Journal articles on the topic 'Ptolemaic queens'

Abstract Starting with the Macedonian and Seleucid queens and continuing with the line of sovereign queens during the last 150 years of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the paradigm of a royal woman wielding power and even ascending to the throne was known and accepted in Hellenistic society. The reign of Queen Alexandra, which represents the only (successful) case of female monarchal succession to the throne in Jewish society in Antiquity, was undoubtedly influenced by this Hellenistic tradition. Based upon an analysis of Josephus’s writings and other sources, along with a critical feminist historiographical approach, this paper investigates how Jewish and Hellenistic queens resembled and differed from one another in their roles and characteristics.

Summary The main function of Hellenistic queenship is increasingly understood as contributing to the definition of the basileus. The early Ptolemies produced the most peculiar version of the ‘sister queen’, known throughout the Near East as an ideological construct, but taken literally in Egypt from the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphos (285/282–246) and Arsinoe II Philadelphos (278/275–270), the ‘Sibling-Lovers’. The most famous example of a ‘virgin queen’ is Berenike, the daughter of Ptolemy III Euergetes and Berenike II, best known from the Kanopos Decree, which regulated her posthumous cult (238). Often understood as a merely honorary title for some or potentially all princesses in Alexandria, the basilissa title of unmarried girls has found little scholarly attention so far. Altogether, there are surprisingly few royal daughters for whom we have clear evidence: besides the aforesaid Berenike, her sister Arsinoe III (died 204) and previously Berenike (later known as Phernophoros, died 246), the daughter of the Philadelphoi. Claims that Arsinoe II or her sister Philotera had enjoyed the same status at the court of Ptolemy I Soter (323–282) cannot be substantiated, so that their basilissa titles should be explained by marriage with a king. The phenomenon of virgin queenship was thus of limited duration. It is best interpreted as a ramification of an emphatically endogamous royal dynasty: Ptolemy II and Ptolemy III pledged their most distinguished daughter to the future successor even before he had been chosen from among his brothers.

ABSTRACTThis paper explores a variety of evidence for relations between Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, and her Jewish subjects. In the first part of the paper, the focus is on the profoundly negative portrait of the queen in the works of Josephus, with particular attention to Cleopatra's alleged antipathy to Alexandrian Jews in Josephus's Against Apion. Analysis of Josephus's evidence confirms, I argue, that his case against the queen does not stand up. The second part of the paper offers a detailed consideration of other evidence, epigraphic and literary, which, I suggest, confirms a picture of the queen as continuing the policy of her predecessors with regard to the Jews of the Ptolemaic kingdom, by participating in the long-established practice of extending royal support and protection to Jewish proseuchai (places of prayer). While the evidence does not permit definitive conclusions, it suggests that Cleopatra looked to particular Jewish groups – as to others – within Egypt for support and in this, followed a path taken by Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III. Finally, a few details in Plutarch's Life of Antony may also suggest the queen's political and personal alliances with individual Jews, in Egypt and Judea.

Abstract This article aims to present an overall interpretation of a poem by Callimachus that centres on the dead Ptolemaic queen Arsinoe II. Firstly the position of the Ektheosis Arsinoes in Callimachus’ œuvre, the genre to which it belongs and its structure will be investigated. This leads to the analysis of the highly allusive character of the work (above all to Hesiod, Ibycus, Simonides and Pindar as well as to hymnic poetry). In addition, realia (the historical background) and textual difficulties arising from the fragmentary transmisson will also be treated. The appendix discusses a hitherto unnoticed testimony to the poem’s reception in the Roman epicist Ennius.

В работе приводится обзор ключевых проблем царского женского портрета у Селевкидов. Несмотря на то, что женщины царских династий играли важную политическую роль в системе международных отношений эллинистических государств, их изображения немногочисленны. Исключение составляет династия Птолемеев, где женский портрет был устойчивой практикой, зародившейся еще в начале III в. до н.э. Напротив, у Селевкидов женские портреты появляются гораздо позже. Вопреки устоявшемуся в историографии мнению, самым ранним женским царским портретом у Селевкидов стоит считать изображение царицы Лаодики, жены царя Антиоха III, известное по оттиску печати из Селевкии на Тигре. Анализ иконографического материала показывает, что птолемеевский женский портрет представляет собой скорее особый случай, связанный с устойчивой догреческой иконографической традицией. В системе царской идеологии Селевкидов женский портрет как элемент парного портрета царя и царицы выступал инструментом легитимации власти нового правителя. В середине II в. до н.э., ввиду усиления политического влияния Египта, в державе Селевкидов появляется новый вариант царского женского портрета, выстроенного по египетским иконографическим канонам. The survey provides an overview of the main problems of the royal Seleukid female portraiture. Despite the fact that the women of the Hellenistic royal dynasties played an important political role in the system of international relations of the Hellenistic kingdoms, their images are rare. The exception is the Ptolemaic dynasty, where the female portrait was a long-live practice that originated at the beginning of the III century BC. On the other hand, Seleukid female portraits appear much later. Contrary to the well-established opinion in historiography, the earliest Seleukid female royal portrait should be considered the image of queen Laodice, the wife of king Antiochus III, known from the seal impression from Seleucia on the Tigris. The analysis of the iconography shows that the Ptolemaic female portrait is rather an extraordinary case associated with a stable pre-Greek iconographic tradition. In the system of the Seleukid royal ideology, a female portrait as an element of a jugate portrait of a king and a queen used as an instrument of legitimizing the power of the new ruler. In the middle of the II BC, while political influence of Egypt increases, a new version of the royal female portrait, based on Egyptian iconographic canons, appears in the Seleukid empire.

