Ptolemy Philadelphus

Ptolemy II (Philadelphus)
Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Φιλάδελφος; Egyptian: Userkanaenre Meryamun
A bust depicting Ptolemy II Philadelphus
King of Egypt
Reign	285–246 BCE (Ptolemaic)
Coregency	Arsinoe I, Arsinoe II
Predecessor	Ptolemy I
Successor	Ptolemy III
Royal titulary
Children	With Arsinoe I: Ptolemy III Euergetes Lysimachus Berenice Phernopherus With Bilistiche: Ptolemy Andromachou
Father	Ptolemy I
Mother	Berenice I
Died	246 BCE

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Φιλάδελφος, Ptolemaîos Philádelphos, 309–246 BCE) was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 to 246 BCE. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos. He had two half-brothers, Ptolemy Keraunos and Meleager, who both became kings of Macedonia (in 281 BCE and 279 BCE respectively), and who both died in the Gallic invasion of 280–279 BCE. Ptolemy was first married to Arsinoë I, daughter of Lysimachus, who was the mother of his legitimate children; after her repudiation he married his full sister Arsinoë II, the widow of Lysimachus.

During Ptolemy's reign, the material and literary splendour of the Alexandrian court was at its height. He promoted the Museum and Library of Alexandria, and he erected a commemorative stele, the Great Mendes Stela.

Ptolemy II began his reign as co-regent with his father Ptolemy I from c. 285 BCE to c. 283 BCE, and maintained a splendid court in Alexandria.

Egypt was involved in several wars during his reign. Magas of Cyrene opened war on his half-brother (274 BCE), and the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter, desiring Coele-Syria with Judea, attacked soon after in the First Syrian War. Two or three years of war followed. Egypt's victories solidified the kingdom's position as the undisputed naval power of the eastern Mediterranean; his fleet of 112 ships bore the most powerful naval siege units of the time, guaranteeing the king access to the coastal cities of his empire. The Ptolemaic sphere of power extended over the Cyclades to Samothrace, and the harbours and coast towns of Cilicia Trachea, Pamphylia, Lycia and Caria. In 275/4 BC, Ptolemaic forces invaded Nubia and annexed the Triakontaschoinos.