Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ARSINOE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 655 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ARSINOE , the name of four See also:

Egyptian princesses of the Ptolemaic See also:dynasty. The name was introduced into the Ptolemaic dynasty by the See also:mother of See also:Ptolemy I. This Arsinoe was originally a See also:mistress of See also:Philip II. of Macedon, who presented her to a Macedonian soldier Loqus shortly before Ptolemy was See also:born. It was, therefore, assumed by the Macedonians that the Ptolemaic See also:house was really descended from Philip (see See also:PTOLEMIES). 1. Daughter of See also:Lysimachus, See also:king of See also:Thrace, first wife of Ptolemy II. Philadelphus (285–247 B.C.). Accused of conspiring against her See also:husband, who perhaps already contemplated See also:marriage with his See also:sister, also named Arsinoe, she was banished to See also:Coptos, in Upper See also:Egypt. Her son Ptolemy was afterwards king under the See also:title of Euergetes. It is supposed by some (e.g. See also:Niebuhr, Kleine Schriften; cf. Ehrlichs, De Callimachi hymnis) that she is to be identified with the Arsinoe who became wife of Magas, king of See also:Cyrene, and that she married him after her See also:exile to Coptos.

But this See also:

hypothesis is apparently without See also:foundation. Magas before his See also:death had betrothed his daughter See also:Berenice to the son of his See also:brother Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, but Arsinoe, disliking the projected See also:alliance, induced See also:Demetrius the See also:Fair, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, to accept the See also:throne of Cyrene as husband of Berenice. She herself, however, See also:fell in love with the See also:young See also:prince, and Berenice in revenge formed a See also:conspiracy, and, having slain Demetrius, married Ptolemy's son (see BERENICE, 3). 2. Daughter of Ptolemy I. See also:Soter and Berenice. Born about 316 B.c., she married Lysimachus, king of Thrace, who made over to her the territories of his divorced wife, Amastris. To secure the See also:succession for her own See also:children she brought about the See also:murder of her stepson See also:Agathocles. Lysandra, the wife of Agathocles, took See also:refuge with Seleucus, king of See also:Syria, who made See also:war upon Lysimachus and defeated him (281). After her husband's death Arsinoe fled to See also:Ephesus and afterwards to Cassandreia in See also:Macedonia. Seleucus, who had seized Lysimachus's See also:kingdom, was murdered in 281 by Ptolemy Ceraunus (See also:half-brother of Arsinoe), who thus became See also:master of Thrace and Macedonia.

To obtain See also:

possession of Cassandreia, he offered his See also:hand in marriage to Arsinoe, and being admitted into the See also:town, killed her two younger sons and banished her to See also:Samothrace. Escaping to Egypt, she became the wife of her full brother Ptolemy II., the first instance of the practice (afterwards See also:common) of the See also:Greek See also:kings of Egypt marrying their sisters. She was a woman of a masterful See also:character and won See also:great See also:influence. Her husband, though she See also:bore him no children, was devoted to her and paid her all possible See also:honour after her death in 271. He gave her name to a number of cities, and also to a See also:district (See also:nome) of Egypt.' It is related that he ordered the architect Dinochares to build a See also:temple in her honour in See also:Alexandria; in See also:order that her statue, made of See also:iron, might appear to be suspended in the See also:air, the roof was to consist of an See also:arch of loadstones (See also:Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 42). Coins were also struck, showing her crowned and veiled on the obverse, with a See also:double cornucopia on the See also:reverse. She was worshipped as a goddess under the title of Oea 006.60.ebos, and she and her husband as See also:Owl a&eXcboi (See also:Justin See also:xxiv. 2, 3; See also:Pausanias i. 7). See von Prott, Rhein.

Phoenix-squares

See also:

Mus. liii. (1898), pp. 46o f. 3. Daughter of Ptolemy III. Euergetes, sister and wife of Ptolemy IV. Philopator. She seems to be erroneously called ' The appendix to pt. ii. of the Tebtunis See also:series of papyri (Grenfell, See also:Hunt and Goodspeed, 1907) contains a lengthy See also:account of the See also:topography of the Arsinoite nome. See also:Eurydice by Justin (See also:xxx. 2), and See also:Cleopatra by See also:Livy (See also:xxvii. 4). Her presence greatly encouraged the troops at the See also:battle of Raphia (217), in which See also:Antiochus the Great was defeated.

Her husband put het to death to please his mistress Agathocleia, a Samian dancer (between 210 and 205). She was worshipped as Oea 4aXotrarwp; she and her husband as Owl 4tXo7raropes (See also:

Polybius v. 83, 84, xv. 25-33). 4. Youngest daughter of Ptolemy XIII. Auletes, and sister of the famous Cleopatra. During the See also:siege of Alexandria by See also:Julius See also:Caesar (48) she was recognized as See also:queen by the inhabitants, her brother, the young Ptolemy, being then held See also:captive by Caesar. Caesar took her with him to See also:Rome as a precaution. After Caesar's See also:triumph she was allowed to return to Alexandria. After the battle of See also:Philippi she was put to death at See also:Miletus (or in the temple of See also:Artemis at Ephesus) by order of See also:Mark Antony, at the See also:request of her sister Cleopatra (Dio See also:Cassius xlii. 39; Caesar, See also:Bell. civ. iii.

112; See also:

Appian, Bell. civ. v. 9).

End of Article: ARSINOE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ARSES (338-336)
[next]
ARSINOITHERIUM (so called from the Egyptian queen A...