Demetrios (Cyrene)

Demetrios the Fair ( Greek Δημήτριος ὁ Καλός ; † 249/248 BC) was a king of Cyrene .

Demetrios was a son of Demetrios Poliorketes and Ptolemais , daughter of Ptolemy I of Egypt . His older half-brother was Antigonos Gonatas . His first wife was Olympias, daughter of Polykleitos of Larisa , and Antigonos Doson and probably also Echekrates (father of Antigonos ) were their sons together.

After Maga's death , around 250 BC The reunification of Kyrenes with the Ptolemaic empire was imminent. However, Apame , the widow of Magas and daughter of the Seleucid king Antiochus I , opposed reunification , as this would destroy the purpose of their own marriage. She broke off the engagement of her daughter Berenike to Ptolemy III. and called Demetrios the fair one, and offered him her daughter's hand. Demetrios came and, with the help of the party that wanted to continue the politics and form of government of the last decades, was able to get hold of not only the city of Cyrene, but also the associated Libyan area (250 BC).

Berenike, however, did not accept the resignation, took the lead of an opposition group and had Demetrios killed in the bedroom of his future mother-in-law, where he had been caught.

literature

Günther Hölbl : History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN 3-534-10422-6 , pp. 44, 290 A68.
Julius Kaerst : Demetrios 35 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 2793 f.

annotation

^ Eusebius of Caesarea , Chronicon, Book 1 (2008) first book of Chronographia. translated by Andrew Smith. 2008 p. 243. On: tertullian.org

personal data
SURNAME	Demetrios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Demetrios the fair
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	King of Cyrene
DATE OF BIRTH	4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	249 BC BC or 248 BC Chr.

[1] Eusebius of Caesarea , Chronicon, Book 1 (2008) first book of Chronographia. translated by Andrew Smith. 2008 p. 243. On: tertullian.org