Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt

289 Pages·2013·2.462 MB·English

by  Dee L. Clayman

B e r e n i c e I I a n d t h e G o l d e n
Ag e o f P t o l e m a i c E g y p t
WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY
Series Editors: Ronnie Ancona and Sarah B. Pomeroy
Th is book series provides compact and accessible introductions to the life and
historical times of women from the ancient world. Approaching ancient history
and culture broadly, the series selects fi gures from the earliest of times to late
antiquity.
Cleopatra
A Biography
Duane W. Roller
Clodia Metelli
Th e Tribune’s Sister
Marilyn B. Skinner
Galla Placidia
Th e Last Roman Empress
Hagith Sivan
Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon
A Royal Life
Elizabeth Donnelly Carney
Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt
Dee L. Clayman
B E R E N I C E I I
A N D T H E
G O L D E N A G E O F
P T O L E M A I C
E G Y P T
Dee L. Clayman
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offi ces in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
© Oxford University Press 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent
to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clayman, Dee L.
Berenice II and the golden age of Ptolemaic Egypt / Dee L. Clayman.
pages cm.—(Women in antiquity)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-537089-8 (pbk.)—ISBN 978-0-19-537088-1 (hardbk.)
1. Berenice, Queen, consort of Ptolemy III, King of Egypt,
approximately 270 B.C.–221 B.C.
2. Queens—Egypt—Biography. 3. Egypt—History—332–30 B.C.
4. Berenice, Queen, consort of Ptolemy III, King of Egypt,
approximately 270 B.C.–221 B.C.—In literature.
I. Title. II. Series: Women in antiquity.
DT92.C54 2013
932.021092—dc23 2013018113
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Alexandra and Olivia
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Abbreviations ix
Th e Family Tree of Berenice II xi
Map of Th e Eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd Century bce xii
Introduction 3
one Birth in Cyrene 1 4
two Arrival in Alexandria 42
three C allimachus on Murder and Marriage 78
four Apollonius on Murder and Marriage 1 05
five Ruling and Racing 1 21
six Berenice in Egypt and Another Murder 1 59
Appendix: Catullus 66 187
Notes 191
Bibliography 229
Index 249
Index Locorum 262
Illustrations follow Chapter Th ree
Acknowledgments
many generous people and institutions have contributed to this project and I
record my thanks to them with great gratitude. First, to the National Endowment for the
Humanities for a Fellowship in 2010, to Brooklyn College and the City University of
New York, for a sabbatical that same year, which made possible visits to the Fondation
Hardt with its splendid research facilities and to the Groningen Workshop on Hellenis-
tic Poetry where Annette Harder provides an exceptional venue for trying out new
ideas. Th anks also to colleagues at Fordham University, Hunter College, and the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania for opportunities to speak about Berenice, and to the American
Philological Association where she was the subject of my Presidential Address in 2011.
Other individuals and institutions that were generous with their assistance were
Amelia Dowler at the British Museum, Andrew Meadows at the American Numismatic
Society, Cecelia Colonna at the Bibliothèque Nationale, and Beth Posner and her staff in
the Interlibrary Loan Offi ce of the Mina Rees Library.
I am also deeply grateful to Kathryn Gutzwiller and Marco Fantuzzi for their can-
did and learned advice on all things Hellenistic, and to my colleagues at CUNY, espe-
cially Rachel Kousser, Liv Yarrow, Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis, and Marilyn Mercado,
who provided essential technical assistance. Sarah Pomeroy and Ronnie Ancona, the
editors of this series, were the project’s essential catalysts, without whom this volume
would not have been written; and sincere thanks are owed to Stefan Vranka, Sarah Piro-
vitz, Joellyn Ausanka. and the staff at OUP for bringing it to life.
Last, but hardly least, I would like to thank my husband, Chuck Clayman, for his
unwavering support over the years.
Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations of the names of papyrus collections can be found in Joshua D.
Sosin, Roger S. Bagnall et al., Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic
Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets , http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist.html .
Citations of collections of inscriptions follow the standard of Claros. Concordance of
Greek Inscriptions: http://www.dge.fi lol.csic.es/claros/cnc/2cnc.htm . Abbreviations of
the names and works of ancient authors follow the O xford Classical Dictionary , 3rd ed.
rev. 2003.
AB Colin Austin and Guido Bastianini. 2002. P osidippi Pellaei quae
supersunt omnia . Milano: LED.
AP Anthologia Palatina
BGU Aegyptische Urkunden aus den koeniglichen Museen zu Berlin.
Griechische Urkunden IV , Berlín 1904–12.
CCG Kamal, Ahmed. 1904–05. C atalogue général des antiquités
égyptiennes du Musée du Caire: Stéles ptolémaiques et romaines , No s
2201–22208. Cairo: Imprimerie de l’Institute français.
CEG Peter A. Hansen. 1983–89. C armina Epigraphica Graeca . Berlin: de
Gruyter.
CIG Boeckh, A., et al. C orpus Inscriptionum Graecarum . 1828–77.
Berlin: Offi cina Academia.
Diels-Kranz Hermann Diels and W. Kranz. 1951. F ragmente der Vorsokratiker .
6th ed. Berlin: Weidmann.
FGrH Felix Jacoby, et al. 1923–. D ie Fragmente der griechischen Historiker .
Berlin: Weidmann.
GGM Karl Müller. 1855–61. Geographi Graeci Minores . Paris: Didot
G.-P. A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page. 1965. Th e Greek Anthology: Hellenistic
Epigrams . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ICairo Milne, Joseph Graft on, Greek Inscriptions (Catalogue général des
antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire 25). Oxford
1905 = CGC.