ptolemy II in 274 BC, attacking Egypt from the west, as Antiochus I was attacking Palestine
. However, Magas had to cancel his operations due to an internal revolt of the Libyan nomad Marmaridae. In the east, Antiochus I suffered defeat against the armies of Ptolemy II. Magas at least managed to maintain the independence of Cyrenaica until his death in 250 BC. Over a year after Magas died, his daughter married Ptolemy III Euergetes
, the first son of Ptolemy II. Through Berenice II’s marriage to her paternal cousin, Magas’ Kingdom was reabsorbed by Ptolemaic Egypt.
, as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great’s
Buddhist
proselytism
, although no western historical record of this event remains. Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbalism
, for men and animals, in the territories of the Hellenistic Kings. The philosopher Hegesias of Cyrene
, from the city of Cyrene
where Magas ruled in Cyrenaica
, is sometimes thought to have been influenced by the teachings of Ashoka's Buddhist missionaries.
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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....
Macedonian nobleman
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
. Through his mother’s second marriage he was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty
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...
. He became King of Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
(in modern Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
) and he managed to wrestle independence for Cyrenaica from the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty
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...
of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
.
Family Background & Early Life
Magas was the first born son of the noblewoman BereniceBerenice I of Egypt
Berenice I was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman and through her marriage to Ptolemy I Soter, became the first Queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt.-Family:...
and her first husband Philip
Philip (first husband of Berenice I of Egypt)
Philip was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.Philip was the son of Amyntas by an unnamed mother. He served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great. Philip was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx in Alexander’s wars and...
. He had two younger sisters: Antigone
Antigone of Epirus
Antigone was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. Through her mother’s second marriage was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through marriage was a Queen of Epirus....
and Theoxena
Theoxena of Syracuse
For others of this name see Theoxena Theoxena was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. Through her mother’s second marriage, she was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through marriage was a Queen of Sicily....
. His father, Philip was the son Amyntas by an unnamed mother. Based on the implying of Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
(Pyrrhus 4.4), his father was previously married and had children, including daughters born to him. Phillip served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great and was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx
Phalanx formation
The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
in Alexander’s wars.
His mother Berenice was a noblewoman from Eordeaea. She was the daughter of local obscure nobleman Magas
Magas of Macedon
Magas was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.Magas was a local nobleman from obscure origins and was from Eordeaea. Little is known on his life....
and noblewoman Antigone. Berenice’s mother was the niece of 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...
and was a distant collateral relative to the Argead dynasty
Argead dynasty
The Argead dynasty was an ancient Greek royal house. They were the ruling dynasty of Macedonia from about 700 to 310 BC. Their tradition, as described in ancient Greek historiography, traced their origins to Argos, in southern Greece...
. He was the namesake of his maternal grandfather.
About 318 BC, his father died of natural causes. After the death of Magas’ father, Magas’ mother took him and his siblings to Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
where they were a part of the entourage of his mother’s second maternal cousin Eurydice
Eurydice of Egypt
Eurydice was daughter of Antipater and wife of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. The period of her marriage is not mentioned by any ancient writer, but it is probable that it took place shortly after the partition of Triparadisus, and the appointment of Antipater to the regency, 321 BC. She was the...
. Eurydice was then the wife of Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter I , also known as Ptolemy Lagides, c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...
, the first Greek Pharaoh and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
By 317 BC, Ptolemy I fell in love with Berenice and divorced Eurydice to marry her. His mother through her marriage to Ptolemy I, was an Egyptian Queen and the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through his mother’s marriage to Ptolemy I, Magas was a stepson to Ptolemy I; became an Egyptian Prince living in his stepfather’s court and was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. His mother bore Ptolemy I three children: two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera
Philotera
Philotera was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman and a Greek Egyptian Princess of the Ptolemaic dynasty.Philotera was a daughter born to Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I of Egypt. She had one older sister: Arsinoe II and a younger brother the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus...
and the future Pharaoh 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...
.
Governorship & Kingship of Cyrenaica
Magas received the governorship of Cyrenaica from his mother. As a posthumous honor to his biological father, Magas when he served as a Priest of the Greek God ApolloApollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, had dedicated an honorific inscription proudly naming him as the ‘the eponymous priest’ and ‘Magas son of Philip’. Following the death of his stepfather in 283 BC; Magas tried on several occasions to wrestle independence for Cyrenaica until he crowned himself as King around 276 BC, during the reign of his maternal half-brother Ptolemy II.
Apama II
For other uses of this name see, Apama Apama II , sometimes known as Apame II was a Syrian Greek Princess of the Seleucid Empire and through marriage was a Queen of Cyrenaica.Apama II was of Greek Macedonian and Persian descent...
, his third maternal cousin and one of the daughters of Seleucid King
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
Antiochus I Soter
Antiochus I Soter
Antiochus I Soter , was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. He reigned from 281 BC - 261 BC....
and Stratonice of Syria
Stratonice of Syria
For other persons with the same name, see StratoniceStratonice of Syria was the daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila, the daughter of Antipater...
. Antiochus I used his marital alliance to foment a pact to invade Egypt. Apama II and Magas had a daughter called Berenice II
Berenice II
Berenice II was the daughter of Magas of Cyrene and Queen Apama II, and the wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes, the third ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt....
, who was their only child. Magas opened hostilities against Ptolemy II in 274 BC, attacking Egypt from the west, as Antiochus I was attacking Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. However, Magas had to cancel his operations due to an internal revolt of the Libyan nomad Marmaridae. In the east, Antiochus I suffered defeat against the armies of Ptolemy II. Magas at least managed to maintain the independence of Cyrenaica until his death in 250 BC. Over a year after Magas died, his daughter married 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:...
, the first son of Ptolemy II. Through Berenice II’s marriage to her paternal cousin, Magas’ Kingdom was reabsorbed by Ptolemaic Egypt.
Relations with India
Magas is mentioned in the Edicts of AshokaEdicts of Ashoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 269 BCE to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh, India,...
, as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great’s
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
proselytism
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
, although no western historical record of this event remains. Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbalism
Herbalism
Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...
, for men and animals, in the territories of the Hellenistic Kings. The philosopher Hegesias of Cyrene
Hegesias of Cyrene
Hegesias of Cyrene was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that happiness is impossible to achieve, and that the goal of life was the avoidance of pain and sorrow. Conventional values such as wealth, poverty, freedom, and slavery are all indifferent and produce no more pleasure than pain...
, from the city of Cyrene
Cyrene, Libya
Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...
where Magas ruled in Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
, is sometimes thought to have been influenced by the teachings of Ashoka's Buddhist missionaries.
Source
- W. Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, Wiley-Blackwell, 2006
External Link
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