Ptolemaic Queens' Influence on Their Husbands

During the Ptolemaic period, women of the ruling class were equal to their husbands in all ways and played a large role in public affairs. They would sponsor expeditions and supply all the expeditions' needs with funding from their husbands.

Women built temples, founded cities, led armies, and owned castles and forts. They sometimes took the position of king or ruled as absolute equals to the king. These queens developed the same interest their husbands had in education. A woman like Arsinoe the Second, Ptolemy the Second's wife, was beautiful and very powerful. She naturally had an impact on all those who surrounded her, especially her brother, who was also her husband, to the extent that he was called Philadelphus, or "lover of his sister."

Arsinoe was mainly responsible for her husband's foreign policy. People and messengers from other cities would seek her counsel. It was probably based on his wife's advice that Ptolemy the Second sent an expedition to Rome requesting friendship. Arsinoe's death ended the Ptolemaic expansion since she had control over the middle Greek countries and because Ptolemy could not resist her influence. When she died, he named the Al-Faiyum province after her, which became known as Arsinoe Province after it was reformed