Pheretima (Cyrenaean Queen)
Encyclopedia
Pheretima or Pheretime (Greek: Φερετίμη, 6th century BC) was the wife of the Greek
Cyrenaean
King Battus III
and the last recorded queen of the Battiad dynasty
in Cyrenaica
.
Little is known of Pheretima's life before or during her marriage. She was of Dorian Greek origin, and Herodotus
states that her father was also called Battus. She married Battus sometime before he became king in 550 BC. They had two children: a son, the future king Arcesilaus III
; and a daughter, Ladice
, who married the Egypt
ian Pharaoh
Amasis II
.
When Battus died in 530 BC, Arcesilaus became king. In 525 BC, Arcesilaus made an alliance with King Cambyses II of Persia
. About 518 BC, Arcesilaus demanded the return of the monarchical power his ancestors had possessed before his father's reform of the Cyrenaean constitution. This triggered a civil struggle in which Arcesilaus was defeated, and he and his mother were forced to leave Cyrenaica. Arcesilaus went to Samos
, while Pheretima went to the court of King Euelthon in Salamis, Cyprus
. While her son tried to recruit supporters in Samos, promising the men land in Cyrenaica, Pheretima asked Euelthon to give her an army to return to Cyrenaica. Euelthon refused to do so, but gave her various fine presents instead. Failing in her mission, Pheretima returned to Cyrenaica. Arcesilaus, however, recruited an army in Samos, returned with it to Cyrenaica, and retook his position. Arcesilaus murdered and exiled his political opponents, a decision which Pheretima probably influenced. Arcesilaus’ supporters received their promised land but they feared a backlash for their actions and ignored the oracle’s advice not to harm the Cyrenaean citizens.
Arcesilaus left Cyrene for the Cyrenaean town of Barca
, and Pheretima ruled the city in his stead. Arcesilaus and his father-in-law were murdered in the Barcaean marketplace by exiled Cyrenaean nobles exacting revenge. When Pheretima heard of this, she went to Arysandes, the Persian governor of Egypt
, to seek assistance in avenging the death of her son, claiming it was Arcesilaus' friendship with the Persian king that caused his murder. Arysandes pitied Pheretima and gave her Egypt’s army and navy to command. Before she left for Egypt, Arysandes sent a herald to Barca to ask who murdered Arcesilaus. The Barcaeans replied that they were all responsible for Arcesilaus’ death. When the herald returned to Egypt with this answer, the army marched with Pheretima to Barca. They called upon those Barcaeans responsible for the murder to surrender, but the Barcaeans refused, and the subsequent siege lasted for nine months. Both the Persians and the Barcaeans lost many men.
Amasis, the commander of the Persian infantry, changed tactics once he realized that Barca could not be taken by force. He devised a plan to lure the Barcaeans out of the town based on a false offer to discuss an armistice. Amasis had ordered some soldiers to dig a large trench in front of the city covered with wooden planks and earth in order to catch them. Amasis then invited the Barcaeans for a meeting and they came. The Barcaeans accepted the offer of ending the hostilities in exchange for a fair sum paid to the Persian king. The Barcaeans agreed, and opened the city gates to allow the Persians inside. The Persians went in and the ground the Barcaeans stood on gave way and they fell in the trench. Pheretima ordered the Barcaean wives’ breasts to be cut off, and gave the rest of the Barcaeans to the Persians for slavery. The Barcaeans were resettled by King Darius I of Persia
in Bactria
, and named their settlement Barca.
Pheretima was successful in avenging her son by punishing the Barcaeans. She returned to Egypt, giving the army back to the governor. While in Egypt, Pheretima contracted a contagious parasitic skin disease, and died in late 515 BC. With her death Cyrenaean independence ceased. Her grandson Battus IV
became king, but Cyrenaica became a vassal state of the Persian Empire.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
Cyrenaean
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...
King Battus III
Battus III of Cyrene
Battus III of Cyrene or Battus III, surnamed The Lame was the fifth Greek Cyrenaean king and a member of the Battiad dynasty....
and the last recorded queen of the Battiad dynasty
Battiadae
In Greek mythology, the Battiadae are descendants of Battus, the founder of Cyrene. A famous descendant of Battus and thus one of the Battiadae was Callimachus, the Greek poet and the best known member of the Neoteroi....
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...
.
Little is known of Pheretima's life before or during her marriage. She was of Dorian Greek origin, and Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
states that her father was also called Battus. She married Battus sometime before he became king in 550 BC. They had two children: a son, the future king Arcesilaus III
Arcesilaus III of Cyrene
Arcesilaus III of Cyrene or Arcesilaus III was the sixth Greek Cyrenaean King and was a member of the Battiad dynasty.-Ancestry:...
; and a daughter, Ladice
Ladice (Cyrenaean Princess)
This article is about Ladice, the Libyan Greek Cyrenaean Princess who married the Egyptian Pharaoh Amasis II. For the village in Slovakia, go to Ladice....
