The Dating of The Pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus PDF

The Dating of the Pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Author(s): Victoria Foertmeyer

Source: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Bd. 37, H. 1 (1st Qtr., 1988), pp. 90-104
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436040
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THE DATING OF THE POMPE OF PTOLEMY II
PHILADELPHUS
The description of the Pompe of Philadelphus, narrated hundreds of years

after the event by Athenaeus', has produced much speculation. There are two
questions central to the debate. In what year did the Pompe occur? and, Was the
Pompe a celebration of the Ptolemaieia ?2 The Pompe clearly was held sometime
during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, after the death of Soter. 3 There are
several details about the festival which are incompatible with a date in the 260's
or 250's B.C. The first is the procession named after the parents of the rulers
(Athen. 197D). Arsinoe II died in the month of Pachon of Philadelphus'
fifteenth year, i. e., sometime between June 27 and July 26, 270 B.C.4 Since
Philadelphus did not marry again or have a co-regent, it is difficult to see who
would be meant by the plural 'rulers', besides Arsinoe and her brother.
Berenice I, the mother of Philadelphus, is honored in the course of the
I Callixeinus' account of the Pompe (Felix Jacoby, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker,
no 627 'Kallixeinos von Rhodos' fr. 2) is cited by Athenaeus as his source for The Deipnosophists
196-203. Jacoby tentatively offers the first year of the reign of Philopator (221 B.C., according to
Heinz Heinen in CAH2 (1984) VII pt. 1 pg. 435) to circa 150 B.C. as Callixeinus'floruit. Athenaeus
puts the description into the mouth of the deipnosophist Masourios (196A). Callixeinus' source is
probably the penteteric records (Athenaeus 197D). It is impossible to determine whether Athenaeus
quoted from Callixeinus in full or not. In this paper, therefore, the third-hand description will be
referred to as 'the text', whether Athenaeus or Callixeinus is thought to be its principal author.
2 Throughout the ensuing discussion, I shall designate the Pompe in its entirety as 'Pompe', or
'festival'. On the other hand, each individual item, such as the procession of the Morning Star, will
be termed a 'procession'. This is in keeping with the terminology utilised in the text: both the
singular (nop.n - 196A and 197C) and the plural (no[tna( - 201F) are used to describe the entire
exhibition, while simultaneously each division is referred to as a nop_nt in the singular (197E and
202F - of Dionysus; 202A - of Zeus). Additionally, some of the individual processions are described
substantively in the feminine singular (197D - of the Morning Star, the one named after the parents
of the rulers, and of the Evening Star). The antecedent is most probably 3ro[vnj. The Pompe can
therefore be defined as a festival consisting of a collection of processions.
3 In Theocritus Idyll XVII lines 13ff., Soter is said to go up to heaven to join Heracles and
Alexander. Then (ibid. lines 45ff.), Berenice is deified by Aphrodite. The ordering in Theocritus
may signify the order of their deaths: Soter first, followed by Berenice. Fraser (Ptolemaic
Alexandria (PA) (Oxford 1972), i p. 224 and ii p. 373 n. 283) notes that Berenice is not mentioned as
an honorand in Syll.3 390 (Decree of the Nesiotic League concerning the establishment of the
Ptolemaieia). This indicates that she was alive c. 280 B.C., at the time that the decree was issued. It is
safe to assume that Ptolemy I Soter was no longer alive at the time of the Pompe. His death occurred
before that of his wife Berenice, and she died before the Pompe was held (Athen. 202D noted in this
paper below).
4 The hieroglyphic inscription is in K. H. Sethe, Hieroglyphische Urkunden, (Leipzig 1904-16),
II p. 40.
Historia, Band XXXVII/1 (1988) ? Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Sitz Stuttgart
The Dating of the Pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus 91
procession by having a huge gold crown hung over the door of the Bere
(Athen. 202D). This can only mean that she was deceased by the time of the
Pompe, an event that occurred after her husband's death in 283/2, but before
the death of Arsinoe in 270 B.C.5
Another entry that would only be suitable in the earlier part of Philadel-
phus' reign is the figure of the city of Corinth (201D). In view of the
circumstances surrounding the Chremonidean War of the 260's, and the
subsequent eclipse of Ptolemaic influence in the Aegean, the emphasis on
Antigonid Corinth in the Pompe is not comprehensible, except in the 280's or
270's B.C.6 The terminus ante quem for the Pompe is therefore 270 B.C.
The Year of the Pompe
By using astronomical information which is contained within Athenaeus'

