ABSTRACT
The initial inspiration for the Ptolemaic female royal image seems to have come from earlier periods of Egyptian artistic representation. The first queen to adopt an earlier but specific form of Egyptian image was not the first of the dynasty, but Arsinoe II, who was wife and sister of Ptolemy II and ruled from c. 275 to 270 bc . The new royal pair, Arsinoe II and Ptolemy II, cemented their relationship by presenting themselves as the Theoi Adelphoi or sibling gods, and Ptolemy II took the title Philadelphos or brother-loving, after the title of his queen. Arsinoe II only ruled in Egypt for five years, and we know of no children from the sibling marriage. Following her death she was deified in her own right, allocated her own cult, temples and priestesses and it was decreed that a statue of the new goddess should be placed in every temple in Egypt. Thus like many of her successors Arsinoe II became a temple-sharing goddess and was cared for in the same manner as any traditional Egyptian deity.
