Arsinoe IV

{{Short description|Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt from 48 BC to 47 BC}}

{{Infobox pharaoh

| name = Arsinoë IV

| image = Jacopo Tintoretto - The Liberation of Arsinoe - WGA22667.jpg

| caption = Rescue of Arsinoe, by Jacopo Tintoretto, 1555–1556

| role = Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom (disputed)

| reign = September 48 BC
with Ptolemy XIII (December 48 – January 47 BC)

| predecessor = Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII

| successor = Ptolemy XIV and Cleopatra VII

| birth_date = 68–63 BC

| birth_place = Alexandria, Egypt

| death_date = 41 BC

| death_place = Ephesus
(modern-day Selçuk, İzmir, Turkey)

| spouse =

| full name =

| father = Ptolemy XII Auletes

| mother = Unknown

| dynasty = Ptolemaic dynasty

| burial = Ephesus

}}

Arsinoë IV ({{langx|grc|Ἀρσινόη}}; between 68 and 63 BC – 41 BC) was the youngest daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes. One of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she claimed title of Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt and co-rulership with her brother Ptolemy XIII in 48 BC – 47 BC in opposition to her sister or half-sister, Cleopatra VII.{{cite book |author=Grant, Michael |title=Cleopatra |date=14 July 2011 |page=35 |publisher=Orion |isbn=978-1-78022-114-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eStsL_oiXOcC&q=arsinoe+iv&pg=PA35}}{{harvnb|Kleiner|2009|p=102}}.{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Peter |title=HSC Ancient History |page=125 |year=2006 |publisher=Pascal Press |isbn=978-1-74125-179-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Krh7n9AyS40C&q=arsinoe+iv&pg=PA129}} For her role in conducting the siege of Alexandria (47 BC) against Cleopatra, Arsinoë was taken as a prisoner of war to Rome by the Roman triumvir Julius Caesar following the defeat of Ptolemy XIII in the Battle of the Nile. Arsinoë was then exiled to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Roman Anatolia, but she was executed there by orders of triumvir Mark Antony in 41 BC at the behest of his lover Cleopatra VII.

History

Arsinoë was the third, possibly fourth daughter of Ptolemy XII by an unknown woman (Cleopatra VII's probable mother Cleopatra V had died or been repudiated not long after Cleopatra VII was born, hence it's unclear if she bore her husband's younger children.) When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, he left his eldest son and eldest surviving daughter, Ptolemy and Cleopatra, as joint rulers of Egypt, but Ptolemy soon dethroned Cleopatra and forced her to flee from Alexandria. Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria in 48 BC pursuing his rival, Pompey, whom he had defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus. When he arrived in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey's head. The execution of his long-term rival ended the possibility of an alliance between Caesar and Ptolemy, and he sided with Cleopatra's faction. He declared that in accordance with Ptolemy XII's will, Cleopatra and Ptolemy would rule Egypt jointly, and in a similar motion restored Cyprus, which had been annexed by Rome in 58 BC, to Egypt's rule and gave it to Arsinoë and her youngest brother, Ptolemy XIV.{{cite web |last1=Bennett |first1=Chris |url=http://www.reocities.com/christopherjbennett/ptolemies/arsinoe_iv.htm#Arsinoe |title=Arsinoe IV |work=ReoCities |access-date=7 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613113043/http://www.reocities.com/christopherjbennett/ptolemies/arsinoe_iv.htm#Arsinoe |archive-date=13 June 2017 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Jenny |url=http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Cleopatra-Caesar.html |title=Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt: Cleopatra VII |work=Ancient Egypt Online |access-date=7 April 2017 |language=en}}