text, it is possible to discover the year in which the Pompe was held. After
determining the year, I will then examine other evidence in order to determine
whether the Pompe was a Ptolemaieia.
The season of the year for the Pompe is furnished in the description of the
pavilion, which was set up to entertain special guests (Athen. 196). All sorts of
flowers were in bloom despite the season, the middle of winter (Athen. 196D).
Given the subtropical climate, plants that were normally dormant elsewhere in
the winter months could flower in the winter in Egypt.
The next piece of evidence has been heretofore unnoticed. The first
procession in the Pompe was that of the Morning Star, for the reason that the
Pompe began at a time when that star appears (Athen. 197D):
tQWhTTI &' ia43Thttv f 'Ewo4Qov xcti y6? &X1V ExLEV " 3to",uT xato' ov o
JTQOE&Lq1jvo 5 flCFTQ XatNvECTQ L y6vov.
The last section of the Pompe was that dedicated to the Evening Star,
because the season brought the time round to this point (Athen. 197D):
TflV b TE4XTaTCEV 'EanTtQov (7UV4PaiLVEV E'LVUEL, Tr5 WOg ELC TOrnO [1L'
TOUTOv Kaibel] ovVEyoT0rlg T'OV XaLLQOv.
Scholars have interpreted this to mean that the collection of processions
which made up the Pompe began in the morning and ended in the evening of
the same day, with w-ca translated as 'hour of the day', instead of 'season'.
This time constraint, for which there is no evidence in the text, is too narrow
Theocritus Idyll XV (Adoniazusae) lines 106-8 - Berenice I becomes immortalized by

Aphrodite at her death. Arsinoe is sponsoring the tableaux of Adonis and Aprodite, and can be
assumed to be alive. Therefore, the date of Berenice's death must be prior to June/July 270 B.C.,
when Arsinoe died (n. 4).
h Edouard Will, CAH2 VII Pt. 1 p. 55 - In 308 B.C., Ptolemy I garrisoned Corinth, Sicyon,
and Megara. J. N. Svoronos, Ta NOt(dOj1TQ Toi KearoTs TlOVI 1ToXFqAC(0)V (Athens 1904), III
(Plate I nos. 18-21) publishes the Ptolemaic issues of Corinth and Sicyon.
92 VICTORIA FOERTMEYER
because of the large scale of the Pomp

commentator suggests that the time
with the final segment ending in the evening, in order to conform to the
perceived stipulation concerning the procession of the Evening Star (Athen.
197D).7
A very important point, however, has been overlooked in these discussions.
The Pompe started at a time when the Morning Star appears in the heavens. I
interpret this to mean that it began not on any morning, but during an
appearance of the Morning Star, which is a cyclical event. Similarly, the
Pompe ended with a procession of the Evening Star, when enough time had
passed to reach a critical point. I interpret this critical point (o xCaLQg) to mean
the appearance of the Evening Star, another cyclical event.
The festival would have taken place over a much longer span of time than
just a day or two. In the ancient world, the Morning Star was the appellation
of the planet Venus in its visible stage (for Earthbound observers) from inferior
conjunction to superior conjunction with the Sun. The Evening Star was the
same planet in its visible stage from superior conjunction to inferior
conjunction with the Sun. By the Ptolemaic era, the planet Venus had been
identified as the Morning and Evening Star8, and its cycle of visibility and
invisibility was probably well known. Authors in the Roman period attributed
I E. E. Rice, The Grand Procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Oxford 1983), p. 36. She
elsewhere (p. 126) conjectures that if the figures for the final display, the military parade, are
accepted, then that segment alone must have lasted for the better part or all of one day (Athen.
202F-203A). Fritz Caspari ('Studien zu dem Kallixeinosfragment Athenaios 5, 197 c-203 b'
Hermes 63 (1933) 400-14) states that it ought to have taken at least three full days for the various
processions and competitions (pp. 412-3). The extension of time limits for the festival would also
help solve Scullard's elephant shortfall (The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World (Ithaca,
New York 1974), pp. 124-5). He hypothesizes that until Philadelphus set up his own supply
network for African elephants in the 260's B.C., the king would have had only a sinall number left
over from the days of Soter's campaigns. Scullard tries to produce the lowest possible total by
allotting only one elephant per chariot in the procession of Dionysus, and then allowing four for
the statue of Dionysus, bringing it to a total of 28 elephants. But if the procession was spread over
more than one day, it would have been possible to use the same elephants in several differcnt
events.
I Stephanie West ('Venus Observed? A Note on Callimachus, Fr. 11I0', CQ n. s. 35 (1985),
61-66) pp. 61-3 - Venus as a planet was established by the third century B.C. The poets, such as
Callimachus (fr. 291), still called it Phosphorus/Heosphorus or Hesperus (ibid. p. 64). The
Morning Star was described separately from the planlet Mercury by Plato in the rimacus (38D). A
work doubtfully attributed to Plato (Epinomis 987b) equates Heosphoros and Hesperos with
Aphrodite. Chalcidius (ed. J. H. Waszink, Timacus of Plato, London 1962) in Chapter 110 states
that Heraclides Ponticus (floruit in the fourth century B.C.) determined that the Morning and
Evening Stars were the same planet, located sometinmes east, sometimes west of the Sun. Aristotle
(Metaphysics 1073b 17ff.) alludes to the theory of Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408-355 B.C.) whenl he
refers to 'the planets of Aphrodite and of Hermes'. I assume that the heavenily body referred to as
the Morning Star and the Evening Star in Athenaeus' text is Venus, and no other, such as Mercury.
The Dating of the Pompe of Ptolemy I1 Philadelphus 93
the discovery of the dual identity of the same planet variously to the
Pythagoreans and Parmenides.9
The period of invisibility, from Venus' disappearance as the Morning Star to
its appearance as the Evening Star, is not one day, but several weeks or even
months, depending upon many factors, such as latitude, topography, phase of
the moon, and the weather. At inferior conjunction, on the other hand (when
Venus disappears as the Evening Star to re-appear as the Morning Star), the
period of invisibility lasts only a few days. This is because Venus sweeps out a
much shorter distance with respect to the Earth during inferior conjunction
than during superior conjunction. See FIG. I which accompanies this paper. '0
Employing Tuckerman's tables for the elongation of Venus from the Sun",
and remembering that the Pompe takes place in winter (Athen. 196D), there is
only one occasion in the decade from 280 to 270 B.C. in which Venus passes
from the morning sky to the evening sky in the winter months. This is
December 275 through February 274 B.C."2 The first Ptolemaieia is now
known to have been held in the Egyptian year 279/8 B.C., the penteteric
anniversary of Soter's death (283/2 B.C.).'3 The date of the Pompe in
Athenaeus therefore falls in the year of the second Ptolemaieia, the Egyptian
year October 31, 275 to October 30, 274 B.C.'4
" Diogenes Laertius 8.14, 9.23; Pliny NH 2.37.