The Whore of Babylon as a graphic scriptural image stirs the imaginations of contemporary readers and preachers of the New Testament Apocalypse. But how does one explain the dissonance between the book’s depiction of a powerful female prostitute living in luxury and the utter vulnerability of prostitutes at the time the book was written? The disconnect raises questions concerning the purpose and implications of such imagery. What aspects of culture, recent history or personal experience might the writer have drawn upon? This paper suggests important new connections to the figure of Cleopatra as an interpretive key. The Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, remembered as both leader and legend, provided important cultural memory behind the imagery used by the author of the book of Revelation. The power, threat and ultimate demise of Cleopatra made the imagery of the whore of Babylon particularly gripping at the end of the first century.

This article aims to present the institution of double guardianship of infant kings by pointing to the connection between appointment of more than one guardian and protection and upbringing of young monarchs. Multiple guardianship was an established practice in the setting of Greek poleis, which aimed at the protection of the ward’s person from untrustworthy guardians. In a royal context this institution emerged as a solution to the problems concerning Alexander’s succession after 323 BC. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that it was already known in Classical Macedonia in relation to the role of royal women, who acted as protectors of their children along with men who were appointed as regents. During the Hellenistic era double guardianship became very popular in the Ptolemaic kingdom. There it is connected with the loss of the queen mother, who could exercise guardianship for her royal son. Tutorship and guardianship were sometimes combined into one person, something that led influential tutors of young rulers to become the true administrators of the kingdom.

E tanulmány Kallimachos az elhunyt II. Arsinoé előtt tisztelgő költeményét elemzi. Először az Ektheósis Arsinoés a költői életműben elfoglalt helyét, a műfaj kérdéseit és a mű szerkezetét vizsgáljuk. Ez vezet át a versben fellelhető irodalmi allúziók értelmezéséhez (főként Hésiodos, Ibykos, Simónidés, Pindaros). Ezenfelül részletesen tárgyaljuk a történelmi hátteret és a töredékes hagyományból származó filológiai nehézségeket. A befejező rész a kallimachosi költemény utóéletét térképezi fel a görög és latin irodalomban.This article aims to present an overall interpretation of a poem by Callimachus on the dead Ptolemaic queen Arsinoe II. Firstly the position of the Ectheosis Arsinoes in Callimachus’ rnuvre, the genre to which it belongs and its structure will be investigated. This leads to the analysis of the highly allusive character of the work (above all to Hesiod, Ibycus, Simonides and Pindar as well as to hymnic poetry). In addition, realia (the historical background) and textual difficulties arising from the fragmentary transmission will also be treated. The conclusive part looks at the reception of Callimachus’ poem in later Greek and Latin poetry.

‘Lord Proteus: the saviour of the Hellenes, this watchman of Pharos, was built by Sostratos, son of Dexiphanes, a Cnidian. In Egypt there are no mountain-peaks, as in the islands: but low lies the breakwater where ships may harbour. Therefore this tower, cleaving the sky straight and upright, shines in the daytime countless leagues away: and all night long the sailor who runs with the waves shall see a great light blazing from its summit. And he may run even to the Bull's horn, and yet not miss the god of safety, O Proteus, whosoever sails this way.’So, in Denys Page's translation, runs the contemporary commemoration by Poseidippos of Pella of the Pharos of Alexandria, the lighthouse which formed one of the wonders of the ancient world. So too, choosing as a continuing theme the most striking monuments of the new Ptolemaic regime in Egypt, the same poet commemorated the temple of Arsinoe-Aphrodite on Cape Zephyrion, east of the city ‘midway between the beach of Pharos and the mouth of Canopos’, whence the lock of Queen Berenike was soon to disappear.

