Ancient Coin Stories

Ptolemy II Philadelphos was responsible for completing one of the ancient great wonders of the world, and for finishing what may have been the greatest library in existence.

The wonder, of course, is the Pharos of Alexandria. This was a lighthouse of such importance that the word for “lighthouse” in a number of languages remains the same. It was also the model on which many lighthouses of the time were built, and remained in use well into the Islamic times until multiple earthquakes finished it off.

The Great Library of Alexandria was at the time the largest library in existence. Who knows how different the world would be today if we still had all the works on its shelves. Alas, it was destroyed – though we’re uncertain when. During the Roman civil war, a large portion of Alexandria burned under Caesar, but we don’t know if the library was part of that.

Ptolemy Philadelphos wasn’t destined to be the heir to his father, Ptolemy I Soter. Initially that should have been Ptolemy Keraunos. However, Keraunos‘ major problem was that he was an asshole, which his father eventually learned. When their father gave the reigns to Ptolemy II, a literal bloodbath resulted in the deaths of several of Keraunos‘ brothers and the eventual downfall of the House of Lysimachos, who was married to Ptolemy Philadelphos’ sister Arsinoe II, but whose son Agathokles was married to Ptolemy Keraunos‘ full sister.

Eventually, Lysimachos executed Agathokles, whose wife fled to Seleukos, who killed Lysimachos, but then Seleukos was killed by Ptolemy Keraunos, whose head was placed on a spike by the Gauls. Arsinoe II, after her two youngest children were killed by Ptolemy Keraunos, fled with her remaining son Ptolemy Epigonos (the Egyptians really got carried away with calling people “Ptolemy”) back to Egypt where she married her full brother, Ptolemy II Philadelphos.

After that, Ptolemy II felt things should go back to normal so he got involved in some wars. He feueded with Magas in Cyrene and Antiochos I in Syria. While Ptolemy I Soter and Seleukos I Nikator had been close friends who avoided conflicts, such was not the case with their children. The two houses would continue to fight wars until Rome occupied both several hundred years later.

Ideally we should have been able to read about these details and more in the Library of Alexandria, but sadly not even the location of the library itself is known.