? FIG. I is adapted from Fig. 16 on p. 121 of 0. Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity
(Amsterdam 1968).
11 Tuckerman, Bryant, 'Planetary, Lunar, and Solar Positions, 601 B.C. to A.D. 1', Mem. Am.
Phil. Soc. 56 (1962), p. 196.
12 Transitions of Venus from Morning to Evening Star in the 270's B.C.: Mar - May 279 B.C.
(spring), Sep - Nov 278 B.C. (fall), May - Jul 276 B.C. (summer), Dec 275 - Feb 274 B.C.
(winter), Jul - Sep 273 B.C. (late summer), Mar - May 271 B.C. (spring), Sep - Nov 270 B.C.
(fall). Other years during Philadelphus' reign with transitions from the Morning to the Evening
Star in winter: Dec 283 - Feb 282 (before Soter's death in 282); Dec 267 - Feb 266; Dec 259 - Feb
258; Dec 251 - Feb 250. Because Venus completes five synodic periods every eight years, the years
in the 260's and 250's all happen to be penteteric aniversaries of Soter's death, and thus coincide
with celebrations of the Ptolemaieia.
13A. E. Samuel, Ptolemaic Chronology (Munch. Beitr. Papyr. 43, Munich 1962), pp. 29f. -
Soter was still alive otn January 7, 282 B.C., but was dead by summer. T. L. Shear, Kallias of
Sphettos and the Revolt of Athens in 286 B.C. (Hesperia Supp. XVII, Princeton 1978), p. 37 - the
first Ptolemaieia was prior to the preparations for the Greater Panathenaia, which would have
been held in the summer of 278 B.C. Thus, the Egyptian year for the first Ptolemaieia would have
been 279/8 B.C.
'4 Egyptian New Year's Days are given by T. C. Skeat, The Reigns of the Ptolemies (Munch.
Beitr. Papyr. 39, Munich 1954), p. 10. H. von Prott ('Das FVX6[toV Fi; IT0oXxov und die
Zeitgeschichte', Rh. Mus. 53 (1898), 460-76) p. 463 deduced that the Pompe was the 275/4
Penteteris/Ptolemaieia. He relied upon TlOV PiacOL4Ov (Athen. 197D) as evidence that Arsinoe II
was already married to Philadelphus (p. 462). W. Franzmeyer (Kallixenos' Bericht icber das
Prachtzelt und den Festzug Ptolemaeus II, Strassburg 1904, pp. 6ff.), and W. W. Tarn (Antigonus
Gonatas, (Chicago 1969), p. 261 n. 10) are in agreement with von Prott that the Pompe is the
Ptolemaieia of 275/4 B.C.
The processions in the Pompe were viewed in the stadium (197C, 197E, and
200B), and it can be assumed that many of the athletic competitions (obliquely
referred to in the text at 198C and 203A) took place there. Since these events of
the festival were confined to a small area, they were probably not very
disruptive of daily life in the city.
It may seem absurd to propose that the Pompe was a festival conducted over
such a great period of time. But it was in keeping with the general increase in
scale for celebrations during Hellenistic times. For example, the Greater
Dionysia at Athens was more that twice as long in the Hellenistic era as it had
been in the fifth century. "
The activities of the Ptolemaic Pompe could have easily been spread over
several weeks. They included many processions dedicated to various deities
(197D, 197E, 202A, 202F) and to the dynasty itself (197D), a military parade
(203A), tableaux depicting mythological scenes (200B-C), and exhibitions of
exotic beasts (200B-C, 201F). It can also be inferred that athletic games (198C,
203A) and musical (201F) and dramatic performances (198C) were offered, as
well as symposia at the pavilion (197B).
The festival of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Athen. 194C - 195F = Polybius
30.25-6), presented at Daphne (near Antioch) in 166 B.C., is an excellent
Hellenistic parallel to the Pompe of Philadelphus. Like Philadelphus' exhibi-
tion, this festival featured a military review, games, wild beasts, and
mythological tableaux. Also similar to the Alexandrian Pompe, it took place
over a period of several weeks: Athenaeus quotes Polybius as stating that it
was thirty days in length (195C). The lengthening of festivals appears to have
been a Hellenistic trend.
Table I - Values for the angle v between the ecliptic and the horizon when Venus appears as the
Morning Star (eastern rising - before late January 274 B.C.), anid as the Evening Star (western
setting - after late January 274 B.C.)
Location Latitude v capricorn' v aquarius- v pisces? v aries?
Clima III 30;22 56;28 44;49 79;55 83;29