Cleopatra (69–30 B. C.) is the last of the sovereigns (51–30 B. C.) of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, that was ruling Egypt in the 4th–1st centuries B. C. As early as in the writings of the authors of Antiquity, she acquired fame as an irresistible and voluptuous beauty. But most of all she became famous for having courageously put an end to her life through a bite of a poisonous snake, as she hated to fall prey to the first Roman Emperor Octavian August (63 B. C. – 14 A. D.; since 31 B. C. — the individual ruler of the Roman State). The fate of the Egyptian Queen was inspiring many European creators of culture in different eras: at the dawn of Modern Times, during the epoch of Romanticism and in the 20th century. The great Arab-Muslim traveler, geographer, historian and belletrist al-Mas‘udi (d. 956) was informed about Cleopatra. He installed into his main surviving work “The Meadows of Gold and the Mines of Germs” the story of the death of the Royal Beauty, which bears a most tragic character. In the version of al-Mas‘udi justice is triumphant, as cruel August (Ughustus) suffers due punishment. While publishing the academic translation of the story about the death of the Egyptian Queen the author of the present lines hopes that it would be interesting both for the academic experts and for the general reader. As a supplement the translation of the life of Ughustus (Octavian August) is attached, which is made on the basis of the same source.

In this article, I will be focusing on the two artifacts that are now housed in the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria. These are two Hellenistic mosaic compositions from the Egyptian city Thmouis, which was located in Mendesian nome (GRMA №№ 21.739; 21.736). Both mosaics depict an armed woman in royal purple and surrounded by the elements of marine entourage. The modern researchers offer three options for identifying this woman: 1) the allegory of Alexandria; 2) Arsinoe II, the second wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus; 3) Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes. In the pages of this article, I offer several considerations and the arguments in favor of the identifying the woman from the mosaics of Thmouis as Berenice II. In particular, I assume the probability of the existence of a common denominator between Mendesian nome and the said queen. In my opinion, this common denominator was the production of the aromas. On the one hand, Mendesian nome was famous for making aromatic oils, that were known beyond Egypt. On the other hand, Berenice II showed a great interest in a perfume business. It was this interest that could be one of the reasons that prompted Ptolemy III to develop the southern coast of the Red Sea and to expand the Egyptian sphere of the influence beyond the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. As a result, Egypt gained access to a relatively cheap the vegetal raw materials, that were needed for the production of the perfume. The part of these raw materials, probably with the help of Berenice, could get to the Mendesean perfumers and, accordingly, helped to a improve the welfare of the nome. Thus, the woman represented in the sea mosaics, that were popular in Tmuis, must be Berenice II, as Mendesians associated the supply of cheap overseas aromatic substances with her name. In the same time, it is likely that a Mendesian interpretation of the plot of these mosaics differed significantly from the author's idea, that was related to the promotion of a Ptolemaic naval power.

