2005/11/01 by Sheila L. Ager · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Biblical Studies and Interpretation
paper · doi:10.1017/s0075426900007084
openalex publication_date 2005/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/03
This paper examines the problem of Ptolemaic incest from a variety of cross-disciplinary perspectives. Specifically, it seeks to establish the following: that there is little in the ancient record to support the common claim that the Ptolemies suffered extensively from the deleterious genetic effects of inbreeding; that the various theories so far put forward as explanations for Ptolemaic incest offer at best only a partial rationale for this dynastic practice; that the most compelling rationale for Ptolemaic incest is to be found in complex, and perhaps unconscious, symbolic motivations analogous to those observed by anthropologists in other cultures; and finally, that, for the Ptolemies, incest was, like the "truphê" for which they were so notorious, a dynastic signature which highlighted their singularity and above all, their power.