r to that of modern times.

Ptolemy Soter, like his successors, was very fond of women, and
recognized fully the influence to be gained by political marriage.
Alexander, at the famous wedding feast, married his general to the
daughter of one of the noblest of the Persians, but we hear nothing
further of this union. His first political marriage was with Eurydice,
daughter of Antipater, the old regent, and some years later he married
Berenice, the grandniece of Antipater. He did not divorce Eurydice, but
openly adopted the practice of polygamy, which was sanctioned in both
Macedon and Egypt. The two wives seem to have lived together amicably,
but Berenice was the favorite. She was a woman of amiable but strong
character, and she maintained unbroken ascendency over her husband. So
skilful was her diplomacy that her son Magas, the fruit of a former
marriage, was appointed King of Cyrene, while her son Ptolemy was made
her husband's successor on the throne of Egypt, to the exclusion of
Eurydice's much older son, Ceraunus.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, son of Berenice, succeeded to the throne of Egypt
in B.C. 285, and for forty years was the most famous monarch in the
world. His court was renowned for its splendor and magnificence, and
may be aptly compared to the courts of Haroun al Raschid and Lorenzo de'
Medici, and here too woman played her part. Philadelphus's first wife
was Arsinoe I., daughter of Lysimachus, King of Thrace, who bore him
several children. It is not known definitely why Philadelphus divorced
her, but there is a story that she was detected plotting against his
life, which resulted in her divorce and banishment. The second wife was
likewise named Arsinoe, Ptolemy's own full sister. This match proved to
be a very happy one. Arsinoe had had an eventful career. Daughter of
Ptolemy and Berenice, she first became the wife of King Lysimachus of
Thrace, and at his untimely death she married Ptolemy Ceraunus, her
half-brother, the banished son of Eurydice. She and her husband caused
the murder of Agathocles, the rightful heir of Lysimachus, and Ceraunus
later murdered the children of Arsinoe by Lysimachus. After such an
experience in crime and misfortune, at the death of her second husband
she retired for a season,--a widow of middle age,--and then emerged to
become the consort of her brother Philadelphus. Arsinoe herself first
assumed the title Philadelphus, "loving her brother," by which the king
came to be known in l