ABSTRACT
Apama and Stratonike were the first two women in the Seleukid dynasty, and therefore founders of that family’s political system alongside the kings whom they married and mothered. Through their status, personalities, and actions these royal women helped establish the Hellenistic basilissa as the paramount legitimating figure for royal dominance. The evidence for Apama and Stratonike’s careers is limited, but runs the gamut from propagandistic courtly romances to inscriptional dedications and decrees. From it, we can see the kinds of pragmatic actions that the women undertook to bolster their dynasty’s standing, the ways they were characterized and honored, and the patterns of royal female behavior they set as a legacy for later generations.
