Arsinoe of Macedon

Arsinoe of Macedon (Ancient Greek: Ἀρσινόη; lived 4th century BC) was an ancient Macedonian noblewoman and the mother of Ptolemy I Soter (323 – 283 BC), king of Ptolemaic Egypt.

Arsinoe was of the Argead dynasty, and originally a concubine of Philip II, king of Macedon, and it is said she was given by Philip to Lagus, a Macedonian nobleman, while she was pregnant with Ptolemy I Soter, but it is possible that this is a later myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic Dynasty.[1] Alternately, Ptolemy's lineage to the Argead dynasty was found through his mother, Arsinoe, in this case Arsinoe is daughter of Meleager, who was a cousin of Amyntas III and son of Balacrus, son of Amyntas, son of Alexander I of Macedon. Contemporary and modern research concludes the latter claim much more valid than Philip II as Ptolemy’s father, now dismissed as a myth.[2][3][4][5][6]

  1. ^ Alexandre le Grand. Librairie Droz. 1962. p. 155. ISBN 9782600044141.
  2. ^ Carney, Elizabeth; Ogden, Daniel (2010-06-24). Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives. Oxford University Press. pp. 127–129. ISBN 9780199745517.
  3. ^ Stephens, Susan (January 2012). "Writing.Alexandria.as.the.(Common)place" (PDF). Princeton/Stanford.Working.Papers.in.Classics: 9.
  4. ^ Carleton, George Washington (1882). Carleton's Condensed Classical Dictionary: Being Brief But Succinct Information Concerning the Prominent Names in Classical History and Mythology, Together with the Most Conspicuous Incidents Associated with Them. G. W. Carleton & Company. p. 83. arsinoe daughter of meleager.
  5. ^ Worthington, Ian (2014-05-02). By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 312. ISBN 9780199929870.
  6. ^ Tarn, W. W. (1933). "Two Notes on Ptolemaic History". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 53 (1): 57–68. doi:10.2307/627247. ISSN 2041-4099. JSTOR 627247. S2CID 163238913.