However, Arsinoë then escaped from the capital with her mentor, the eunuch Ganymedes, and took command of the Egyptian army.{{harvnb|Mahaffy|1899|p=143}}. She also proclaimed herself Queen as Arsinoë IV, executed Achillas, whom she had replaced as the army commander, and placed Ganymedes second in command of the army immediately below herself.Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili 3.112.10-12; De Bello Alexandrino 4; Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.39.1-2; 42.40.1; Lucan, Pharsalia 10.519-523 Under Arsinoë's leadership, the Egyptians enjoyed some success against the Romans. The Egyptians trapped Caesar in a section of the city by building walls to close off the streets. Caesar countered this measure by digging wells into the porous limestone beneath the city that contained fresh water. This only partially alleviated the situation, so he then sent ships out along the coast to search for more fresh water there.{{cite web |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/alexandrian.html |title=The Alexandrian Wars by Julius Caesar |website=The Internet Classics Archive |access-date=14 April 2017 |language=en}} Caesar realized that he would need to break out of the city and hoped to do so by gaining control of the harbor. He launched an attack to seize control of the Lighthouse of Alexandria but Arsinoë's forces drove him back. Recognizing his imminent defeat, Caesar removed his armor and purple cloak so that he could swim to the safety of a nearby Roman ship.

The leading Egyptian officers, having become disappointed with Ganymedes, and under a pretext of wanting peace, negotiated with Caesar to exchange Arsinoë for Ptolemy XIII.De Bello Alexandrino 23-24 and, with some deviations, Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.42{{cite book |title=The House of Ptolemy |last1=Bevan |first1=Edwyn R. |year=1927 |chapter=XIII |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Africa/Egypt/_Texts/BEVHOP/13*.html |publisher=Methuen Publishing |location=London |access-date=14 April 2017 |via=LacusCurtius |language=en}} After Ptolemy was released he continued the war until the Romans received reinforcements and inflicted a decisive defeat upon the Egyptians. Arsinoë, now in Roman captivity, was transported to Rome, where in 46 BC she was forced to appear in Caesar's triumph and was paraded behind a burning effigy of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which had been the scene of her victory over him.Cassius Dio, Roman History 43.19.2-3; Appian, Civil Wars 2.101.420 Arsinoe, along with Juba II, elicited sympathy from the crowd.{{harvnb|Kleiner|Buxton|2008|p=112}}. Despite the custom of strangling prominent prisoners in triumphs when the festivities concluded, Caesar was pressured to spare Arsinoë and granted her sanctuary at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Arsinoë lived in the temple for a few years, always keeping a watchful eye on her sister Cleopatra, who perceived Arsinoë as a threat to her power.{{harvnb|Mahaffy|1899|p=147}}. In 41 BC, at Cleopatra's instigation, Mark Antony ordered Arsinoë's execution on the steps of the temple.{{harvnb|Chisholm|1911|p=655}}. Her murder was a gross violation of the temple sanctuary and an act that scandalised Rome.{{cite AV media |last1=Oliver |first1=Neil |last2=Bradley |first2=Richard |last3=Elston |first3=Paul |date=23 March 2009 |title=Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer |medium=Documentary |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFWRe2TqyPk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/YFWRe2TqyPk |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|format=video |publisher=BBC One |via=YouTube |contribution-url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/09_september/10/cleopatra.shtml |contribution=BBC One announces Cleopatra: Portrait Of A Killer |language=en}}{{cbignore}}

{{cite web |title=Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer |website=BBC Four |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jhv9g}} The eunuch priest (Megabyzos) who had welcomed Arsinoë on her arrival at the temple as "queen" was only pardoned when an embassy from Ephesus made a petition to Cleopatra.Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 15.89; Josephus, Contra Apion 2.57; inaccurate Appian, Civil Wars 5.9.34-36 and Cassius Dio Roman History 48.24.2

Year of birth

Arsinoë's year of birth is generally regarded as being between 68 and 63 BC: The Encyclopædia Britannica cites 63 BC, making her 15 at the time of her uprising and defeat against Julius Caesar and 22 at her death,{{harvnb|Britannica|2019|loc=online}}. while the researcher Alissa Lyon cites 68 BC making her 27 at her death."ANP455: Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, 25 September 2014. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp455-fs14/2014/09/25/arsinoe-iv/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519213541/http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp455-fs14/2014/09/25/arsinoe-iv/ |date=19 May 2021 }} Joyce Tyldesley places her birth date as between 68 and 65 BC.Joyce Tyldesley: Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt, Profile Books Ltd, 2008, p. 27. An alternate hypothesis was in the docudrama "Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer", in which it was alleged a headless skeleton of a female child between the ages of 15 and 18 may be Arsinoë.

