Table Of ContentSister-Queens in the High
Hellenistic Period
Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period is a cutting-edge exploration of
ancient queenship and the significance of family politics in the dysfunctional
dynasties of the late Hellenistic world.
This volume, the first full-length study of Kleopatra III and Kleopatra Thea
and their careers as queens of Egypt and Syria, thoroughly examines the roles and
ideology of royal daughters, wives, and queens in Egypt, the ancient Near East,
and ancient Israel and provides a comprehensive study of the iconography, public
image, and titles of each queen and their cultural precedents. In addition, this book
also offers an introduction to the critical concept of the ‘High Hellenistic Period’
and the maturation of royal female power in the second century BCE.
Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period is suitable for students and
scholars in ancient history, Egyptology, classics, and gender studies, as well as
the general reader interested in ancient queenship, ancient Egypt, the Hellenistic
world, and gender in antiquity.
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the Chair in Ancient History at Cardiff University.
He has published widely on Hellenistic, Greek, and Persian history as well as on
gender studies and reception studies. His latest book is Persians: the Age of the
Great Kings (2022).
Alex McAuley is Senior Lecturer in Hellenistic History at Cardiff University. He
is the co-editor of Seleukid Royal Women (2016) and Ethnos and Koinon (2019),
and has published widely on the Hellenistic dynasties, Greek civic culture, and the
reception of Antiquity in film and television.
Routledge Studies in Ancient History
Titles include:
Banishment in the Later Roman Empire, 284–476 CE
Daniel Washburn
The Popes and the Church of Rome in Late Antiquity
John Moorhead
The Plight of Rome in the Fifth Century AD
Mark Merrony
Geopolitics in Late Antiquity
The Fate of Superpowers from China to Rome
Hyun Jin Kim
Image and Reality of Roman Imperial War in the Third Century AD
The Impact of War
Lukas de Blois
Sallust’s Histories and Triumviral Historiography
Confronting the End of History
Jennifer Gerrish
A History of the Pyrrhic War
Patrick Alan Kent
Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace
The Origins of War in the Ancient Middle East
Jason M. Schlude
Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period
Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley
www.routledge.com/classicalstudies/series/RSANHIST
Sister-Queens in the High
Hellenistic Period
Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley
First published 2023
by Routledge
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© 2023 Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley
The right of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-63509-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-27441-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-20657-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315206578
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For our mothers, Gill and Diane: goddess-queens.
Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements xi
Notes on Scholarly Conventions xiii
Introduction 1
1 The Importance of Being Ptolemaic: Royal Women in Context 26
2 Princesses to Queens 72
3 Mothers, Wives, Queens 116
4 Queenship in Name; Queenship through Image;
Queenship in Practice 179
5 Fast-Forward: The Pentēkontaetia 236
Epilogue 254
Bibliography 259
Index 271
Figures
Chapter 1: The Importance of Being Ptolemaic
1.1 Headless statue attributed to Arsinoë II; found off the
coast of Alexandria 32
1.2 Basalt head of Kleopatra III; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 33
1.3 Terracotta figurine from Egypt c.150 BCE, woman riding
side-saddle on a pig; London, British Museum 34
1.4 Line drawing of wall relief from the Eastern High Gate
at Medinet Habu 43
1.5 Elizabeth Shepherd (Kleopatra II), Caroline Mortimer
(Kleopatra Thea), Michelle Newell (Kleopatra III), Amanda
Boxer (Kleopatra Tryphaena), Pauline Moran (Kleopatra V
Berenike IV), and Shelagh McLeod (Berenike V) in The
Cleopatras; BBC television, 1983 62
1.6 Relief of Kleopatra VII and Kaisarion (Ptolemy XV) on the rear
wall of the temple of Hathor at Denderah 63
1.7 Drawing of Egyptian crowns created during the Ptolemaic period 64
1.8 Relief of Ptolemy VIII and Kleopatra III from Kom Ombo 65
1.9 Elizabeth Taylor as Kleopatra VII in Cleopatra (1963) 66
Chapter 2: Princesses to Queens
2.1 Relief of Ptolemy V and Kleopatra I offering to the goddess Isis
on the Great Pylon of the temple of Isis at Philae 79
2.2 Relief of Kleopatra II and Ptolemy VI adoring the divine triad of
Aswan in the temple of Isis at Philae 79
2.3 Relief of Ptolemy VI and Kleopatra II worshipping Khonsu,
Haroeris, and Sobek at Kom Ombo 80
2.4 Relief of the royal siblings Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII, and
Kleopatra II at Dier el-Madina 84
2.5 Relief of early Ptolemaic kings and queens accompanied by
deities on the Kom el-Hisn Stela (Canopus Decree) 84
2.6 Coin portrait of Alexander Balas 95
Figures ix
2.7 Relief of Ptolemy VIII and Kleopatra II, East Temple of Amun
at Karnak 100
2.8 Relief of Ptolemy VIII with Kleopatra II and prince Memphites,
Eastern external wall, Temple of Horus at Edfu 104
2.9 Relief of royal family – Ptolemy VIII and Kleopatra III with the
infant Ptolemy IX, Western external wall, Temple of Horus at Edfu 106
2.10 Relief on the wall of the Birth House (Mammisi), Edfu 107
2.11 Detail of Relief on the wall of the Birth House (Mammisi), Edfu 108
2.12 Iconographic schema of the Mammisi, Edfu 108
Chapter 3: Mothers, Wives, Queens
3.1a & b Obverse and Reverse of ‘Wedding bronzes’ of Antiochus VII
and Kleopatra Thea 133
3.2 Relief of Ptolemy VIII, Kleopatra II, and Kleopatra III at the
temple of Isis at Philae 137
3.3 Relief of Ptolemy VIII, Kleopatra II, and Kleopatra III at the
temple of Sobek at Kom Ombo 138
3.4 ‘Solo’ coinage of Kleopatra Thea from Ptolemaïs 148
3.5 Fragmentary relief of Ptolemy IX and Kleopatra III, Temple of
Khonsu, Karnak 162
3.6 Relief of Kleopatra III and Ptolemy IX, Mammisi at the Temple
of Hathor, Dier el-Medineh 163
3.7 Relief of Kleopatra III and Ptolemy IX, column from Kom Ombo 164
3.8 Relief of Kleopatra III and Ptolemy IX, column from Kom Ombo 165
3.9 Relief of Kleopatra III, Temple of Nekhbet, El-Kab 166
Chapter 4: Queenship in Name; Queenship Through Image;
Queenship in Practice
4.1 Iugate coin of Kleopatra Thea and Alexander Balas, Ptolemaïs-
Ake, 150–149 BCE 189
4.2 Clay seal of Kleopatra III and Ptolemy VIII, Edfu 208
4.3 Clay seal of Kleopatra III, Edfu 209
4.4 Coin portrait of Antiochos VIII Grypos 210
4.5 Gold octodrachm of Kleopatra I 211
4.6 Bronze coin of ‘Kleopatra the Queen’, Cyprus 212
4.7 Coin featuring an image of a queen, perhaps Kleopatra III?
Svoronos 1904, n. 1726a, plate lviii 213
4.8 Gold octodrachm of Kleopatra Thea, Ptolemaïs-Ake 214
4.9 Gold octodrachm of Arsinoe II, Tyre 215
4.10 Greek-style portrait of Ptolemy VIII in the double crown of
Egypt; Brussels 220
4.11 Paris bust of Kleopatra III; Louvre Museum, Paris 222
4.12 Standing statue of Kleopatra III; San Jose 224
