Arsinoe
- Arsinoa, mother of the third Mercury, Cic. N. D. 3, 22, 57.—
- II Arsinoë, daughter of Ptolemy Lagus and Berenice, wife of king Lysimachus, afterwards of her brother Ptolemy Philadelphus, Just. 17, 1; 17, 2; 24, 2.
- —Hence, Arsĭnŏēum, i, n., the monument erected to her by the latter, Plin. 36, 9, 14, § 68.—
- III A daughter of Lysimachus, the first wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus; after her death worshipped as Venus Zephyritis, Plin. 34, 14, 42, § 148.—
- IV A daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, sister of Cleopatra, Auct. B. Alex. 4 and 33; Luc. 10, 521.—
- V One of the Hyades, Hyg. Fab. 182.—
- VI The name of several towns,
- A In Lower Egypt, Plin. 5, 9, 11, § 61.—
- B In Cyrenaica, Mel. 1, 8, 2; 3, 8, 7; Plin. 1, c.—
- C In Cilicia, Plin. 5, 27, 22, § 92.
- —Hence, Arsĭnŏē-tĭcus, a, um, adj., of or pertaining to Ar-sinoe: aqua, Plin. 36, 22, 47, § 165.—
- D A town on the north side of Cyprus, Plin. 5, 31, 35, § 130.
ARSI´NOE(Ἀρσινόη, Strab. p. 804; Plin. Nat. 5.11. s. 12, 6.29. s. 33; Steph. B. p. 126; Mart. Capell. 6.677 : Eth. Ἀρσινοΐτης, or Ἀρσινοεύς), the name of several cities which derived their appellation from Arsinoe, the favourite sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus,who erected or extended and beautified them, and dedicated them to her honour or memory. Their erection or improvement consequently dates between B.C. 284--246. Each of these cities apparently occupied the site of, or included, previously existing towns.
1.A city at the northern extremity of the Heroopolite gulf, in the Red Sea. It was the capital of the Heroopolite nome, and one of the principal harbours belonging to Egypt. It appears to have been also denominated Cleopatris (Strab. p. 780) and Arsinoites (Plin. Nat. 5.9.9; Orelli, Inscr. 516). It is also conjectured to have stood on the site of the ancient Pihachiroth ( Exod. 12.2, 9; Numb. 33.7; Winer, Biblioth. Realwörterb. 2. p. 309). The modern Ardscherúd, a village near Suez, corresponds to this Arsinoe. It was seated near the eastern termination of the Royal canal which communicated with the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, and which Ptolemy Philadelphus carried on from the Bitter Lakes to the head of the Heroopolite bay. Arsinoe (Plin. Nat. 5.12) was 125 miles from Pelusium. The revenues of the Arsinoite nome were presented by that monarch to his sister, and remained the property of successive queens or princesses of the Lagid family. The shortness of the road across the eastern desert and its position near the canal were the principal advantages of Arsinoe as a staple of trade. But although it possessed a capacious bay, it was exposed to the south wind, and the difficulties which ships encountered from reefs in working up the gulf were considerable. Arsinoe, accordingly, was less eligibly situated for the Indian traffic than either Myos Hormos or Berenice. In common, however, with other ports on the Red Sea Arsinoe improved in its commerce after the conquest of Egypt by the Romans. One hundred and twenty vessels annually sailed from Egyptian havens to bring from western India silk, precious stones, and aromatics (Gibbon, D. and F. ch. vi).
2.In the Heptanomis, was the capital of the nome Arsinoites, and was seated on the western bank of the Nile, between the river and the Lake Moeris, south-west of Memphis, in lat. 29° N. In the Pharaonic era Arsinoe was denominated the city of Crocodiles (Κροκοδείλων πόλις), from the peculiar reverence paid by its inhabitants to that animal. The region in which Arsinoe stood--the modern El-Fyoom--was the most fertile in Egypt. Besides corn and the usual cereals and vegetables of the Nile valley, it abounded in dates, figs, roses, and its vineyards and gardens rivalled those in the vicinity of Alexandria. Here too alone the olive repaid cultivation.
The Arsinoite nome was bounded to the west by the Lake Moeris ( Berket el kerûn) watered by the Canal of Joseph ( Bahr Jusuf), and contained, besides various pyramids, the necropolis of the city of Crocodiles, the celebrated labyrinth, which together with the Lake are described under Moeris. Extensive mounds of ruins at Medinet-el-Fyoom, or el-Faresrepresent the site of Arsinoe, but no remains of any remarkable antiquity, except a few sculptured blocks, have hitherto been found there. In the later periods of the Roman empire Arsinoe was annexed to the department of Arcadia, and became the chief town of an episcopal see. (Strab. 17. p. 809, seq.; Hdt. 2.48; Diod. 1.89; Aelian. H. A. 10.24; Plin. Nat. 5.9. s. 11, 36.16; Mart. Capell. 6.4 ; Belzoni's Travels, vol. 2. p. 162 ; Champollion, l'Egypte, vol. 1. p. 323, seq.)
