ptolemy1

Lagos married Arsinoē, reputedly a distant relative of the Macedonian royal family, and had issue:

• 1) Ptolemaios I Sōtēr, Pharaoh & King of Egypt (see below)

• 2) Menelaos. A Ptolemaic general during the Third Diadoch War,King of Salamis in Cyprus from 311 and involved in the re-conquest of that island from Antigonos Monophthalamos in 309. He governed it until 307, when he was driven out by the forces of Antigonos. He was Priest of Alexander the Great, highest priest in the land, in the 280’s.

• 3) Meleagros, proclaimed King of Makedon in 279 after the death of his nephew in battle against the Gauls, he was removed a few days later by Antipatros II (Who himself lasted only forty-five days).

323 – 283 Ptolemaios I Sōtēr ("the Saviour"), Pharaoh & King of Egypt.

Born in 367, he was a close friend and, according to his propaganda, a bastard brother of Alexander the Great. He participated in his conquest of Persia, particularly that of India and would later write a history of his life and conquests. After Alexander’s death in 323, Alexander’s generals divided the Empire among themselves; Ptolemaios became Governor of Egypt, which welcomed him with open arms. He added Cyrenaica to his realm in 322 and hijacked Alexander’s funeral bier en route to Makedon, burying him instead at Alexandria.

This was the first sign of a growing hostility to the nominal ruler of the whole empire, the Macedonian Regent in Babylon, Perdikkas, who set off the First Diadoch War when he invaded in 322, but was killed by his own men after botching a Nile crossing. Ptolemy seized Phoenicia and Coele-Syria in 319, during the Second Diadoch War, which eventually brought him into conflict with Antigonos Monophthalamos, who ruled Anatolia and was expanding south. In the Third Diadoch War he conquered Cyprus in 313, defeated Antogonos’ son at Gaza in 312 and restored Seleukos, Satrap of Babylon to power, before making peace in the face of a massive invasion force. In this brief peace, he moved his capital from the inland, traditional Egyptian capital of Memphis to the new Greek city of Alexandria-by-Egypt, on the Mediterranean coast, where he founded the Great Library of Alexandria. He also founded a Greek city, Ptolemais Hermaiou (modern Al-Masnah) in southern Egypt. At the beginning of the Fourth Diadoch War in 309 Ptolemaios took Lycia and Kos from Antigonos. In 308 he went further, taking Corinth and Sikyon in Mainland Greece (both were lost in 303). In 307 Ptolemaios mimicked the other Diadochi and proclaimed himself a King; he was crowned as Pharaoh in 304. He faced an invasion by Antigonos in 305, but it was forced to turn back by adverse weather and the conflict shifted to Rhodes, which Ptolemaios supported against the besieging forces of Antigonos; for this the Rhodians subsequently honoured him as a god. He continued to wage rather unsuccessful war against Antigonos, until 301 when the latter was defeated, once and for all, by the forces of Seleukos.

Despite taking no part in the victory, Ptolemaios insisted on seizing Coele-Syria as the spoils; Seleukos chose not to challenge this by force, but his successors would. Ptolemaios spent the 290s at war with Macedon, seizing its overseas possessions: Tyre, Sidon, Caria and Lycia. He also became protector of the Island League of the Aegean, which honoured him as a god in exchange. He invented the god Serapis, a fusion of Osiris, Apis, Zeus and Dionysos and built a temple for him in Alexandria; he also initiated a cult religion in honour of Alexander the Great, which closely associated the world conqueror with Ptolemaios. Ptolemaios was a Macedonian, spoke only Greek, gave Greeks a privileged position in his empire, and ruled from Alexandria (theoretically outside ‘Egypt’) but he presented himself to his Egyptian subjects as a traditional Egyptian Pharaoh, even taking an Egyptian name; this presentation as a member of both cultures would be followed by all his descendants and was the key to his kingdom’s endurance. He made his son co-ruler with him in 285 and died in 283. He was deified alone in the 210s as Theos Ptolemaios.

He married (first) Thaïs, a courtesan, who accompanied him during Alexander the Great’s war in Persia; famously she provoked the drunken conqueror to burn down Persepolis, capital of the Persian Empire in 330. He married (second) at the instigation of Alexander the Great, a Persian, Artakama, daughter of Artabazos, whom he repudiated or neglected after Alexander’s death. He married (third) Eurydikē, daughter of Antipatros I, Regent of Makedon (336 – 320) and of Alexander’s whole empire (320 – 319). He married (fourth) Berenikē I, a cousin of Eurydikē and one of her ladies-in-waiting, whom he had conceived a passion for; by late in his reign she was a power behind the throne and her son succeeded as King, she died in 279; she and her husband were deified as Theoi Sōtēres (The Saviour Gods). Several cities were founded in her name, including: Berenikē Troglodutikē (Medinah al-Haras), Berenikē Panchrusos, Aqaba/Eilat and Benghazi. He took as a concubine Lamia.

