Arsinoë II  [316 - 270 BCE]

daughter of Ptolemy I Soter & Berenice I
third wife of Lysimachus
second wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ambitious oldest child of the founder of Egypt's Macedonian dynasty, Arsinoë played a pivotal role in the power politics that shaped western portions of the empire that had been divided among the generals of Alexander the Great.  At age 16 her father married her to Lysimachus, who had recently gained control of most of Asia Minor (300 BCE). Her new husband gave her three cities & renamed Ephesus after her.  She in turn bore him three sons. Not content with symbolic honors, Arsinoë schemed to secure her own children's inheritance at the expense of Lysimachus' children by earlier marriages. Her accusation that the heir apparent was plotting to murder his father convinced the old king to execute his oldest son, Agathocles (282 BCE). Instead of insuring her sons their father's kingdom, within a year the political backlash from this scandal led directly to Lysimachus death & Seleucus' conquest of his kingdom (281 BCE).

Though she had lost one power base, Arsinoë was not defeated. For she not only found refuge with her brother (Ptolemy II), she convinced him to divorce his wife -- her dead husband's daughter, also named Arsinoë -- and make her his wife & co-ruler. This began the tradition in the house of Ptolemy of marriages between sibling co-rulers which lasted till the end of the dynasty. Yet, it is an irony of history that, for all of Arsinoë's scheming, it was not her children but the son of her disgraced rival who inherited the throne of Egypt.

References: Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.7.1, 3; 8.6.

Other resources on line:

Gold ochtadrachma minted in Alexandria ca. 250 BCE with profile of Arsinoë II on the face and double cornucopia on the reverse.  The Greek inscription reads: Arsinoes Philadelphou ["of Arsinoe Philadelphus"]. For high resolution images of this and other coins of Arsinoë II see Ancient Coinage of Egypt, Arsinoe II  in David Surber's excellent ancient coins website: Wildwinds. 

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