Ptolemy II (308-246 B.C.) was a king of Egypt, the second and greatest of the Lagid dynasty of Macedonian kings who ruled Egypt between 323 and 30 B.C. He was later known by the epithet Philadelphus, "Brother-loving," which he shared with his wife Arsinoë.

Ptolemy was born in Cos, the younger son of Ptolemy I by his favorite wife, Berenice. Small and slightly built and of delicate constitution, Ptolemy II succeeded his father, who abdicated in his favor in 285 B.C.; his elder brother, Ptolemy Ceraunus, was made king of Macedonia.

Consolidation of an Empire

Ptolemy inherited Palestine and resisted the attempts of Antiochus I, the Seleucid king of Syria, to wrest it from him. Ptolemy's ships controlled the eastern Mediterranean, and he was master of Cyprus, the Phoenician coast, and part of northern Syria, while his second marriage brought him possessions in the Aegean. A further...