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EncyclopediaPtolemy IIPtolemy II (Ptolemy Philadelphus) (tol'umē filudel'fus) [key], c.308–246 B.C., king of ancient Egypt (285–246 B.C.), of the Macedonian dynasty, son of Ptolemy I and Berenice (c.340–281 B.C.). He continued his father's efforts to make Alexandria the cultural center of the Greek world. He completed the Pharos and encouraged the translation of the Pentateuch into the Greek Septuagint. Finances were reformed, and a canal was built from the Nile to the Red Sea. He warred against Syria until he married his daughter Berenice to the Syrian Antiochus II. Ptolemy repudiated his wife Arsinoë to marry his sister, also named Arsinoë. Manetho, the Egyptian historian, compiled his history. See P. M. Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria (3 vol., 1972). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. More on Ptolemy II from Infoplease:
- Berenice, city, ancient Egypt - Berenice Berenice or Berenike,city of ancient Egypt, on the Red Sea. Founded by Ptolemy II and ...
- Manetho - Manetho Manetho , fl. 300 B.C., Egyptian historian, a priest at Heliopolis, under Ptolemy I and ...
- Pharos - Pharos Pharos , peninsula, extending into the Mediterranean Sea, N Egypt, NE Africa, forming two ...
- Antiochus II - Antiochus II Antiochus II (Antiochus Theos), d. 247 B.C., king of Syria (261?–247 B.C.), son ...
- Antiochus I - Antiochus I Antiochus I (Antiochus Soter), b. c.324 B.C., d. c.262 or 261 B.C., king of Syria ...
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