, who married the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
Amasis II
Amasis II
Amasis II or Ahmose II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt, the successor of Apries at Sais. He was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest.-Life:...
.
When Battus died in 530 BC, Arcesilaus became king. In 525 BC, Arcesilaus made an alliance with King Cambyses II of Persia
Cambyses II of Persia
Cambyses II son of Cyrus the Great , was a king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire. Cambyses's grandfather was Cambyses I, king of Anshan. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of the Near East and Central Asia, Cambyses II further expanded the empire into Egypt during the Late Period by defeating...
. About 518 BC, Arcesilaus demanded the return of the monarchical power his ancestors had possessed before his father's reform of the Cyrenaean constitution. This triggered a civil struggle in which Arcesilaus was defeated, and he and his mother were forced to leave Cyrenaica. Arcesilaus went to Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
, while Pheretima went to the court of King Euelthon in Salamis, Cyprus
Salamis, Cyprus
Salamis was an ancient Greek city-state on the east coast of Cyprus, at the mouth of the river Pedieos, 6 km north of modern Famagusta. According to tradition the founder of Salamis was Teucer, son of Telamon, who could not return home after the Trojan war because he had failed to avenge his...
. While her son tried to recruit supporters in Samos, promising the men land in Cyrenaica, Pheretima asked Euelthon to give her an army to return to Cyrenaica. Euelthon refused to do so, but gave her various fine presents instead. Failing in her mission, Pheretima returned to Cyrenaica. Arcesilaus, however, recruited an army in Samos, returned with it to Cyrenaica, and retook his position. Arcesilaus murdered and exiled his political opponents, a decision which Pheretima probably influenced. Arcesilaus’ supporters received their promised land but they feared a backlash for their actions and ignored the oracle’s advice not to harm the Cyrenaean citizens.
Arcesilaus left Cyrene for the Cyrenaean town of Barca
Barca
Barce was an ancient Greek colony and later Roman, Byzantine, city in North Africa. It occupied the coastal area of what is modern day Libya...
, and Pheretima ruled the city in his stead. Arcesilaus and his father-in-law were murdered in the Barcaean marketplace by exiled Cyrenaean nobles exacting revenge. When Pheretima heard of this, she went to Arysandes, the Persian governor of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, to seek assistance in avenging the death of her son, claiming it was Arcesilaus' friendship with the Persian king that caused his murder. Arysandes pitied Pheretima and gave her Egypt’s army and navy to command. Before she left for Egypt, Arysandes sent a herald to Barca to ask who murdered Arcesilaus. The Barcaeans replied that they were all responsible for Arcesilaus’ death. When the herald returned to Egypt with this answer, the army marched with Pheretima to Barca. They called upon those Barcaeans responsible for the murder to surrender, but the Barcaeans refused, and the subsequent siege lasted for nine months. Both the Persians and the Barcaeans lost many men.
Amasis, the commander of the Persian infantry, changed tactics once he realized that Barca could not be taken by force. He devised a plan to lure the Barcaeans out of the town based on a false offer to discuss an armistice. Amasis had ordered some soldiers to dig a large trench in front of the city covered with wooden planks and earth in order to catch them. Amasis then invited the Barcaeans for a meeting and they came. The Barcaeans accepted the offer of ending the hostilities in exchange for a fair sum paid to the Persian king. The Barcaeans agreed, and opened the city gates to allow the Persians inside. The Persians went in and the ground the Barcaeans stood on gave way and they fell in the trench. Pheretima ordered the Barcaean wives’ breasts to be cut off, and gave the rest of the Barcaeans to the Persians for slavery. The Barcaeans were resettled by King Darius I of Persia
Darius I of Persia
Darius I , also known as Darius the Great, was the third king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire...
in Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
, and named their settlement Barca.
Pheretima was successful in avenging her son by punishing the Barcaeans. She returned to Egypt, giving the army back to the governor. While in Egypt, Pheretima contracted a contagious parasitic skin disease, and died in late 515 BC. With her death Cyrenaean independence ceased. Her grandson Battus IV
Battus IV of Cyrene
Battus IV of Cyrene or Battus IV, surnamed The Handsome or The Fair was the seventh and second to last Greek Cyrenaean King of the Battiads dynasty...
became king, but Cyrenaica became a vassal state of the Persian Empire.
Sources
- HerodotusHerodotusHerodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, The Histories, Book 4 - Morkot, R., The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece, Penguin Books, The Bath Press - Avon, Great Britain, 1996
- http://books.google.com/books?id=yFoGAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA476&lpg=RA1-PA476&dq=battus+i+of+cyrene&source=web&ots=t0ry2lDq05&sig=de4r9u7WwS3ocdHqMZvG-z6ZZU4
- http://www.mediterranees.net/dictionnaires/smith/cyrene.html
- http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#47.1