Her actions in the brief war against Caesar naturally suggest that she was older than that and thus, would make it impossible for her to be the headless female child buried in the tomb. Perhaps the strongest evidence that she was in fact exercising her own authority is that Caesar, after the Pharos debacle, was prepared to release Ptolemy XIII — a male, who continued the war against Caesar — just to get his hands on her."Dangerous Women", Karen Murdarasi, 2016Cassius Dio, Roman History, vols 42-43 Stacy Schiff, who places Arsinoë's age at around seventeen during the events of 48-47 BC, notes that Arsinoë "burned with ambition" and was "not the kind of girl who inspired complacency," writing that once Arsinoë escaped the royal palace she became more vocal against her half-sister and that she assumed her position as head of the army alongside anti-Caesar courtier Achillas.Stacy Schiff: Cleopatra: A Life, Little, Brown and Company, 2010, pp. 48-49

Tomb at Ephesus

In the 1990s an octagonal monument situated in the centre of Ephesus was hypothesized by Hilke Thür of the Austrian Academy of Sciences to be the tomb of Arsinoë. Although no inscription remains on the tomb, it was dated to between 50 and 20 BC. In 1926 the skeleton of a purported female estimated to be between the ages of 15 and 18 years at the time of her death was found in the burial chamber.Josef Keil (1929) Excavations In Ephesos{{cite web |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |author1-link=Mary Beard (classicist) |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/the-skeleton-of-cleopatras-sister-steady-on/ |title=The skeleton of Cleopatra's sister? Steady on. |work=Times Literary Supplement |date=16 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317185101/http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2009/03/the-skeleton-of.html |archive-date=17 March 2009 |access-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=dead |language=en}} Thür's identification of the skeleton was based on the shape of the tomb, which was octagonal, like the second tier of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the carbon dating of the bones (between 200 and 20 BC), the gender of the skeleton, and the age of the child at death.Dr. Fabian Kanz, "Arsinoe IV of Egypt: Sister of Cleopatra identified?" April 2009http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=The-BBC-invents-its-own-Cleopatra..html&Itemid=102{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} It was also claimed that the tomb boasts Egyptian motifs, such as "papyri-bundle" columns.

A DNA test was also attempted to determine the identity of the child. However, it was impossible to get an accurate reading since the bones had been handled too many times,{{cite news |url=http://www.livescience.com/27459-cleopatra-sister-discovery-controversy.html |title=Have Bones of Cleopatra's Murdered Sister Been Found? |work=Live Science |access-date=7 April 2017}} and the skull was long thought to have been lost. Hilke Thür examined the old notes and photographs of the now-missing skull,{{cite news |last1=Foggo |first1=Daniel |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5908494.ece |title=Found: the sister Cleopatra killed |date=15 March 2009 |work=The Sunday Times |access-date=15 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629140819/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5908494.ece |archive-date=29 June 2011 |language=en}}[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/also_in_the_news/7945333.stm Cleopatra's mother 'was African'] – BBC (2009) which was reconstructed using computer technology by forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson to show what the woman may have looked like.{{cite web |url=https://rogueclassicism.com/2009/03/15/cleopatra-arsinoe-and-the-implications/ |title=Cleopatra, Arsinoe, and the Implications |last=Meadows |first=David |date=15 March 2009 |website=rogueclassicism |access-date=14 April 2017}} Thür alleged that it shows signs of African ancestry mixed with classical Grecian features – despite the fact that Boas, Gravlee, Bernard and Leonard, and others have demonstrated that skull measurements are not a reliable indicator of race,Clarence C. Gravlee, H. Russell Bernard, and William R. Leonard. "Heredity, Environment, and Cranial Form: A Re-Analysis of Boas's Immigrant Data" American Anthropologist 105[1]:123–136, 2003. and the measurements were jotted down in 1920 before modern forensic science took hold. Arsinoë and Cleopatra, shared the same father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) but may have had different mothers,The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia, By Sarah Fielding, Christopher D. Johnson, p. 154, Bucknell University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8387-5257-9}} with Thür claiming the alleged African ancestry came from the skeleton's mother. Furthermore, craniometry as used by Thür to determine race is based in scientific racism that is now generally considered a discredited

pseudoscience with "a long history of being put to use in racially motivated and often overtly and explicitly racist ways."{{sfnp|Draycott|2022|pp=245}}

Mary Beard wrote a dissenting essay criticizing the findings, pointing out that, first, there is no surviving name on the tomb and that the claim the tomb is alleged to invoke the shape of the Pharos Lighthouse "doesn't add up"; second, the skull doesn't survive intact and the age of the skeleton is too young to be Arsinoë's (the bones said to be that of a 15-18 year old, with Arsinoë being around her mid twenties at her death); and third, since Cleopatra and Arsinoë were not known to have the same mother, "the ethnic argument goes largely out of the window."

