Antigone of Epirus explained

Antigone (el|Ἀντιγόνη, born before 317 BC[1] –295 BC)[2] was a Macedonian Greek noblewoman. Through her mother's second marriage she was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through her marriage to Pyrrhus she was queen of Epirus.

Antigone was the daughter and the second child of Berenice, a noblewoman from Eordeaea,[3] and her first husband Philip.[3] She had an elder brother called Magas and a younger sister called Theoxena.[3] Berenice's mother was the niece of the powerful regent Antipater[4] and was related to members of the Argead dynasty.[5]

Antigone's father, Philip, was the son of Amyntas by a mother whose name is unknown.[6] Based on Plutarch (Pyrrhus 4.4), her father was previously married and had children, including daughters.[7] He served as a military officer in the service of the Macedonian King Alexander the Great and commanded one of the Phalanx divisions in Alexander's wars.[8]

About 318 BC, Antigone's father died of natural causes. After Philip's death, Antigone's mother took her and her siblings to Egypt where they were a part of the entourage of her mother's cousin Eurydice. Eurydice was then the wife of Ptolemy I Soter, the first ruler and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

By 317 BC, Ptolemy I had fallen in love with Berenice and divorced Eurydice to marry her. Through her mother's marriage to Ptolemy I, Antigone was a stepdaughter to Ptolemy I and lived in her stepfather's court. Her mother bore Ptolemy I three children: two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera and the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus.[3]

In 300 BC or 299 BC, Pyrrhus of Epirus was sent as a hostage to Egypt by Demetrius I of Macedon as part of a short-lived rapprochement between Demetrius I and Ptolemy I.[9] In 299 BC/298 BC, Ptolemy I arranged for Pyrrhus to marry Antigone.[10] [11]

Pyrrhus obtained a fleet of ships and funding from Ptolemy I and set sail with Antigone for his kingdom in Epirus.[12] Pyrrhus came into an agreement with his relative Neoptolemus II of Epirus, who had usurped the kingdom, to jointly rule Epirus.[12]

Antigone bore Pyrrhus two children: a daughter called Olympias and a son called Ptolemy.[13] Antigone possibly died in childbirth, as she seems to have died the same year as her son was born.[14]

As a posthumous honour to his first wife, Pyrrhus founded a colony called Antigonia, which he named after her.

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Antigone, Footnote 3. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100137/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/antigone_fr.htm. 2011-07-16. live.
  2. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Antigone, Footnote 7. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100137/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/antigone_fr.htm. 2011-07-16. live.
  3. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20111005211349/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/berenice_i_fr.htm. 2011-10-05. live.
  4. Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.71
  5. Web site: Ptolemaic Dynasty - Affiliated Lines: The Antipatrids . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100716/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Egypt/ptolemies/affilates/aff_ptolemies.htm . 2011-07-16 . 2011-08-13.
  6. http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2603.html Ancient Library article: Philippus no. 5
  7. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I, Footnote 6. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20111005211349/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/berenice_i_fr.htm. 2011-10-05. live.
  8. Web site: Ancient Library article: Magas no.1 . 2011-08-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110805103214/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2006.html . 2011-08-05 . live .
  9. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Antigone, Footnote 4. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100137/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/antigone_fr.htm. 2011-07-16. live.
  10. [Plutarch]
  11. [Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]
  12. Ussher, The Annals of the World, p.344
  13. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Antigone. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100137/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/antigone_fr.htm. 2011-07-16. live.
  14. Web site: Ptolemaic Genealogy: Antigone, Footnote 8. 2011-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100137/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/antigone_fr.htm. 2011-07-16. live.

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