Description
Book SynopsisThe life of Arsinoë II (c. 316-c.270 BCE), daughter of Ptolemy Soter, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, is characterized by dynastic intrigue. Her marriage to her full brother Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, was the first of the sibling marriages that became the dynastic signature of the Ptolemies. With Ptolemy II, she ended her days in great wealth and security and was ultimately deified. However, in order to reach that point she was forced to endure two tumultuous marriages, both of which led her to flee for her life, leaving war, murder, and bloodshed in her wake. Throughout much of her life, Arsinoë controlled great wealth and exercised political influence, but domestic stability characterized only her last few years. Arsinoë was the model for the powerful role Ptolemaic women gradually acquired as co-rulers of their empire. Her image continued to play a role in dynastic loyalty and solidarity for centuries to come. Despite the fact that Arsinoë was the pivotal figure in the eventua
Trade ReviewThe Hellenistic Age continues to fascinate. One of the latest, and best, books it's stimulated is Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon A Royal Life, by that fine fistorian Elizabeth Donnelly Carney... Parsing the propaganda, skilfully plugging the gaps in our tattered evidence, as compulsively readable as she's critically sharp, Carney offers us a work of high scholarship that's also a compulsive page-turner. * Peter Green, The Times Literary Supplement *
An interesting and enriching book. * Jean Bartels, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations ; Timeline ; Genealogical Tables ; Map of Eastern Mediterranean ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Arsinoe's background and youth: 318-14-300 ; Chapter 2: Arsinoe as the wife of Lysimachus: c.300-281 ; Chapter 3: Arsinoe and Ptolemy Ceraunus: 281-279-6 ; Chapter 4: Arsinoe's return to Egypt and marriage to Ptolemy II: 279-275 ; Chapter 5: Arsinoe II as wife of Ptolemy II: c. 275-270 (268) ; Chapter 6: Arsinoe's Afterlife ; Appendix: Sources on the life of Arsinoe II ; Notes ; Glossary ; Important People in the life of Arsinoe II ; Bibliography ; Index
