Ladice (Cyrenaean princess)

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Ladice or Ladice of Cyrene (

Battiad dynasty. She married the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amasis II
. When Amasis died in 526 BC, she returned from Egypt back to Cyrene.

Family

Ladice was the daughter of the fifth Greek Cyrenaean king

Pheretima. Her brother would be the future sixth Greek Cyrenaean king Arcesilaus III. Although her maternal grandparents are unknown, her paternal grandparents were the fourth Greek Cyrenaean king Arcesilaus II and Greek Cyrenaean queen Eryxo
. Although her father is considered to have been Battus III, Herodotus suggests that from other accounts her father could have been Arcesilaus II or Critobulus, one of the leading Greek Cyrenaean citizens. She was born and raised in Cyrene.

Marriage

After 548 BC, she married pharaoh Amasis II as his fourth wife.

Before Ladice's marriage with Amasis took place, her father made an alliance with the pharaoh to protect Cyrenaica from the local Libyan population and its aristocracy. Amasis, as a token of his goodwill and friendship with Battus, wanted to marry a Greek woman from Cyrenaica and Battus allowed him to select any woman whom he wanted to marry. Amasis chose Battus' daughter Ladice. Ladice and Amasis married in Cyrene.

When Ladice married Amasis, she became a member of the

Mediterranean
.

According to

Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. If Aphrodite could save her life and her marriage, she would dedicate a statue to her in Cyrene. The goddess answered her prayer and her marriage was consummated and the pharaoh fell deeply in love with her.[1]
Amasis withdrew his accusation against Ladice. Ladice ordered a statue to be made in the image of Aphrodite and she sent the statue to Cyrene, where it was placed looking outward from the city. The statue was still there in the time of Herodotus.

Stepsons

It is unknown whether Ladice and Amasis had any children. However, through her marriage to the pharaoh, Ladice had two stepsons as Amasis had two sons, a child each from his first and third wives. These sons were prince Amose and his younger half brother, the son of queen Tentkheta, who later became the last pharaoh of the dynasty, Psamtik III.

Return to Cyrene

When Amasis died in 526 BC, Psamtik III became pharaoh and ruled until 525 BC, when king

Cambyses II of Persia
conquered Egypt. When Cambyses discovered who Ladice was, he sent her safely from Egypt back to Cyrene. After her return to Cyrene, no more is known about Ladice.

See also

  • List of Kings of Cyrene

Sources

  1. ^ Montaigne, de, Michel. "20". In William Carew Hazlitt (ed.). The Essays of Michel de Montaigne. Translated by Charles Cotton. The University of Adelaide. Archived from the original on 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
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