3.A city in the Regio Troglodytica upon the western coast of the Red Sea between Philoteras ( Kosseir) and Myos Hormos. (Strab. 16. p. 769.) It was previously called Olbia (Steph. B. s. v. Ἀρσινόη). According to Agatharchides ( de Rub. Mar. p. 53), there were hot; springs in its neighbourhood. Arsinoe stood nearly at the point where the limestone range of the Arabian hills joins the Mons Porphyrites, and at the southern entrance of the Heroopolite Gulf.
4.A city in Aethiopia, north of Dire Berenices, and near the entrance of the Red Sea ( Bab-el-Mandeb). (Strab. 16. p. 773; Mela, 3.8; Plin. Nat. 6.34; Ptol. 4.5.14.) [W.B.D]
5.A town of Crete assigned to Lyctus. (Steph. B.) Berkelius (ad loc.) supposes that an error had crept into the text, and that for Λύκτουwe should read Λυκίας.
Its existence has been confirmed by some coins with the types and emblems peculiar to the Cretan mints. (Eckhel, vol. 2. p. 304.)
6.A town in the E. of Cyprus, near the promontory of Acamas (Strab. 14. p. 682; Ptol. 5.14.4), formerly called Marion (ΜάριονSteph. B. s. v.;comp. Scylax, s. v. Cyprus). Ptolemy Soter destroyed this town, and removed the inhabitants to Paphos (Diod. 19.89). For coins of Marion see Eckhel, vol. 3. p. 86. The name of Arsinoe was given to it in honour of the Aegyptian princess of that name, the wife and sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Hierocles and Const. Porphyr. ( Them. 1.15) place it between Paphos and Soloi. The modern name is Πολικρυσοκοor Χρισοπηου, from the gold mines in the neighbourhood. According to Strabo (l. c.) there was a grove sacred to Zeus. Cyprus, from its subjection to the kings of the Lagid family, had more than one city of this name, which was common to several princesses of that house.
Another Arsinoe is placed near Ammochostus to the N. of the island (Strab. p. 683). A third city of the same name appears in Strabo (1. c.), with a harbour, temple, and grove, and lies between Old and New Paphos. The ancient name survives in the present Arschelia(D'Anville, Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscrip. vol. xxxii. pp. 537, 545, 551, 554; Engel, Kypros, vol. i. pp. 73, 97, 137; Marati, Viaggivol. 1. p. 200). [E.B.J]
7.One of the five cities of the Libyan Pentapolis in Cyrenaïca: so called under the Ptolemies: its earlier name was Taucheira or Teucheira. [TAUCHEIRA.] [P.S]
8.A place on the coast of Cilicia, mentioned by Strabo (p. 670) as having a port. Leake places it at or near the ruined modern castle, called Sokhta Kálesi, below which is a port, such as Strabo describes at Arsinoe, and a peninsula on the east side of the harbour covered with ruins. (Asia Minor, p. 201.) This modern site is east of Anemurium, and west of, and near to, Cape Kizliman. (Beaufort's Karamania). [G.L]
9.[PATARA]
10.In Aetolia. [CONOPE]
(Ἀρσινόη). (1) The daughter of Meleager, and mother of Ptolemy I. of Egypt, by Philip, father of Alexander. During her pregnancy she was married to Lagus.
(2) The daughter of Ptolemy I. of Egypt and Berenicé. She married Lysimachus, king of Thrace, who was already advanced in years, by whom she had several children. Lysimachus, setting out for Asia, left her in Macedouia, with two sons, Lysimachus and Philip, a part of the fruits of their union. This monarch having been slain in an expedition, Ptolemy Ceraunus seized on Macedonia, but could not take the city of Cassandria, where Arsinoé had taken refuge with her children. He therefore offered her his hand in marriage, and with much difficulty obtained her consent. But no sooner had he been admitted into the city for the purpose of celebrating the nuptials, than he caused her two sons to be slain, and exiled Arsinoé herself to Samothrace. From this island she soon took her departure to wed Ptolemy Philadelphus, her own brother, the first instance of this kind of union, and which became afterwards so common in the time of the Ptolemies. Although many years older than Ptolemy, she nevertheless inspired him with such a passion that, after her death, he gave her name to one of the nomes of Egypt (Arsinoïtis), and to several cities both in that country and elsewhere. He even gave orders to have a temple erected to her, but his own death and that of the architect prevented the fulfilment of his wishes. It was intended to have had the ceiling of loadstone, and the statue of iron, in order that the latter might appear to be suspended in the air (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 14).
