Archagathus of Libya
Encyclopedia
For others of this name see Archagathus (disambiguation)
Archagathus was a Syracusan Greek
Prince and was a Ptolemaic Official
.
and his name was a well-attested local Greek name in Sicily. He was the son born to Agathocles and his third wife Theoxena
and had a sister called Theoxena
.
His father Agathocles, was a Greek Tyrant of Syracuse, who later became King of Sicily. Archagathus had two paternal-half posthumous brothers: Archagathus
and Agathocles; one paternal half-sister Lanassa
who was the second wife of King Pyrrhus of Epirus
and a posthumous paternal half-nephew Archagathus
. He was the namesake of his posthumous brother, nephew and possibly his paternal grandfather.
His mother Theoxena was a Greek
Macedonian
noblewoman. She was the second daughter and third child born to the noblewoman Berenice I
and her first husband obscure nobleman Philip
. Archagathus’ biological maternal grandfather Philip, served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great and was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx
in Alexander’s wars. Archagathus’ maternal grandmother Berenice I, was the great-niece of the powerful Regent
Antipater
and she was a distant collateral relative to the Argead dynasty
. His full blooded maternal uncle was Magas of Cyrene
and his full-blooded maternal aunt was Antigone
.
His biological maternal grandfather Philip died about 318 BC. After his death, Berenice I travelled with her children to live in Egypt
, where she eventually married Ptolemy I Soter
the first Greek Pharaoh and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through his grandmother’s second marriage to Ptolemy I, Berenice I was an Egyptian Queen and the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty, thus his mother was a stepdaughter to Ptolemy I and became an Egyptian Princess. His maternal grandmother had with Ptolemy I three children; two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera
and the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus
. Arsinoe II, Philotera were his maternal half-aunts, while Ptolemy II was his maternal half-uncle.
.
in Libya
. He served under Ptolemy I Soter reigned 305 BC-283 BC; Ptolemy II Philadelphus reigned 283 BC-246 BC and even possibly under Magas when his served as Ptolemaic Governor, later as King of Cyrene in his reign 276 BC–250 BC.
He served as an Epistates in Cyrenaica
. As he governed a city in Cyrenaica, the city that he oversaw is unknown and the period of time of this is unknown.
According to surviving evidence, Archagathus was a person of high standing; who appeared to be a totally unknown private person and was loyal to his family in particular to his uncle Magas. We also learn from surviving evidence, Archagathus had a wife, a noblewoman of very high status called Stratonice
. There is no record of any children born to him.
Archagathus and Stratonice on a marble piece, made a dedication of a temenos to Isis and Serapis at Alexandria on behalf of his uncle Ptolemy II and his grandmother Berenice I. The record is dated from ca. 283 BC-278 BC and is on display in the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria. The inscription below translated in Greek and English reads:
Archagathus (disambiguation)
Archagathus was an ancient well-attested local Greek name in Sicily and can refer to:* Archagathus , a Syracusan Greek Prince and first son of Agathocles of Syracuse...
Archagathus was a Syracusan Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
Prince and was a Ptolemaic Official
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
.
Family Background
Archagathus was a man of Sicilian originSicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and his name was a well-attested local Greek name in Sicily. He was the son born to Agathocles and his third wife Theoxena
Theoxena of Syracuse
For others of this name see Theoxena Theoxena was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. Through her mother’s second marriage, she was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through marriage was a Queen of Sicily....
and had a sister called Theoxena
Theoxena of Egypt
For others of this name see Theoxena Theoxena, also known as Theoxena the Younger to distinguish her from her mother was a Syracusan Greek Princess and was a noblewoman of high status.-Family Background:...
.
His father Agathocles, was a Greek Tyrant of Syracuse, who later became King of Sicily. Archagathus had two paternal-half posthumous brothers: Archagathus
Archagathus (son of Agathocles of Syracuse)
For others of this name see Archagathus Archagathus was a Syracusan Greek Prince.Archagathus was a son of Agathocles of Syracuse and had a brother also called, Agathocles. His father was the Greek Tyrant of Syracuse who later became King of Sicily...
and Agathocles; one paternal half-sister Lanassa
Lanassa (wife of Pyrrhus)
Lanassa was a daughter of king Agathocles of Syracuse, Sicily, perhaps by his second wife Alcia. In 295 BC Agathocles married Lanassa to King Pyrrhus of Epirus. Agathocles himself escorted his daughter with his fleet to Epirus to her groom. Lanassa brought the island of Corcyra as dowry into the...
who was the second wife of King Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon . He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome...
and a posthumous paternal half-nephew Archagathus
Archagathus (grandson of Agathocles of Syracuse)
For others of this name see Archagathus Archagathus was a Syracusan Greek Prince.Archagathus was the son of Archagathus by unnamed wife, being a paternal grandson of the Sicilian Greek King Agathocles of Syracuse from his first wife....
. He was the namesake of his posthumous brother, nephew and possibly his paternal grandfather.
His mother Theoxena was a Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
Macedonian
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
noblewoman. She was the second daughter and third child born to the noblewoman Berenice I
Berenice I of Egypt
Berenice I was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman and through her marriage to Ptolemy I Soter, became the first Queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt.-Family:...
and her first husband obscure nobleman Philip
Philip (first husband of Berenice I of Egypt)
Philip was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.Philip was the son of Amyntas by an unnamed mother. He served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great. Philip was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx in Alexander’s wars and...