Natural asphalt (or bitumen) deposits, oil seepage and liquid oil shows are widespread in the Middle East, especially in the Zagros mountains of Iran. Ancient people from northern Iraq, south–west Iran and the Dead Sea area extensively used this ubiquitous natural resource until the Neolithic period (7000 to 6000 BC). Evidence of earlier use has been recently documented in the Syrian desert near (Boëda et al. 1996) near El Kown, where bitumen–coated flint implements, dated to 40,000 BC (Mousterian period), have been unearthed. This discovery at least proves that bitumen was used by Neanderthal populations as hafting material to fix handles to their flint tools. Numerous testimonies, proving the importance of this petroleum–based material in Ancient civilizations, were brought to light by the excavations conducted in the Near East as of the beginning of the century. Bitumen remains show a wide range of uses that can be classified under several headings. First of all, bitumen was largely used in Mesopotamia and Elam as mortar in the construction of palaces (e.g. the Darius Palace in Susa), temples, ziggurats (e.g. the so–called ‘Tower of Babel’ in Babylon), terraces (e.g. the famous ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’) and exceptionally for roadway coating (e.g. the processional way of Babylon). Since the Neolithic, bitumen served to waterproof containers (baskets, earthenware jars, storage pits), wooden posts, palace grounds (e.g. in Mari and Haradum), reserves of lustral waters, bathrooms, palm roofs, etc. Mats, sarcophagi, coffins and jars, used for funeral practices, were often covered and sealed with bitumen. Reed and wood boats were also caulked with bitumen. Abundant lumps of bituminous mixtures used for that particular purpose have been found in storage rooms of houses at Ra's al–Junayz in Oman. Bitumen was also a widespread adhesive in antiquity and served to repair broken ceramics, fix eyes and horns on statues (e.g. at Tell al–Ubaid around 2500 BC). Beautiful decorations with stones, shells, mother of pearl, on palm trees, cups, ostrich eggs, musical instruments (e.g. the Queen's lyre) and other items, such as rings, jewellery and games, have been excavated from the Royal tombs in Ur. They are on view in the British Museum. With a special enigmatic material, commonly referred to as ‘bitumen mastic’, the inhabitants of Susa sculpted masterpieces of art which are today exhibited in the Louvre Museum in Paris. This unique collection is presented in a book by Connan and Deschesne (1996). Last, bitumen was also considered as a powerful remedy in medical practice, especially as a disinfectant and insecticide, and was used by the ancient Egyptians to prepare mixtures to embalm the corpses of their dead. Modern analytical techniques, currently applied in the field of petroleum geochemistry, have been adapted to the study of numerous archaeological bituminous mixtures found in excavations. More than 700 bituminous samples have been analysed during the last decade, using gas chromatography alone and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and isotopic chemistry (carbon and hydrogen mainly). These powerful tools, focused on the detailed analysis of biomarkers in hydrocarbon fractions, were calibrated on various well–known natural sources of bitumen in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Bahrain and Kuwait. These reference studies have made it possible to establish the origins of bitumen from numerous archaeological sites and to document the bitumen trade routes in the Middle East and the Arabo–Persian Gulf. Using a well–documented case history, Tell el ‘Oueili (5800 to 3500 BC) in South Mesopotamia, we will illustrate in this paper how these new molecular and isotopic tools can help us to recognize different sources of bitumen and to trace the ancient trade routes through time. These import routes were found to vary with major cultural and political changes in the area under study. A second example, referring to the prehistoric period, describes bitumen traces on flint implements, dated from Mousterian times. This discovery, from the Umm El Tlel excavations near El Kown in Syria, was reported in 1996 in Boëda et al . At that time, the origin of the bitumen had not been elucidated due to contamination problems. Last year, a ball of natural oil–stained sands, unearthed from the same archaeological layer, allowed us to determine the source of the bitumen used. This source is regional and located in the Jebel Bichri, nearly 40 km from the archaeological site. The last case history was selected to illustrate another aspect of the investigations carried out. Recent geochemical studies on more than 20 balms from Egyptian mummies from the Intermediate, Ptolemaic and Roman periods have revealed that these balms are composed of various mixtures of bitumen, conifer resins, grease and beeswax. Bitumen occurs with the other ingredients and the balms studied show a great variety of molecular compositions. Bitumen from the Dead Sea area is the most common source but some other sources (Hit in Iraq?) are also revealed by different molecular patterns. The absolute amount of bitumen in balms varies from almost zero to 30% per weight.

Marriages arranged to support political alliances between Hellenistic kingdoms were a symbol of peace between dynasties. These marriages were especially applied between the two important kingdoms of the Hellenistic world, the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties. With diplomatic marriages, the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms aimed to make the peace process permanent. In the peace text that will come into effect after the Second Syrian War (260-253 BC) between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, the marriage to be realized between these two dynasties was reflected in the text of the treaty and the Seleucid King II. Antiochos Theos and Ptolemaic Princess Berenike Phernophoros formalized their marriage in 252 BC. With the political marriages between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, the peace establishment was tried to be preserved and consolidated. Cleopatras of Ptolemaic origin took place in the Seleucid Dynasty and assumed an active role in the kingdom, with Cleopatra Thea as of 150 BC. The increasing dominance of Queen Cleopatra Thea with her attempts to gain political power in the Seleucid Kingdom showed that Cleopatras of Ptolemaic origin tried to be permanent and active. Cleopatra Trypheana, Cleopatra IV and Cleopatra V Selene, as Seleucid queens of Ptolemaic origin, entered into a struggle for existence with a series of political and social activities in the Seleucid Dynasty. In this study, the political existence struggles of the Ptolemaic origin Cleopatras in the Seleucid Kingdom were examined, and it was aimed to analyze the effects of these activities on the Seleucid Kingdom in line with ancient and modern sources.

Arsinoe II was a very powerful Egyptian queen who set the tone for future women in the Ptolemaic dynasty. Her individual agency allowed her to establish an image for herself encompassing militaristic leadership, her own religious cult, and involvement in internal and external affairs which solidified her as a rightful and divine ruler during the tumultuous Hellenistic era. Appealing to three different cultures, the Macedonians, the Greeks, and the Egyptians, Arsinoe II crafted aspects of her image that would legitimize her rule throughout a period of unrest as well as lay the foundation for the Ptolemaic dynasty alongside her brother-husband, Ptolemy II.