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Case file s1336 · Egypt and Africa · 269 BCE
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269 BCE
Arsinoe II: ArsinoeII
Arsinoe II. PHGCOM. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
July 269 BC (Arsinoe II)
Place
Cassandreia (Kassandreia, Greece) and Alexandria, Egypt
Field
Monarchy · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Macedonian and Ptolemaic royal succession; sibling marriage · Royal and church law
Historical event
The wars of Alexander's successors
Egypt and AfricaBrothers and sisters in courtMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldMiddle EastEuropeEgyptPtolemaic dynasty

Arsinoe II married her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos to protect her sons, he had two of them killed in her arms, and she then married her full brother

Ptolemy I passed over his eldest son, Ptolemy Keraunos, son of Eurydice, and around 285 BC made the younger Ptolemy II, son of Berenice, his heir. Keraunos left Egypt. His half-sister Arsinoe, a daughter of Ptolemy I and Berenice, had married the old King Lysimachus of Thrace in 300 BC. Wanting the succession for her own sons, she worked against her stepson Agathocles, the heir, and he was put to death in 284 BC. The war that followed killed Lysimachus in 281 BC. Keraunos murdered Seleucus in 280 BC and took Macedonia. Arsinoe held the city of Cassandreia with her sons. Keraunos asked to marry her. Justin writes that he swore before the gods that he sought the marriage in sincerity, and that her son Lysimachus warned of treachery. Keraunos crowned her queen. When he reached Cassandreia, her sons Lysimachus, 16, and Philip, about 13, came out in crowns to meet him. He seized the citadel and had them killed. Justin says they died in their mother's arms. Her eldest son, Ptolemy, escaped. She was driven out to Samothrace. Keraunos was killed by invading Gauls within about 17 months of taking power. Arsinoe went to Alexandria and married her full brother Ptolemy II, a match unheard of among Greeks. His first wife was accused of plotting against him and sent to Coptos. Arsinoe took the name Philadelphus and died in July 269 BC, and she was deified.

What the law took from it

A marriage made to protect children's inheritance gives the new spouse access to the children.

Record vs. record

Justin and Smith's Dictionary say two sons were killed ( Bevan writes of one murdered child (

maryjones.uscts.perseids.orgUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius
Sources
  1. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  2. maryjones.usPress
  3. cts.perseids.orgPress
  4. fgh.perseids.orgPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Arsinoe II married her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos to protect her sons, he had two of them killed in her arms, and she then married her full brother,” story s1336, https://www.celebrity.estate/arsinoe-ii-269-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Egypt and AfricaBrothers and sisters in courtMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldMiddle EastEuropeRoyal and church lawEgyptPtolemaic dynasty