WEAVING THE DYNASTIC WEB

Marriage alliances have been the most common feature of royal diplomacy throughout history, binding rival dynasties together through both pacts and blood. However, in the Hellenistic period, dynastic marriages were also a way that royal women could influence the politics of the period.

Alex McAuley

THEME: Hellenistic diplomacy THEME HELLENISTIC MARRIAGE ALLIANCES In around 250 BC, Magas, the stepson of Ptolemy I, died after ruling Cyrene for almost a quarter of a century. For almost his entire reign he was married to the Seleucid princess Apama. Immediately after he died his widow suddenly replaced their daughter’s fiancé, Ptolemy III, with another man, Demetrius ‘the Handsome’. While Justin (26.1–3) would have us believe that this dynastic move was driven by a sordid tryst between the queen mother and her future son in law, surely there must be more to this story than just forbidden love. Why, after over 25 years in Cyrene, did this queen suddenly find her moment to act? In the otherwise shadowy figure of Apama of Cyrene we find a fascinating insight into the…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 49

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