Ptolemy Ceraunus
Ptolemy Ceraunus | |
---|---|
King of Macedon | |
Reign | 281 – 279 BC |
Predecessor | Lysimachus |
Successor | Meleager |
Born | ca. 319 BC[1] Alexandria |
Died | January/February 279 BC[1] |
Spouse | Unknown woman (possibly daughter of Lysimachus)[2] Arsinoe II of Egypt |
Greek | Πτολεμαῖος Κεραυνός |
House | Ptolemaic dynasty |
Father | Ptolemy I Soter |
Mother | Eurydice, daughter of Antipater |
Ptolemy Ceraunus (
Early life and departure from Egypt
Ptolemy was the eldest son of
Fall of Lysimachus and Seleucus
Following his departure from Egypt, Ptolemy Ceraunus went to the court of
Continued conflict within Lysimachus' court led to the execution of Agathocles in 282 BC. The course of events and Ptolemy Ceraunus' role in them is unclear. According to one historian,
In September 281 BC, Seleucus crossed the
King of Macedon
After assassinating Seleucus, Ceraunus rushed to Lysimachia where he had himself acclaimed king by the portion of Seleucus' army that was present there.[14][13] At this time he also formally relinquished his claim to the Egyptian throne.[15] A series of gold staters and silver tetradrachms minted at Lysimachia appear to belong to this period. They have the same design as earlier coinage of Lysimachus: the head of Alexander the Great with the horn of Ammon on the obverse and a depiction of Athena seated, holding up a Nike on the reverse. The legend of the coins reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ (of King Lysimachus) and the reverse includes two small symbols: a lion's head, which was the symbol of Lysimachus, and a tiny elephant. Since the elephant was the symbol of Seleucus, these coins have sometimes been connected with the short period of Seleucus' rule over the region between the battle of Corupedium and his assassination. However, Hollstein has argued that these were coins of Ptolemy Ceraunus, intended to present him as the legitimate heir of Lysimachus and in possession of a formidable force of elephants. The issue was very small; Ceraunus never issued coins in his own name.[16]
Antigonos Gonatas, whose father Demetrius I Poliorcetes had been king of Macedon from 294-288 BC, attempted to seize control of Macedon, but Ptolemy Ceraunus defeated him in a naval battle and confined him to the city of Demetrias, Thessaly.[17][12] A series of tetradrachms minted at Amphipolis (the main Macedonian mint), which feature a small Triton blowing a trumpet, have sometimes been associated with this victory, but this has been questioned, since they appear to have been minted a year after Ceraunus' death.[18]
Ptolemy Ceraunus also made an alliance with Pyrrhus of Epirus, who had controlled the western portion of Macedon from 288-284 BC, ending the threat of attack from him. The alliance freed Pyrrhus to invade Italy to fight against the Roman Republic in the Pyrrhic War. Justin reports that Ceraunus provided Pyrrhus with a large number of troops: 5,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 50 elephants, and says that the alliance was sealed by the marriage of a daughter of Ceraunus to Pyrrhus.[19] Some scholars have been sceptical of this report, suggesting that Justin has confused Ptolemy Ceraunus with Ptolemy II, since they doubt that Ceraunus could have spared such a large number of troops at this moment. The existence of the marriage is also disputed. If the daughter did exist, her subsequent fate is unknown.[20]
Arsinoe II, the widow of Lysimachus, had fled with her young sons after Lysimachus' defeat at Corupedium to Ephesus (which had been renamed Arsinoeia in her honour). The Ephesians rioted against her, forcing her to leave the city and sail to Macedon, where she took control of the city of Cassandreia.[12] Ptolemy Ceraunus entered into negotiations with Arsinoe II and proposed to marry her, even though she was his half-sister. She agreed on the condition that her young sons were kept safe. On their wedding day, however, Ptolemy Ceraunus murdered her two younger sons. Arsinoe fled to Samothrace and then to Egypt, where she would eventually marry Ptolemy II. Her eldest son, Ptolemy Epigonos fled north to the kingdom of the Dardanians.[21][22][15][23]
Ptolemy Ceraunus was next attacked by a son of Lysimachus and an Illyrian king called Monunius.[24] The son is not certainly identified by the surviving source, but Elizabeth D. Carney argues that it was Ptolemy Epigonos, the eldest son of Arsinoe by Lysimachus. Monunius may have been a king of the Dardanians who took him in after the murder of his younger brothers. This war seems to have occupied Ptolemy Ceraunus for most of 280 BC.[25]
Death
In January or February 279 BC, perhaps taking advantage of the ongoing conflict between Ptolemy Ceraunus and Ptolemy Epigonos, a group of
Marriages and issue
Ptolemy Ceraunus apparently had a daughter, who married Pyrrhus in late 281 or 280 BC. The existence of this marriage is disputed, but if it did take place, Ceraunus must have married her mother around 300-295 BC. Christopher Bennett proposes that she may have been a daughter of Lysimachus, with whom Ptolemy I contracted a number of marriage alliances in those years.[2]
Ptolemy agreed to marry Lysimachus' widow Arsinoe II, his own half-sister, in late 281 or early 280 BC, as part of a plot to seize the city of Cassandreia and murder her children. It is unclear whether the marriage was actually consummated, but Arsinoe fled Macedon immediately after the wedding.[22][15]
References
- ^ a b c d e Bennett, Chris. "Ptolemy Ceraunus". Ptolemaic Genealogy. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ a b c Bennett, Chris. "Unknown wife of Ptolemy Ceraunus". Egyptian Royal Genealogy. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- FGrH 434 F 1.5.6; Pausanias10.19.7.
- ^ The Ptolemies, Knopf Publisher, May 11, 2004, Duncan Sprott
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 24
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 24–25
- ^ Bennett, Chris. "Ptolemy I". Egyptian Royal Genealogy. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 35
- FGrH434 F 1.5.6-7.
- ^ Carney 2013, p. 53
- FGrH434 F 1.5.6.
- ^ a b c d Grainger 2010, p. 73
- ^ a b Hölbl (2001) p. 35.
- FGrH434 F 1.8.3.
- ^ a b c d Hölbl (2001) p. 36
- ^ Hollstein 1995
- FGrH 434 F 1.8.3; Justin24.1.8.
- ^ Hollstein 1995, p. 20
- ^ Justin 17.2, 24.1
- ^ Bennett, Chris. "Unknown daughter of Ptolemy Ceraunus". Egyptian Royal Genealogy. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ Justin 17.2.9, 24.2-3
- ^ a b Grainger 2010, p. 78
- ^ Carney 2013, pp. 50–63
- Pompeius Trogus, Prologues 24
- ^ a b Carney 2013, p. 63
- ^ Justin, XXIV, 4, 9-11.
- , Life of Pyrrhus 22.1.
- ^ a b Grainger 2010, p. 79
Bibliography
- Carney, Elizabeth Donnelly (2013). Arsinoe of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life. Oxford University Press. pp. 31–64. ISBN 978-0-19-971101-7.
- Grainger, John D. (2010). The Syrian Wars. pp. 281–328. ISBN 9789004180505.
- Hölbl, Gūnther (2001). A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-06-019439-0.
- Hollstein, W. (1995). "Münzen des Ptolemaios Keraunos". Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau. 74: 13–25.
External links
- Bennett, Chris. "Ptolemy Ceraunus". Ptolemaic Genealogy. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- Livius, Ptolemy Keraunos by Jona Lendering