Lower Egypt
Alexandria 31;13 55;30 43;53 79;03 82;38
(linear interpolation)
Clima IV 36;00 50;01 38;36 74;07 77;51
Rhodes
15 Sir Arthur Pickard-Cambridge, The Dramatic Festivals of Athens2 pp. 654 (with references)
states that the Greater Dionysia at Athens, which ran from the eighth to the thirteenth or
fourteenth of Elaphebolion in the fifth century, was extended even to the twenty-first of that
month in Hellenistic times.
Morning Star
|~~~ E
SC /
Evening Star
Figure I: Diagram illustrating the configurations of the Sun (S) Earth (E), and
conjunction (IC), superior conjunction (SC), first appearance as Morning Star
as Morning Star (E), first appearance as Evening Star (_), and last appearance
This is a modified form of Fig. 16 on p. 121 of The Exact Sciences in Antiqui
by 0. Neugebauer. Not drawn to scale.
Table 1I - Values (h) for the perpendicular distance of the Sun to the horizon when Venus is passing
through the horizon, where h = AX sin v + 3 cos v.
h capricorn- h aquarius- h pisces-- h aries*
Alexandria 6;35 - 0;08 6;05 14;11
The values for v (and consequently h) perta

zero point of each sign. With reference to Tu
O? Capricorn on Dec. 24, 275 (winter solstice
23; and O? Aries = Mar. 25, 274 (vernal equinox).
Calculations
I shall now discuss in detail the astronomical considerations which

permitted me to determine the Winter of 275/4 B.C. as the certain date for the
Pompe. All of the planets visible to the naked eye lie in approximately the
same plane as the Sun and the Earth. To an observer on Earth, they appear to
travel along roughly the same path in the sky as the Sun, called the ecliptic.
Venus, being an inner planet with respect to the Earth, either follows or
precedes the Sun by no more than 47 degrees of elongation from the Sun along
the ecliptic. When the elongation of Venus is less than the Sun's elongation, the
planet appears as the Morning Star to Earthbound observers. When the
elongation of Venus exceeds that of the Sun, the planet appears as the Evening
Star. The entire cycle, from Morning Star, to superior conjunction and
invisibility (when Venus is on the far side of the Sun), to Evening Star, to
inferior conjunction and invisibility (when Venus is directly between the Earth
and the Sun), and back to Morning Star again, is slightly under 584 days.
The length of time that Venus remains invisible depends upon the limit of
visibility or arcus visionis, defined as the minimum angular distance of the Sun
96 VICTORIA FOERTMIEYER
below the horizon when the planet is passing through the horizon. 16 Although
it is very doubtful that Alexandrian sky-watchers were able to calculate the
dates for the Pompe, they were certainly relying on observations of the
Morning and Evening Stars in order to determine when to hold the various
events the Pompe comprised. I am making use of the concept of the arcus
visionis in order to track Venus in the winter of 275/4 B.C., and thus to obtain
an approximation of the temporal limits to the festival.
The arcus visionis is a function of climate, geographical latitude, and
brightness of the planet. According to Claudius Ptolemy (Almagest 13.8'7),
the naked-eye limit of visibility for Venus is 5? at the latitude where the longest
day is 14 '/ hours, i. e., latitude 33;18'N."X At a separation of less than the
arcus visionis, atmospheric glare from the Sun prevents Venus from being
observed on Earth. The latitude of Alexandria, Egypt is 31;13?N, and could
plausibly be assigned an arcus visionis value of 50 for the visibility of Venus.
As stated above, the periods of Venus' visibility as Morning or Evening Star
are approximately ten months in length. The period of invisibility at the time
of superior conjunction (when Venus disappears in the morning to re-appear in
the evening) lasts many weeks for naked-eye observers. Pliny the Elder (NH
2.78), in a section in which he claims original work (above at NH 2.71), states
that [at superior conjunction] Venus is invisible 52 to 69 days. These values
have been employed to compute arcus visionis values of 70 to 9?. '9 But because
Pliny does not specify his geographical location or the time of year, his values
for Venus' invisibility cannot be assumed for the dating of the Pompe in
Alexandria.
Table II has been generated by using Tuckerman's tables20 and the following
equation. 21
h = Aksinv+I3cosv (1)
16 John D. Weir ('The Venus Tablets: A Fresh

