Cleopatra, the well known only ruling queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty, has been found to not be the only queen to have ruled during this time period. Her rival, a woman by the name of Queen Arsinoë II. This lesser known queen was first discovered by Maria Nilsson of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden who made this discovery by looking at bas-relief carving of a woman in a extravagant crown. This little queen wasn’t paid much attention to before, but once she was looked into by Nilsson, it was discovered that she led a full life. This queen was married three times before she died at the age of forty-five. During this time, she became a much loved and respected woman who had a unique crown, it was this crown that made it possible to have a Nilsson discover her. The queen’s crown symbolized her three roles in society as a queen, a priestess, and her significance as a goddess. After her death, Arsinoë had a cult who worshipped her and made her the first queen of that time to receive a cult that worshipped her. This great new discovery has led to a challenging of Cleopatra’s seat as the only ruling queen, will she keep her thrown is the question?
Brian R. Period 3
2 comments:
Wow this is really fascinating! Who would've thought that such a well-known fact is possibly untrue. She seemed to be a good pharoh, and lived a fulfilling life, so it is interesting that no one knew about her until now. Very interesting and informative.
Wow! It is so cool to find that there were more female rulers in Egypt than we first thought! One would think that in such a
patriarchal society, women would not be able come in to power. The fact that the public adored her gives evidence that the Egyptian people were more open to women and not oppressive to them like other societies were.
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