Arsinoe I

Arsinoe I (, 305 BC – after c. 248 BC) was queen of Egypt by marriage to Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Life Arsinoe I was the second daughter and youngest child born to King Lysimachus and Nicaea of Macedon. Her older siblings were Agathocles and Eurydice. Her ancestors were powerful—her paternal grandfather was Agathocles of Pella, a nobleman contemporary to King Philip II of Macedon. Her maternal grandfather was the Regent Antipater. Arsinoe I shared a name with her grandmother, though it is unknown whether it was the mother of Lysimachus or of Nicaea as both women remain unnamed in ancient sources. Little is known of her life prior to her marriage. Queen Between 289/88 and 281 BC, Arsinoe I married her distant maternal cousin, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The marriage was part of Ptolemy's alliance with her father against Seleucus I Nicator. Through her marriage, she became queen of the Ptolemaic kingdom. Together, she and Ptolemy had three children: Ptolemy III Euergetes, Lysimachus of Egypt, and Berenice. Between after 279-274/3 BC Ptolemy's sister, Arsinoe II Philadelphos, arrived in Egypt. Arsinoe II had married Lysimachus and was therefore both step-mother and sister-in-law to Arsinoe I. Following the death of Lysimachus, Arsinoe II had married her half-brother, Ptolemy Keraunos, but fled to Egypt following a dispute. Soon after Arsinoe II's arrival, charges of conspiracy to assassinate Ptolemy II were brought against Arsinoe I.