7G. Toomer, Ptolemy's Almagest (London 1984), pp. 638-40.
Ix For other ancient values of the arcus visionis at approximately the same latitude, see: D.
Goldsmith, 'Cuneiform Evidence for Venus' (pp. 134-5 in P. J. Huber, ed., Scientists Confront
Velikovsky, Ithaca 1971). At Babylon (latitude 32; 33?N), the range of arcus visionis values for
Venus, based on observations c. 1600 B.C., is 5.2 to 7.9?. Arcus visionis values computed from
observations in Pharaonic Egypt range from 8.6 to 9.40 (Richad Parker, The Calendars of Ancient
Egypt, Chicago 1950 p. 7), but are unusable because it is not specified whether they apply to
observations of Venus or not. They are probably only valid for observations of stars of magnitudes
less than that of Venus, and hence are higher than the Babylonian values.
09 O. Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy (HAMA) ii (New York
1975), p. 833.
20 Tuckerman (n. I1) p. 196 - solar and planetary longitudes for 275 and 274 B.C.
21 The equation is from Ptolemy's Almagest 13.7 (Neugebauer HAMA i p. 235 - the calculation
of the arcus visionis for each planet).
In this equation, v is the angle between the ecliptic and the horizon. Value
v are presented in Table I. They have been obtained for the latitude of
Alexandria (31; 1 3?N) by interpolating linearly between values given for
Climata III (Lower Egypt - 30;22?N) and IV (Rhodes - 36;00?N) in
Neugebauer.22 Ak and P are the elongation from the Sun and the latitude of
Venus, respectively (in relation to the Sun's position), and are obtained from
Tuckerman.
As stated above, the minimum plausible arcus visionis for Alexandria, Egypt
is approximately 50, which Ptolemy calculated for latitude 33;180N.23 Optimal
viewing conditions (such as clear air, no clouds on the horizon, no buildings,
trees, or hills, and the absence of the Moon from the vicinity) would have to be
assumed. Choosing an arcus visionis of 5?, and interpolating linearly between
the values for December 24 and January 23 in Table II, I propose that Venus
would last have appeared as the Morning Star on December 31, 275 B.C. This
would have been the latest date on which the opening procession of the
Morning Star would have been held (Athen. 197D), and it may very well have
been held earlier, even around the first day of the Egyptian New Year on
October 31, 275 B.C. (hence the figure of 'EvtIAoT6g mentioned in the
company of 1cvtruCTetj at Athen. 198A-B).
Superior conjunction (where the longitudes of Venus and the Sun are equal)
would have occurred on or around January 29, 274 B.C. By February 16, the
perpendicular distance of the Sun to the horizon would have reached 50 at
Venus-set. This is probably the earliest possible date for the procession of the
Evening Star, mentioned in the text as the concluding event of the Pompe
(Athen. 197D). The minimum amount of time for Venus' invisibility at
superior conjunction would therefore be 48 days, from December 31, 275 to
February 16, 274 B.C.
The festival excerpted from Callixeinus' account by Athenaeus (197D)
would have fallen between mid- or late December and the latter part of
February. Instead of the duration of only a day, as previously assumed, the
22 Neugebauer (HAMA i p. 47 Table 3) furnishes a table for the angle v at 0? of each zodiacal
sign. His values for v were obtained by subtracting 90? from the table of 'eastern angles' in
Ptolemy, which were the angles between the ecliptic and the altitude circle at sunrise. I have
interpolated linearly between the v - values given for Climata III (Lower Egypt - 30; 220N) and IV
(Rhodes - 36; 00?N) to obtain the appropriate angles for Alexandria (latitude 31; 13?N). Since the
table in Neugebauer (p. 47) is only for eastern risings, values for v after Venus has passed superior
conjunction (western settings) are obtained by counting six signs ahead in his table. Once v -
values for December through March have been found, the equation for h (the perpendicular
distance between the Sun and the horizon when Venus passes through the horizon) can be solved.
Sin v and cos v are easily obtained; AX (the absolute value of the difference between the
elongations of Venus and the Sun), and f (the latitude of Venus, which happens to be negative for
the winter of 275/4 B.C.) are tabulated in Tuckerman (n. 11), or can be interpolated.
23 G. Toomer, Ptolemy's Almagest (London 1984), pp. 638-40.
98 VICTORIA FOERTMFYER
Pompe would have been staged over a considerable period of time, perhaps the
entire period of invisibility. It is only possible to give this crude estimate for
the date of the Pompe, Winter 275/4 B.C., because of the lack of additional
evidence in the narrative that would aid in dating it more precisely, such as the
phase of the moon or the heliacal rising of a constellation on the day of the first
procession.
The Middle of Winter
There is a problem posed by the phrase 'in the middle of winter' x"Tra nLEov
XEtova (Athen. 197D). The text might generally be referring to any time in
the winter season. If my hypothesis that the festival lasted for the entire season
is correct, then there is no special meaning attached to 'the middle of winter'.
Two other possibilities exist, however. The 'middle of winter' could refer to
the winter solstice, on December 24, 275 B.C. (in the same sense that
'midsummer' in English refers to the summer solstice of June 21st, and not the
middle of the season of summer, which would be approximately the first of
August). The passage in Callixeinus could then mean that the festival occurred
around the time of the solstice. Linearly interpolating from Table II, the
normal value of the Sun's position for December 24, 275 B.C. is 6;35?, a
reasonable arcus visionis value.
An extremely remote possibility exists that the first day of the festival can be
dated precisely. There is one classical attestation of [xEoos x(Etwv with
reference to a specific day of the year. This is attributed to Euctemon, an
astronomer who flourished in the latter part of the fifth century B.C. The
reference is found in an appendix to Geminus' Elements of Astronomy.24 In
Geminus' version of Euctemon's calendar, the fourteenth day in Capricorn
(January 6) is termed tkEJos XEL[t6V 'midwinter'. January 6 falls midway
between November 8, the beginning of winter marked by the morning setting
of the Pleiades, and March 6, the end of winter, when Arcturus rises in the
evening.25 But, as can be interpolated from Table II, on January 6 the normal
value would have been only 3;54?, which is not a plausible arcus visionis.
Building on the hypothesis that the Pompe occurred in Winter 275/4 B.C.,
in the same year as the second Ptolemaieia, I shall now examine other evidence
contained within the text.
24 C. Manitius, Gemini Elementia Astronomiae (Leipzig 1898) p. 224. Neugebauer places