• 1) Lagos, who won a chariot race in Arcadia in 308/307 (son of Thaïs)

• 2) Leontiskos (son of Thaïs)

• 3) Ptolemaios Keraunos (son of Eurydikē). Called Keraunos ("the thunderbolt") “on account of his wickedness and craziness.” He was passed over for the throne of Egypt in favour of his younger half-brother and fled the country. He fought with Seleukos I during his war against the King of Thrace in 282, and, at the successful conclusion of that campaign assassinated Seleukos I. He then married his half-sister, Arsinoē II, the King of Thrace’s widow, killing her children by Lysimachos shortly afterwards. He was Regent of Epirus in 281, while the King was in Italy attacking the Romans, and used that position to become King of Makedon from 280 (with opposition) until he was killed in battle against the invading Gauls in 279. He had issue:

  • a) A daughter, who married Pyrrhus I, King of Epirus (306 – 272), who famously invaded Roman Italy and, because of several very costly victories there, is originator of the term ‘Pyrrhic victory.’

• 4) A son of Eurydikē who was executed by Ptolemaios II, for stirring up rebellion in Cyprus.

• 5) Meleagros (son of Eurydikē)

• 6) Ptolemaios II Philadelphos, Pharaoh & King of Egypt (son of Berenikē ) (see below)

• 7) Argaios, who was executed by Ptolemaios II after 276, for plotting against him.

• 1) Eirēnē (daughter of Thaïs), she married Eunostos, King of Soloi on Cyprus

• 2) Ptolemais (daughter of Eurydikē), who married Dēmētrios I Poliorketēs ("the Beseiger") son of Antigonos Monophthalamos, who had ruled Anatolia as the most powerful successor of Alexander until 301. Dēmētrios I spent his life alternately on the run and in great power; he was King of Macedon from 294 – 288, was dislodged and invaded Anatolia, but his troops deserted him. He died in Seleukid captivity in 283.

  • a) Dēmētrios Kalos "the Beautiful." He married (first) Olympias, daughter of Polyklitos of Thessaly. He briefly married (second) Berenikē II, Queen of Cyrenaica, in 249, only to be killed by her for having an affair with her mother. He had issue:

    • i) Antigonos III Dōsōn "He Who Will Give [presumably referring to his throne]" who became King of Makedon in 229, when his cousin Dēmētrios II Aitōlikos died in battle, leaving an infant heir, Philippos V. Initially just a Regent, he was soon prevailed upon to marry Philippos V’s mother Chryseis and take the throne. He died in 221 and was succeeded by Philippos. He had issue:

      • (1) Several children by Chryseis, whom Antigonos III had killed at birth so that they would not grow up to be rivals to his cousin, step-son and ward, Philippos V

• 3) Lysandra (daughter of Eurydikē). She married (first) Alexandros V, King of Makedon from 297 to 294, the son of King Kassandros, who was killed by Dēmētrios I Poliorketēs, son of Antigonos Monophthalamos in 294. She married (second) in 293, Agathoklēs, son of King Lysimachos of Thrace, who was murdered by his own father in 283. She had issue.

• 4) Theoxenē, possibly a step-daughter, who married Agathoklēs, King of Syracuse.

• 5) Arsinoē II (daughter of Berenikē), Born around 316, she married (first), in 299, Lysimachos, King of Thrace, a Thessalian who had entered the Macedonian court in the reign of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great; after Alexander’s death in 323 he became Satrap of Thrace (King from 306) and was a major contender during the wars to determine his successor, especially those with Anigonos, who ruled Anatolia and interfered in the Kingdom of Macedonia following the death of Kassadros in 297, during which time he briefly became King of Macedon; he died fighting Seleukos I at the Battle of Kouropedion, in 281 aged 70 or 80. In 281 she married (second) her brother, Ptolemaios Keraunos, King of Makedon (see above). She married (third) in 279, her brother, Ptolemaios II Philadelphios, King of Egypt (see below). She was Priestess of the Ram of Mendēs; was worshipped alone as Thea Philadelphos (the brother-loving goddess), a goddess of sailors, and with her husband as the Theoi Adelphoi (the sibling gods). Several cities were founded in her honour, including: Polis in Cyprus, Patara, Suez, Tocra in Libya. She died in 270, but had issue:

  • a) Ptolemaios tou Telmēssou, born shortly after 299, he became Lord of Telmēssos in Southern Asia Minor, under Egyptian authority. He had issue, who continued to rule Telmessos until it was conquered by the Seleukids in 198. (son of Lysimachos)

    • i) Berenikē, appointed as Chief-Priestess of Seleukid Queen Laodike II according to OGIS 224.

  • b) Lysimachos born in 298 and killed on his mother’s lap by his uncle Ptolemaios Keraunos in 281 (son of Lysimachos).

    • c) Philippos born in 295 killed along with his brother in 281 (son of Lysimachos).

• 6) Philotera (daughter of Berenikē). She died before 270 and was deified in the 260s. The city of was founded in her honour, near modern Safaga, Egypt. Others were founded in Judaea and Cilicia.