Arsinoe I was the second daughter and youngest child born to King
Lysimachus and
Nicaea of Macedon. Her older siblings were
Agathocles and
Eurydice. a nobleman contemporary to King
Philip II of Macedon. Her maternal grandfather was the
Regent Antipater. Arsinoe I shared a name with her grandmother, though it is unknown whether it was the mother of Lysimachus or of Nicaea as both women remain unnamed in ancient sources. and 281 BC, Arsinoe I married her distant maternal cousin,
Ptolemy II Philadelphus,
pharaoh of the
Ptolemaic Kingdom. The marriage was part of Ptolemy's alliance with her father against
Seleucus I Nicator. Through her marriage, she became queen of the Ptolemaic kingdom. Together, she and Ptolemy had three children:
Ptolemy III Euergetes,
Lysimachus of Egypt, and
Berenice. Between after 279-274/3 BC Ptolemy's sister,
Arsinoe II Philadelphos, arrived in Egypt. Arsinoe II had married Lysimachus and was therefore both step-mother and sister-in-law to Arsinoe I. Following the death of Lysimachus, Arsinoe II had married her half-brother,
Ptolemy Keraunos, but fled to Egypt following a dispute. Soon after Arsinoe II's arrival, charges of conspiracy to assassinate Ptolemy II were brought against Arsinoe I. perhaps to Coptos as well. Afterwards, Ptolemy II married his sister, Arsinoe II, and after her death, his children with Arsinoe I were officially regarded as the children of Arsinoe II.
Later life Arsinoe I lived in exile for twenty years. During her exile, she lived in great splendour and enjoyed considerable privilege, since she was the former wife of a pharaoh. Her first son with Ptolemy II succeeded his father after his death. The stele calls Arsinoe I the "king’s wife", but her name is not enclosed in the royal
cartouche as was customary for an Egyptian queen.
Larnakas tis Lapithou pedestal inscription, the
Phoenician inscription found at
Lapithos,
Cyprus, which is dated in the 11th or 12th year in the reign of Ptolemy II, may refer to a sacrifice instituted by Yatonba’al on behalf of "the legitimate scion and his wife", hence refers to Arsinoe I. As Arsinoe I was disgraced as a traitor, the fact the person who did the sacrifice on her behalf strongly suggests that the news of her disgrace had not yet reached him. ==Issue==