Geminus in the first century A.D. (HAMA ii p. 580), and dates the calendaric appendix to
approximately the second century B.C. (ibid. p. 587).
25 W. K. Pritchett and B. L. van der Waerden ('Thucydidean Time-Reckoning and Euctemon's
Seasonal Calendar', BCH 85 (1961) 17-52) pp. 34-5, 39.
The Pompe and the Penteteris
The Pompe was classified as a penteteric festival. Not only did the
personification of Penteteris appear in it (Athen. 198B)26, but Callixeinus also
invites readers who want more details about this particular celebration to
examine the records of the Penteteric festivals (197D). Since Callixeinus
flourished no earlier than the reign of Philopator (221-204 B.C.)', he may have
been referring to the cumulative records of the one Penteteric festival, held
quadrennially, hence the plural 'Penteterides'. The plural form does not
necessarily imply that there was more than one type of penteteric festival.27
Several papyri mention the Penteteris.28 The only detail that can be gleaned
from these documents concerning the Penteteris festival itself is that it included
a sacrifice. Although a sacrifice is not explicitly mentioned in Callixeinus, it
can be inferred from the presence of the dining couches in the pavilion (196B
and 197B-C), evidently set up for the sacrificial banquet to be held during the
festival-9, and the two thousand bulls with gilded horns marching before the
procession in honor of Zeus (202A). It remains extremely probable that the
Pompe was a production of the Penteteris.
The Pompe and the Ptolemaieia
If the Pompe is to be accepted as the Ptolemaieia, why does Athenaeus not

explicitly refer to it as the Ptolemaieia in the text? In fact, why does most of his
narrative concentrate on the Dionysiac procession (197E - 201C)? As stated
above1, the third-hand nature of the evidence must be taken into considera-
tion. Callixeinus' sources were probably the records of the Penteterides, to
which he refers at the outset of the account (197D). Only objects made of
silver and gold were to be described (201F). Athenaeus, in turn, has excerpted
Callixeinus, and he may have chosen to emphasize the procession in honor of
the God of Wine because this would have better suited the sympotic setting of
his Deipnosophists.30
26 P. M. Fraser ('Two Hellenistic Inscriptions from Delphi', BCH 78 (1954), 49-67) notes that
the presence of the figure of Penteteris implies that the Pompe was penteteric (p. 57 n. 3). Hans
Volkmann (RE Band XXIII coll. 1578-90 'Ptolemaia') first equates the Ptolemaieia with the
Penteteris, then identifies Philadelphus' Pompe as a Penteteris and thereby a part of the
Ptolemaieia (col. 1579).
27 Fraser (PA ii p. 379 n. 321) admits that the records cited by Callixeinus 'could certainly refer
to the register of successive celebrations of one and the same penteteric festival'.
28 From Rice (n. 7) p. 187: P. Mich. Zen. 46-251 B.C. (no details); P. Ryl. 562 = SB 7645 -
Aug. 16, 251 B.C. (no details); P. Grad. 6 III and PSI 409a (calves for the sacrifice at the
Penteteris).
29 Rice (n. 7) p. 33.
30 Grapes and wine are mentioned as intrinsic parts of the procession in honor of Dionysus
(Athen. 197F, 198Cff.).
100 VICTORIA FOFRTMEYER
If Callixeinus or Athenaeus had claimed to be writing a complete account,

