Biography:Epigonos of Telmessos

Epigonos of Telmessos (Greek: Επίγονου του Τελμησσόυ, flourished 3rd century BC), also known as Epigonos was a Greek Prince from Asia Minor.

Family Background

Epigonos was the second born son to Ptolemy I Epigone by an unnamed Greek aristocratic mother and had an older brother called Lysimachus of Telmessos. Epigonos’ father Ptolemy, was a Greek Prince who through marriage and adoption was to be the first intended heir of the Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Epigonos through his father, was a relation to three of the Diadochi of the Greek King Alexander the Great: Lysimachus, Ptolemy I Soter and the powerful Regent Antipater.

His paternal grandfather was Thessalian Lysimachus who was King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedonia His paternal grandmother was Arsinoe II, a Ptolemaic Greek Macedonian Princess who married his paternal grandmother as his third wife who later married her full-blooded brother Ptolemy II Philadelphus as her third husband and through marriage became Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Arsinoe II was a daughter born to Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I of Egypt. Ptolemy I was the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt and Berenice I was the great-niece of the powerful Regent Antipater, through her maternal grandfather Cassander, the brother of Antipater.

Life

Little is known on the life of Epigonos, as he was a part of the Lysimachid dynasty, which is also known as the Ptolemaic/Lysimachid dynasty in Lycia in ruling the city of Telmessos. He was born at an unknown date either in his father’s co-regency of the Ptolemaic Kingdom with Ptolemy II in Alexandria Egypt which was from 267 BC until 259 BC or when his father was the first Ptolemaic Client King of Telmessos in Lycia. His father ruled Telmessos from late 259 BC until his death in February 240 BC. and his brother Lysimachus succeeded their father as the second Ptolemaic Client King of Telmessos who ruled from early 240 BC until his death in 206 BC.

Epigonos’ known name is his second name which is his Epithet which means in Greek heir. The first name of Epigonos is unknown and his first name may have been either Ptolemy or Antipater. His Epithet is attested from his father. Epigonos is only known from surviving inscriptions from Telmessos and dedication inscriptions from the Greek island of Delos.

As his family likely had relative autonomy from Ptolemaic control increased and Ptolemaic power declined rapidly and dramatically outside of Egypt after the death of Ptolemy III Euergetes in 222 BC, probably Epigonos with his family had the motive and opportunity for divorcing themselves from Ptolemaic suzerainty. At an unknown date, Epigonos with his brother and their families were enjoying excellent cordial relations with the Seleucid monarch Antiochus III the Great. Antiochus III reigned from 222 BC until 187 BC, was an enemy of the Ptolemies who was at the time expanding Seleucid power in Asia Minor. By an unnamed wife, he had a son called Antipater Epigonos.

Sources

• Lysimachus’ article at Livius.org
• Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I
• Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe II
• Ptolemaic Genealogy: Ptolemy "the Son"
• Ptolemy ‘the Son’ Reconsidered: Are there too many Ptolemies?, Jennifer Ann Tunny, University of Queensland, 2000
• R.S. Bagnall, The administration of the Ptolemaic possessions outside Egypt, Brill Archive, 1976
• R.A. Billows, Kings and colonists: aspects of Macedonian imperialism, BRILL, 1995