7/17/13 Arsinoe I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arsinoe I From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arsinoe I (Greek: Αρσινόη Α’, 305 BC[1]-after c.248 BC[2]) 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 from his first wife the Queen consort, Nicaea of Macedon.[3][4] Arsinoe I had two older siblings: a brother called Agathocles and a sister called Eurydice.[5][6]

Her paternal grandfather was Agathocles of Pella[7] 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 .[8] Arsinoe I was named in honor of an unnamed grandmother,[9] who may have been the mother of Lysimachus or the mother of Nicaea whose both names of these women are unknown.[10] Little is known on her life prior to her marrying.

Arsinoe I between 289/288-[11] 281 BC,[12] became the first wife of Ptolemaic Greek Egyptian 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 .[13]

Arsinoe I through marriage was a Queen Regnant of the . Arsinoe I bore Ptolemy II three children; two sons: Ptolemy III Euergetes, Lysimachus of Egypt and a daughter called Berenice.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16] 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,[17] 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.[18]

A surviving Stele has been found at Coptos which refers to Arsinoe I.[19] The Stele is of Senu-sher, a steward of Arsinoe I and the Stele is assigned to Arsinoe I’s exile.[20] 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.[21] Another piece of surviving evidence connected to Arsinoe I, is a Phoenician inscription found at Lapithos, Cyprus,[22] 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’,[23] 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.[24] References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsinoe_I 1/3 7/17/13 Arsinoe I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 4 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 2. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 10 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 3. ^ Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, p.569 4. ^ Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.175 5. ^ Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, p.569 6. ^ Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.175 7. ^ Lysimachus’ article at Livius.org (http://www.livius.org/lu-lz/lysimachus/lysimachus.html) 8. ^ Lightman, A to Z of ancient Greek and Roman women, p.233 9. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 3 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 10. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 10 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 11. ^ Lightman, A to Z of ancient Greek and Roman women, p.43 12. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 13. ^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36359/Arsinoe-I) 14. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 7 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 15. ^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36359/Arsinoe-I) 16. ^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36359/Arsinoe-I) 17. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Theoxena, Footnote 6 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/theoxena.htm) 18. ^ Lightman, A to Z of ancient Greek and Roman women, p.43 19. ^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36359/Arsinoe-I) 20. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 8 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 21. ^ Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36359/Arsinoe-I) 22. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 9 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 23. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 9 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) 24. ^ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 9 (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) Sources

Hermann Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, C.H.Beck, 1977 Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm) Britannica Online Encyclopedia – Arsinoe I (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36359/Arsinoe-I) Ptolemaic Genealogy: Theoxena (http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/theoxena.htm) Lysimachus’ article at Livius.org (http://www.livius.org/lu-lz/lysimachus/lysimachus.html) Waldemar 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 External links

Coinage of Arsinoe I

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