one could argue from silence regarding the focus of the festival. But we have a
heavily edited account. The lack of special emphasis on Soter does not
necessarily imply that the festival was not a Ptolemaieia. The text reflects the
biases of the sources, and, as Callixeinus advises, those who wish to learn more
details about the Pompe should consult the archives of the Penteterides
(I 97D).
Some scholars refuse to identify the Pompe with the Ptolemaieia because,
despite the many references to Soter in the text (197D, 201D, 202B, 203A), the
first Ptolemy does not receive star billing.3' But a re-examination of the text
does not justify this objection. The procession named after the parents of the
rulers (TOeS Tr6V ICWJL4WV a OVE1KJ1 XCtTh)Va[Wo0V1&q) takes first position in the
Pompe, after the leading procession of the Morning Star (197D).3' The
possible dynastic names for this procession are Lageia, Soteria, Basileia, or
Ptolemaieia.33 If Ptolemaieia is meant, then the title of this particular
procession may have provided the name for the entire festival.
In addition to the explicit references to Philadelphus' father cited above, the
eagle, the emblem which was borrowed from Zeus by Ptolemy I Soter, and
which was subsequently employed by the entire Ptolemaic dynasty34, appears
in the text. Gold eagles 15 cubits in height faced each other in the loftiest space
next to the ceiling of the pavilion (Athen. 197A). Later on, gilded eagles 20
cubits tall were exhibited in the procession dedicated to Alexander, during
which a crown was placed on the throne of Ptolemy Soter (Athen. 202B and
D). Since there were other crowns and images of Philadelphus' parents on
31 Rice (n. 7) p. 185, following Fraser (n. 25) pp. 57-8 n. 3 and PA i pp. 231-2.
OGIS 56 = SB 8858 (March 4, 238 B.C.) lines 21-22'. . . to their own parents (yov'iTov) the
Brother-Sister Gods and to their grandparents (aLoy6voLs) the Savior Gods . . .'; it is clear that
the word yovEtMLV means parents, and not ancestors.
'-' There was a Soteria in Alexandria, attested by the Hadra vase of a (Ot(o6s who apparently
died while attending the festival (OGIS 36 - Year 9 of an unspccified ruler; if this refers to Year 9
of Philadelphus, it would be 277/6 B.C., not a year of the Ptolemaieia). As for the Lageia, there
was a building known as the Lageion at Oxyrhynchus in Roman times (P. Oxy. 2553). The Basileia
is mentioned in a papyrus (P. Hal. 1 lines 262-4 - c. 259-3 B.C.) in the same line that the
Ptolemaieia appears, but it is not possible to tell whether the two festivals were celebrated
concurrently or not. Ayiva 'contest' also appears in the same fragmentary line. F. M. Walbank (in
his review of Rice (n. 7) in the Liverpool Classical Monthly 9.4 (April 1984), 52-4) p. 53 discusses
emendations to this passage, but says nothing which bears on the Basileia. The earliest attestation
of the Basileia (268/7 B.C.) concerned the celebration of Philadelphus' birthday (Fraser, PA i p.
232, and ii p. 382 n. 341).
34 R. S. Poole, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum - The Ptolemies, Kings of
Egypt (London 1882) passim, and also Svoronos (n. 6) III Plates passim. The eagle appears on
reverses of gold, silver, and copper issues of Ptolemy I through Cleopatra and Caesarion. Zeus
and the eagle are also connected with the Ptolemies by Theocritus in the Panegyric to Ptolemy
(Idyll XVII lines 71-3).
display during the Pompe, there can be no question but that the Pompe was
concerned with the cult of Ptolemy I Soter and Berenike.
What are the elements that made up the Ptolemaieia during Philadelphus'
reign, according to extant literary and epigraphical sources? It was dedicated
to the memory of the first Ptolemy.3" It was isolympic (penteteric), the first
one being held in 279/8 B.C., the year of the first penteteric anniversary of
Soter's death.36 There were to be games and a sacrifice.37 Sacred ambassadors
were invited to attend from throughout the Mediterranean.38
The Pompe in Athenaeus satisfies all of these criteria. It featured the
procession for the parents of the current rulers in first place after the
introductory procession of the Morning Star (197D), and many honors were
paid to the memory of Soter throughout the festival (197D, 201D, 202B,
203A). It was penteteric (197D and 198B), and, according to the chronological
evidence contained in the narrative (196D and 197D), occurred in the winter of
275/4 B.C. There were contests of music and drama (198C), and of athletics
(203A), and a sacrifice is implied by the presence of the bulls with gilded horns
(202A). Foreigners (196A) and special guests (196E) were present. The special
guests, for whom the pavilion and its garden of delights were constructed,
were undoubtedly Owe(oo sent to the festival.39
The Pompe was the celebration of a penteteric festival. It occurred in the
same year as the second Ptolemaieia, another penteteric festival. Even if more
than one penteteric festival existed at Alexandria, it is not very likely that they
would have been held in the same sequence of years.40 If the only penteteric
festival held at Alexandria in 275/4 B.C. was the Ptolemaieia, then the Pompe
of Callixeinus was the second celebration of the Ptolemaieia.
Arsinoe II
One more controversial point remains. In Athenaeus' account of the

