Despite the importance of dynastic marriages for creating relationships between Hellenistic monarchs the Ptolemies adopted the incestuous marriage practices of their Pharaonic predecessors, making the Ptolemaic family tree more like a family bush.
The first full Ptolemaic brother-sister marriage was between Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II, earning both of them the title of Philadelphus (‘sibling-lover’). We do not know the reasons behind this marriage, but it came to quickly define future Ptolemaic royal marriages. It is possible that the marriage was an attempt at continuity with previous Egyptian practices to garner favour among their Egyptian subjects, as the Pharaohs had practiced brother-sister marriage based on the model of Osiris and Isis. The court poet Theocritus compared the marriage to that of Zeus and Hera, offering a Greek model for the…
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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 49