For others of this name see Archagathus (disambiguation)
Archagathus (Greek: Άρχάγαθος, flourished possibly late second half of 4th century BC & first half of 3rd century BC) was a Syracusan Greek Prince and was a Ptolemaic Official.[1]
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Archagathus was a man of Sicilian origin and his name was a well-attested local Greek name in Sicily.[2] He was the son born to Agathocles and his third wife Theoxena[3][4] and had a sister called Theoxena.[5][6]
His father Agathocles, was a Greek Tyrant of Syracuse, who later became King of Sicily.[7][8] Archagathus had two paternal-half posthumous brothers: Archagathus and Agathocles[9]; one paternal half-sister Lanassa who was the second wife of King Pyrrhus of Epirus and a posthumous paternal half-nephew Archagathus.[10] He was the namesake of his posthumous brother, nephew and possibly his paternal grandfather.
His mother Theoxena was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. She was the second daughter and third child born to the noblewoman Berenice I and her first husband obscure nobleman Philip.[11] Archagathus’ biological maternal grandfather Philip, served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great and was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx in Alexander’s wars.[12] Archagathus’ maternal grandmother Berenice I, was the great-niece of the powerful Regent Antipater[13] and she was a distant collateral relative to the Argead dynasty.[14] His full blooded maternal uncle was Magas of Cyrene and his full-blooded maternal aunt was Antigone.[15]
His biological maternal grandfather Philip died about 318 BC. After his death, Berenice I travelled with her children to live in Egypt, where she eventually married Ptolemy I Soter the first Greek Pharaoh and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Through his grandmother’s second marriage to Ptolemy I, Berenice I was an Egyptian Queen and the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty[16], thus his mother was a stepdaughter to Ptolemy I and became an Egyptian Princess. His maternal grandmother had with Ptolemy I three children; two daughters, Arsinoe II, Philotera and the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus.[17] Arsinoe II, Philotera were his maternal half-aunts, while Ptolemy II was his maternal half-uncle.
Archagathus was born between 301 BC-298 BC.[18] Along with his sister they were born and raised in Sicily. When Agathocles felt his death was approaching, he had sent away Theoxena and their children to Egypt.[19] Archagathus’ father died in 289 BC and his father declared his kingdom as a democracy on his death.[20][21] Archagathus, his sister with their mother; spent their remaining youth in Egypt, possibly in the court living with Ptolemy I and Berenice I in Alexandria.
Archagathus served in the Ptolemaic administration as an official as an Epistates in Libya.[22] He served under Ptolemy I Soter reigned 305 BC-283 BC; Ptolemy II Philadelphus reigned 283 BC-246 BC[23] and even possibly under Magas when his served as Ptolemaic Governor, later as King of Cyrene in his reign 276 BC–250 BC.[24]
He served as an Epistates in Cyrenaica.[25] As he governed a city in Cyrenaica[26], the city that he oversaw is unknown and the period of time of this is unknown.
According to surviving evidence, Archagathus was a person of high standing[27]; who appeared to be a totally unknown private person[28] and was loyal to his family in particular to his uncle Magas.[29] We also learn from surviving evidence, Archagathus had a wife, a noblewoman of very high status called Stratonice.[30][31] There is no record of any children born to him.
Archagathus and Stratonice on a marble piece, made a dedication of a temenos to Isis and Serapis at Alexandria on behalf of his uncle Ptolemy II and his grandmother Berenice I. The record is dated from ca. 283 BC-278 BC and is on display in the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria.[32] The inscription below translated in Greek and English reads: