Ptolemy II Philadelphus was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the Great who founded the Ptolemaic Kingdom after the death of Alexander, and Queen Berenice I, originally from Macedon in northern Greece.
Bust of Ptolemy II, National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II depicted on the Gonzaga Cameo in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
Coin of Antiochus I
Coin of Antigonus II
The Ptolemaic Kingdom or Ptolemaic Empire was an Ancient Greek polity based in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 305 BC by the Macedonian general Ptolemy I Soter, a companion of Alexander the Great, and ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Reigning for nearly three centuries, the Ptolemies were the longest and final dynasty of ancient Egypt, heralding a distinctly new era for religious and cultural syncretism between Greek and Egyptian culture.
Ptolemaic Kingdom
Ptolemy as Pharaoh of Egypt, British Museum, London
Hellenistic bust of Ptolemy I Soter, 3rd century BC, now in the Louvre
A bust depicting Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus 309–246 BC
