Ptolemy II Philadelphus
309 BC - 246 BC
Egyptian King
| Relationship | People |
|---|---|
| Children | Ptolemy III Euergetes |
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309 BC–246 BC) was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BC to 246 BC. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos.
He began his reign as co-regent with his father Ptolemy I from ca. 290 BC–ca. 283 BC, and maintained a splendid court in Alexandria. Egypt was involved in several wars during his reign; his victories solidified the kingdom's position as the undisputed naval power in the eastern Mediterranean.
Ptolemy's first wife, Arsinoë I, daughter of Lysimachus, was the mother of his legitimate children. After her repudiation he married his full sister Arsinoë II, the widow of Lysimachus (an Egyptian custom) which brought him her Aegean possessions.
Ptolemy had many mistresses, and his court, magnificent and dissolute, intellectual and artificial, has been compared with the Versailles of Louis XIV.
