Ptolemaic Losses in the Aegean and in Asia Minor

Ptolemy II Philadelphus’ control of the Aegean irked not just Antigonus. Antio-chus II Theos, who ascended the Seleucid throne in 261, also wished to see a diminution of Ptolemaic power in the region. So Antigonus Gonatas and Antio-chus II Theos made common cause against Ptolemy II Philadelphus; the marriage of Antiochus’ sister Stratonice with Antigonus’ son Demetrius apparently sealed the alliance (Euseb. I 249 Schoene; Just. XXVIII 1). Stratonice is just one example of the talented and ambitious women whose task it was to make alliances work and who played important diplomatic and political roles in the Hellenistic world. Stratonice would later on show that she possessed the drive to rule in surpassing measure, but for now her job was to facilitate her brother’s and husband’s alliance against Ptolemy II.

Ptolemy II Philadelphus’ inability to keep the peace within his house gave his foes their opportunity. In the early 250s Philadelphus’ adoptive son and co-regent, also called Ptolemy, whom he had installed as governor at Ephesus (Athen. XIII, p. 593), revolted against him (Trog. Prol. 26). This Ptolemy was the son of none other than Arsinoe, the daughter of Ptolemy I Soter and the widow of Lysimachus (see chap. 21). After Lysimachus’ death the ambitious Arsinoe had returned to Egypt where she married her brother Ptolemy II Phila-delphus. There had been marriages between close kin within the Macedonian royal house, but never one between brother and sister. Yet such a marriage did correspond to ancient Egyptian royal custom, and for Arsinoe and Philadelphus this sufficed. That son whom Arsinoe had once wished to make King of Macedonia she now attempted to set upon the throne of Egypt. Philadelphus adopted him and made him co-regent over his biological son, the eventual Ptolemy III Euergetes. Philadelphus’ favoring of his adoptive son clearly caused conflict within his house, and Philadelphus himself seems eventually to have had second thoughts in the matter. When he began to favor his biological son again, he packed his adoptive son off to a provincial posting where the latter soon revolted.

The war that began with this revolt in the mid-250s went badly for Philadelphus. The Rhodians, who had joined the coalition against him, beat back his fleet’s attempt to capture Ephesus by sea (Poly. V 18); Timarchus, evidently an ally of the rebel Ptolemy’s, captured Samos, an important Ptolemaic possession (Frontinus, Strat. III 2,11 - there read “Samians” instead of “Sanians”); and Antigonus Gonatas, at the head of the numerically inferior Macedonian fleet, inflicted a severe defeat upon Philadelphus’ commanders near Cos (Plut. On Self-Praise, p. 545; Sayings of Kings and Commanders, p. 183). The rebel Ptolemy’s rule in Ephesus ended when he fell victim to a mutiny (Athen. XIII p. 593), and this allowed Antiochus II Theos with Rhodian help to recapture Ephesus for the Seleucids (Front. Strat. III 9,10). Antiochus II captured Miletus from Timarchus as well (App. Syr. 65) and, since Timarchus held Samos, may well have taken it also.