. Archagathus’ biological maternal grandfather Philip, served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great and was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx
Phalanx formation
The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
in Alexander’s wars. Archagathus’ maternal grandmother Berenice I, was the great-niece of the powerful Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
Antipater
Antipater
Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...
and she was a distant collateral relative to the Argead dynasty
Argead dynasty
The Argead dynasty was an ancient Greek royal house. They were the ruling dynasty of Macedonia from about 700 to 310 BC. Their tradition, as described in ancient Greek historiography, traced their origins to Argos, in southern Greece...
. His full blooded maternal uncle was Magas of Cyrene
Magas of Cyrene
Magas of Cyrene was a Greek Macedonian nobleman. Through his mother’s second marriage he was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He became King of Cyrenaica and he managed to wrestle independence for Cyrenaica from the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt.-Family Background & Early Life:Magas...
and his full-blooded maternal aunt was Antigone
Antigone of Epirus
Antigone was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. Through her mother’s second marriage was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through marriage was a Queen of Epirus....
.
His biological maternal grandfather Philip died about 318 BC. After his death, Berenice I travelled with her children to live in Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, where she eventually married Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter I , also known as Ptolemy Lagides, c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...
the first Greek Pharaoh and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through his grandmother’s second marriage to Ptolemy I, Berenice I was an Egyptian Queen and the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty, thus his mother was a stepdaughter to Ptolemy I and became an Egyptian Princess. His maternal grandmother had with Ptolemy I three children; two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera
Philotera
Philotera was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman and a Greek Egyptian Princess of the Ptolemaic dynasty.Philotera was a daughter born to Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I of Egypt. She had one older sister: Arsinoe II and a younger brother the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus...
and the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BCE to 246 BCE. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos...
. Arsinoe II, Philotera were his maternal half-aunts, while Ptolemy II was his maternal half-uncle.
Early Life
Archagathus was born between 301 BC-298 BC. Along with his sister they were born and raised in Sicily. When Agathocles felt his death was approaching, he had sent away Theoxena and their children to Egypt. Archagathus’ father died in 289 BC and his father declared his kingdom as a democracy on his death. Archagathus, his sister with their mother; spent their remaining youth in Egypt, possibly in the court living with Ptolemy I and Berenice I in AlexandriaAlexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
.
Remaining Life
Archagathus served in the Ptolemaic administration as an official as an EpistatesEpistates
An epistates in ancient Greece was any sort of superintendent or overseer. In Hellenistic kingdoms generally, an epistates is always connected with a subject district , where the epistates, a resident representative, exercised control and collected taxes on behalf of the king.-Military use:In...
in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
. He served under Ptolemy I Soter reigned 305 BC-283 BC; Ptolemy II Philadelphus reigned 283 BC-246 BC and even possibly under Magas when his served as Ptolemaic Governor, later as King of Cyrene in his reign 276 BC–250 BC.
He served as an Epistates in Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
. As he governed a city in Cyrenaica, the city that he oversaw is unknown and the period of time of this is unknown.
According to surviving evidence, Archagathus was a person of high standing; who appeared to be a totally unknown private person and was loyal to his family in particular to his uncle Magas. We also learn from surviving evidence, Archagathus had a wife, a noblewoman of very high status called Stratonice
Stratonice of Libya
For other persons with the same name, see StratoniceStratonice was a Greek noblewoman of very high status and was the wife of the Ptolemaic Official Archagathus of Libya.Stratonice is an unattested person and is only known through surviving evidence...
. There is no record of any children born to him.
Archagathus and Stratonice on a marble piece, made a dedication of a temenos to Isis and Serapis at Alexandria on behalf of his uncle Ptolemy II and his grandmother Berenice I. The record is dated from ca. 283 BC-278 BC and is on display in the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria. The inscription below translated in Greek and English reads:
- ὑπὲρ βασιλέως Πτολεμαίου
- τοῦ Πτολεμαίου καὶ Βερενίκης
- Σωτήρων Άρχάγαθος Άγαθοκλέους
- ὁ ἐπιστάτης τῆς Λιβύης
- καὶ ἡ γυνὴ Στρατονίκη
- Σαράπιδι Ἴσιδι τὸ τέμενος.
- King Ptolemy
- son of Ptolemy and Berenice
- the Saviours Archagathus son of Agathocles
- epistates of Libya
- and his wife Stratonice
- SerapisSerapisSerapis or Sarapis is a Graeco-Egyptian name of God. Serapis was devised during the 3rd century BC on the orders of Ptolemy I of Egypt as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm. The god was depicted as Greek in appearance, but with Egyptian trappings, and combined iconography...
, IsisIsisIsis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
of temenosTemenosTemenos is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct: The Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the ...
.
Sources
- Ancient Library article: Archagathus, No. 1 & 2
- Ancient Library article: Magas no.1
- Ancient Library article: Theoxena no. 1
- Ptolemaic Genealogy: Theoxena
- Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I
- Ptolemaic Genealogy: Stratonice
- Berenice I article at Livius.org
- Ptolemaic Dynasty - Affiliated Lines: Agathocles
- Ptolemaic Dynasty - Affiliated Lines: The Antipatrids
- R.S. Bagnall, Archagathos son of Agathocles, Epistates of Libya, Columbia University Department of Greek & Latin, New York, USA, 1976