Archagathus of Libya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archagathus (Ancient Greek: Ἀρχάγαθος) was a Syracusan from Magna Graecia prince and Ptolemaic official who lived around the late second half of the 4th century BC and first half of the 3rd century BC.[1]
Archagathus was a man of Sicilian origin and his name was a well-attested local Greek name in Sicily.[2] He was the son born to Agathocles and his third wife Theoxena[3][4] and had a sister called Theoxena.[5][6]
His father Agathocles was a Greek Tyrant of Syracuse who later became King of Sicily.[7][8] Archagathus had two paternal-half posthumous brothers: Archagathus and Agathocles;[9] one paternal half-sister Lanassa who was the second wife of King Pyrrhus of Epirus and a posthumous paternal half-nephew Archagathus.[10] He was the namesake of his posthumous brother, nephew and possibly his paternal grandfather.
His mother Theoxena was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. She was the second daughter and third child born to the noblewoman Berenice I and her first husband obscure nobleman Philip.[11] Archagathus’ biological maternal grandfather Philip, served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great and was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx in Alexander’s wars.[12] Archagathus’ maternal grandmother Berenice I, was the great-niece of the powerful Regent Antipater[13] and she was a distant collateral relative to the Argead dynasty.[14] His full blooded maternal uncle was Magas of Cyrene and his full-blooded maternal aunt was Antigone.[15]
His biological maternal grandfather Philip died about 318 BC. After his death, Berenice I travelled with her children to live in Egypt, where she eventually married Ptolemy I Soter the first Greek Pharaoh and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through his grandmother’s second marriage to Ptolemy I, Berenice I was an Egyptian Queen and the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty,[16] thus his mother was a stepdaughter to Ptolemy I and became an Egyptian Princess. His maternal grandmother had with Ptolemy I three children; two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera and the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus.[17] Arsinoe II, Philotera were his maternal half-aunts, while Ptolemy II was his maternal half-uncle.
Early life
Archagathus was born between 301 BC and 298 BC.[18] Along with his sister they were born and raised in Sicily. When his father Agathocles felt his death was approaching, he had Theoxena and their children sent away to Egypt.[19] Agathocles died in 289 BC and declared his kingdom to be a democracy on his death.[20][21] Archagathus, his sister with their mother, spent their remaining youth in Egypt, possibly in the court living with Ptolemy I and Berenice I in Alexandria.