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Greek Ptolemies In Ancient Egypt

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The Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled over Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great, was highly characterized by the incestuous behavior of its member. Multiple generations of Ptolemies married their own siblings or other close family member. Incest was taboo among the Greeks, and despite the Ptolemies descending from the Greco-Macedonian general and king, Ptolemy, they still practiced incest. Many believe this practiced to have started in an effort to appeal to the Egyptian people and to keep the power within the family. With the practice of incest, many genetic disorders can be present in the offspring of incestuous relationships. Some of the health issues that rulers, like Ptolemy VIII Physcon, had can be linked to incest. The Ptolemies were not native Egyptians, however, they began to follow the incestuous types of …show more content…

It is believed that the Ptolemies pursed these marriages because they were symbolic of power. The Ptolemies were characterized by their excessive behavior that was not common in Egyptian, Greek, or Macedonian culture. The Greeks especially, found incest to be punishable by the gods and a loss of self-control (Ager, 2006, p. 166). The first sibling marriage to occur was between paternal half-siblings, Arsinoe II and Ptolemy Keraunos. However, this couple was problematic and not long after Keraunos was killed in battle and Arsinoe conducted the first full-sibling marriage to Ptolemy II. This marriage gave the nickname “Philadelphos”, or “Sibling-lover”, to the couple (Ager, 2006, p. 167). Arsinoe II and Ptolemy II start the trend of sibling marriages with the next generation marrying Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, but also Ptolemy V being born from this union (Ager, 2006, p. 167-168). Years of

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