(3) A daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, and the earlier wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus. She became by him the mother of Ptolemy III. (Euergetes), Lysimachus, and Berenicé. After Ptolemy's union with Arsinoé, his own sister, she was banished to Coptos. The charge brought against her was a design to overthrow her rival.
(4) Daughter of Ptolemy III. and Berenicé, married Ptolemy Philopator, her brother. Her husband subsequently having become enamoured of Agathoclea, and being completely ruled by this woman and her brothers, was induced, at their instigation, to order Arsinoé to be put to death.
(5) A daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, proclaimed queen by Ganymedes, when Caesar attacked Alexandria. She was conquered, and brought in triumph to Rome; but, as this proved displeasing to the people, she was set at liberty. Subsequently, at the instigation of her younger sister Cleopatra , she was put to death by the orders of Antony, in the Temple of Artemis at Miletus. See Mahaffy's Empire of the Ptolemies (1896).
(Ἀρσινόη). The name of several cities, each called after one or other of the persons mentioned above. Of these the most important were: (1) In the Nomos Hero öpolites in Lower Egypt, near or upon the head of the Sinus Heroöpolites, or west branch of the Red Sea (Gulf of Suez). It was afterwards called Cleopatra.
(2) The chief city of the Nomos Arsinoïtes in Middle Egypt; formerly called Crocodilopolis, from its being the chief seat of the Egyptian worship of the crocodile.
There were at least three towns so named, all three on the coast. A fourth one in the interior is rather doubtful. One was formerly Marion on the NW coast near Cape Arnauti, another at modern Famagusta on the E coast, and the third somewhere between Old and New Paphos on the SW coast. As to the fourth, it is said to be at Arsos in the Limassol district. Of the four, only the first has been explored.
The best known Arsinoe is the former Marion (q.v.). After Alexander the Great, Stasioikos II, the last king of Marion, sided with Antigonos against Ptolemy. In 312 B.C. the city was razed by Ptolemy and its inhabitants were transferred to Paphos. On the ruins a new city was founded about 270 B.C. by Ptolemy Philadelphus who renamed it after his wife and sister. We probably know more of this Arsinoe than of its predecessor Marion.
The ruins of this town are to be found to the N of the modern village of Polis. Part of the site is now a field of ruins under cultivation and part is inhabited, but the town may have extended S under the modern village. The necropolis, also the Classical necropolis of Marion, lies mainly to the S. This Arsinoe is well known to geographers and historians (Strab. 14.683; Ptol. 5.14.4; Plin. HNT 5.130; Steph. Byz.). The Stadiasmus (309) and inscriptions record it. The town flourished during the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman era, and in Early Christian times it became the seat of a bishop. The site has never been excavated. Some soundings made in 1929 were intended to locate the earlier city.
From an inscription of the 3d c. B.C. we know that there was a Hellenistic gymnasium but its position remains unknown. There was probably a theater but we have no evidence although its position can be conjectured. We learn from Strabo that there was a Sacred Grove to Zeus and from an inscription of the time of Tiberius we are told of the existence of a Temple of Zeus and Aphrodite. The site of a sanctuary is known at the far end of a small ridge at Maratheri, E of the ancient town. This sanctuary may well be that of Zeus and Aphrodite mentioned in the above inscription, which almost certainly came from this site. This cult may be earlier for on some coins of Stasioikos II is shown on the obverse the head of Zeus and on the reverse that of Aphrodite. In fact, casual finds also date this sanctuary from the archaic to the Graeco-Roman period. The site is the most important town in Cyprus of this name and as we know of many Arsinoeia in the island we may presume that there was one here too.
A number of tombs of the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman era were excavated in the necropolis S of Polis. These tombs contain the familiar Hellenistic and Roman pottery and other furniture and very often are rich in jewelry. However, there is nothing to be seen at present above ground.
BIBLIOGRAPHYD. G. Hogarth, Devia Cypria (1889); Einar Gjerstad et al., Swedish Cyprus Expedition II (1935) s.v. Marion; Sir George Hill, A History of Cyprus I (1949); RE, s.v.
Arsinoe. K. NICOLAOU- Paus. 3.26.4, Paus. 4.31.6
- mother of Aesculapius by Apollo: Apollod. 1.2.2, Paus. 2.26.7, Paus. 4.3.2, Paus. 4.31.12
- her sanctuary at Sparta: Paus. 3.12.8
- portrait: Paus. 4.31.12
- wife of PtolemyII.: Paus. 1.7.3
- receives the necklace and robe (of Harmonia) from her husband Alcmaeon: Apollod. 3.7.5
- is carried by the sons of Phegeus to Tegea and given as a slave to Agapenor: Apollod. 3.7.5
- sister and wife of PtolemyII.: Paus. 1.7.1, 3
- statues: Paus. 1.8.6, Paus. 9.31.1
- married to Lysimachus: Paus. 1.10.3ff.
- Paus. 4.31.6