Laodice I

Laodice I (flourished 3rd century BC, died before 236 BC) was an Anatolian noblewoman who was a close relative of the early Seleucid dynasty and was the first wife of the Seleucid Greek King Antiochus II Theos.

Laodice was the daughter of Achaeus, a wealthy nobleman who owned estates in Anatolia. Her mother is unknown. Her family had power in Anatolia with strong royal connections. She had one sister, Antiochis, and two brothers, Alexander and Andromachus.

Her father Achaeus was the second son of King Seleucus I Nicator and his first wife Apama I. Her name implies a strong Seleucid connection, as she was the namesake of her paternal aunt and her paternal great grandmother of this name.

Her birth date is unknown, and little is known on her early life. Laodice I married her paternal first cousin Antiochus II Theos before 266 BC as his first wife. She married Antiochus II before he was the heir to the Seleucid throne.

When her paternal uncle Antiochus I Soter died in 261 BC, Antiochus II succeeded his father. Through her marriage, Laodice I became a Seleucid queen. Little is known on her relationship with Antiochus II. Laodice I bore her husband two sons: Seleucus II Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax, and three daughters: Apama, Stratonice of Cappadocia and Laodice.

In 252 BC after the Second Syrian War, Antiochus II was obliged to make peace with the Egyptian Greek Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Antiochus made peace with the Pharaoh by divorcing Laodice and marrying the daughter of Ptolemy II, Berenice, with the understanding that any children born from their union would inherit the Seleucid throne.

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