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Lagus

 
Lagus¹, of unknown parentage², chronology and career, married one known wife³, Arsinoe⁴ daughter of Meleager, a descendant of the Macedonian royal line⁵, father⁶ of Menelaus⁷ and said to have been the father of Ptolemy I, son of Arsinoe⁸.

[1] Not in PP. Gr: LagoV. The name is given as "Lagos" in all the classical sources and pHibeh 1.84a (though originally read as "Lamachos"), but as "Laägos" (LaagoV) in pEleph 2. Ý

[2] The only thing we are told that may reflect Lagus' ancestry is in the Adulis inscription (OGIS 54, trans. E. R. Bevan, The House of Ptolemy 192f., M. M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest 365 (221)), which states that Ptolemy I was descended on his father's side from Heracles. However, it is not improbable that this reflects a propagandistic tradition that the dynasty was actually descended from Herakles through an alleged descent from Philip II. Ý

[3] It is sometimes suggested that Scol. Theocritus 17.34 should be emended to name Berenice I as a daughter of Lagus. If this suggestion is accepted then Lagus must have married her mother Antigone. For reasons for rejecting this suggestion, see discussion under Berenice I. Ý

[4] Aelian fr 285.17 in Suda, LagoV. Ý

[5] Satyrus (FGrH 631 fr 2), preserved in Theophilus 2.7. See discussion under Arsinoe. Ý

[6] For the suggestion that Scol. Theocritus 17.34 should be emended to name Berenice I as a daughter of Lagus, see discussion under Berenice I. Ý

[7] Plutarch Demetrius 15.2 together with pHibeh 1.84a and pEleph 2. Ý

[8] See discussion under Ptolemy I. Ý

Update Notes:

12 Feb 2002: Add individual charts
18 Feb 2002: Split out into separate entry. Add references to discussions of Lagus as father of Berenice I.
16 Sept 2004: Added Xref to Suda
11 Mar 2005: Added Greek transcription, link to Bevan
12 Sep 2006: Link to Packhard Humanities epigraphical database
7 Nov 2010: Fix broken DDbDP links

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