In 2022 archeologists of the University of Graz were able to locate the skull in Vienna. It could be identified thanks to the old notes and photographs. The scientists hoped that some DNA was conserved in the petrous temporal bone of the skull.{{Cite web |title=Enthüllung eines Rätsels: Grab von Arsinoë IV in Ephesos entschlüsselt |url=https://www.uni-graz.at/de/neuigkeiten/cold-case-in-ephesos/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=www.uni-graz.at |language=de}}

A writer from The Times described the identification of the skeleton as "a triumph of conjecture over certainty".[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article5931845.ece The Times]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In 2025, a study was published that identified the skull and skeleton as belonging to a boy, rendering Arsinoë's remains missing.Weber, G.W., Šimková, P.G., Fernandes, D. et al. The cranium from the Octagon in Ephesos. Sci Rep 15, 943 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83870-x

References

Bibliography

{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |title=Arsinoe IV |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arsinoe-IV |access-date=8 February 2021 |date=12 November 2019 |ref={{harvid|Britannica|2019}} |language=en}}
{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Arsinoë |volume=2 |page=655}}
{{cite book|last=Draycott|first=Jane|title=Cleopatra's Daughter: Egyptian Princess, Roman Prisoner, African Queen|publisher=Head of Zeus |year=2022|isbn=978-1-324-09259-9}}
{{cite book |last1=Keil |first1=Josef |last2=Reisch |first2=Emil |author1-link=Josef Keil |author2-link=Emil Reisch |title=Ephesos: Ein Führer durch d. Ruinenstätte u. ihre Geschichte |date=1930 |publisher=Dr. B. Filser |location=Vienna |edition=2nd |url=http://d-nb.info/574267360 |language=de}}
{{cite journal |last1=Kleiner |first1=Diana E. E. |last2=Buxton |first2=Bridget |title=Pledges of Empire: The Ara Pacis and the Donations of Rome |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=2008 |volume=112 |issue=1 |pages=57–89 |doi=10.3764/aja.112.1.57 |jstor=40037244 |s2cid=155502681 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40037244 |access-date=8 February 2021 |issn=0002-9114 |language=en|url-access=subscription }}
{{cite book |last1=Kleiner |first1=Diana E. E. |title=Cleopatra and Rome |date=30 June 2009 |isbn=978-0-674-03966-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQB8Q8yarkUC&pg=PA140 |publisher=Harvard University Press |language=en}}
{{cite book |last1=Mahaffy |first1=J. P. |title=A History Of Egypt |volume=IV |year=1899 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.88831 |access-date=8 February 2021 |chapter=Chapter X |pages=143, 147 |language=en}}
{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Wilcken |first1=Ulrich |author1-link=Ulrich Wilcken |encyclopedia=Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft |publisher=J.B. Metzler |title={{cite wikisource/make link|language=de|link=RE:Arsinoë_28|label=Arsinoë 28}} |editor1-last=Wissowa |editor1-first=Georg |editor1-link=Georg Wissowa |year=1895 |pages=1288–1289 |volume=II,1 |language=de}}

External links

livius.org: [https://www.livius.org/arl-arz/arsinoe/arsinoe_iv.html Arsinoe IV] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017065119/http://www.livius.org/arl-arz/arsinoe/arsinoe_iv.html |date=17 October 2012 }}
Pockley.S: Video of a bust of Arsinoë IV being copied Nov 2012 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTWoA9TlHDg Arsinoe IV]

{{s-bef

| before = Ptolemy XIII

| before2 = Cleopatra VII

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Pharaoh of Egypt (claimant)

| years = 48–47 BC

| regent1 = Ptolemy XIII

}}

{{s-aft

| after = Cleopatra VII

| after2 = Ptolemy XIV