Pompe, Arsinoe II is conspicuous by her absence. Philadelphus' first wife, also
named Arsinoe, had been sent into internal exile c. 280 B.C.41 The date of the
35 Shear (n. 13) p. 3 lines 55-6 'for his father'.

36 Shear (n. 13) p. 37.
37 Syll.3 390 lines 20-22 (contests included gymnastics, poetry, and equestrian competitions);
SEG 13.351; Shear (n. 13) p. 3 lines 55-6.
38 Answers to the invitation, which itself is no longer extant: the Nesiotic League (Syll.3 no.
390); the Delphic Amphictyony (SEG 13.351). Kallias headed the Athenian delegation for the first
Ptolemaieia (Shear (n. 13) p. 3 lines 57-8).
39 Rice (n. 7) pp. 33, 150.
40 Fraser PA i p. 231 states that the Ptolemaieia is the only known isolympic festival in
Alexandria. Walbank (n. 32) p. 53 believes that the Penteteris and the Ptolemaieia are
synonymous.
41 Fraser PA i p. 347 and ii p. 502 n. 46 - Schol. Theocr., xvii, line 128 (p. 324 Wendel).
marriage of Arsinoe II to Philadelphus is unknown, but lies somewhere

between 281/0, when she fled from Ptolemy Ceraunus, and 274/3 B.C., when
she was described as Philadelphus' sister and wife on the Pithom Stele.42 She
died in 270 B.C.4
Arsinoe was identified with many goddesses, including Aphrodite.43 It
would be interesting to establish whether Arsinoe was identified with
Aphrodite at the time of the Pompe. If so, and if the Morning and Evening
Stars were known to have been the planet of Aphrodite, then the entire Pompe
could have been timed to honor Arsinoe II and her Olympian counterpart.
The absence of Arsinoe from the text would therefore indicate that either
Callixeinus or Athenaeus had suppressed the mention of her name. Hence, the
procession named after the cryptic ToLg TwV I3actXtwv yovcikl (Athen. 197D).
A possible reason for the suppression may have been an anti-Spartan bias on
the part of the author(s). Athenaeus or Callixeinus may have been philosophi-
42 Fraser PA ii p. 367 n. 228 - their marriage fell between 279 and 274/3 B.C.
The terminus post quem for the marriage of Philadelphus and Arsinoe 11 is furnished by Justin
24.3.9-10 - Arsinoe fled from Ptolemy Ceraunus on their wedding day, after he had murdered
her two sons during the ceremony. For the approximate date, see Heinz Heinen, in his
Untersuchungen zur hellenistischen Geschichte des 3. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. (Historia Einzelschrif-
ten Heft 20), Wiesbaden (1972) p. 94 'Zeittafel' - Heinen places the marriage of Arsinoe to
Ptolemy Ceraunus (and her simultaneous flight from him after he murdered her two youngest
sons during the ceremony) in the winter of 281/0 or spring of 280 B.C. This date depends upon
the revised date for Ceraunus' murder of Seleucus I, which has been obtained from a cuneiform
king-list in the British Museum (Heinen ibid. p. 20). The terminus ante quem for her marriage to
Philadelphus is found in ?douard Naville, The Store City of Pithom (London 1885), p. 18 line
15 (the Pithom Stele translated into English from hieroglyphs). Ptolemy II in his twelfth year
(October 31, 274 to October 29, 273 B.C.) came to Heroopolis with Arsinoe, whose cartouches
on the stele included the designation 'wife' as well as 'sister'. The exact date is unclear, but
Naville thinks that it is Thoth, the first month of the Egyptian year, which would be October 31
to November 29, 274 B.C. Rice (n. 7) p. 41 refers to Tarn (UHS 46 (1926), p. 161) - Arsinoe
would not have returned to Egypt until Antigonus Gonatas established himself as king of
Macedon. Up until this time (277 B.C., according to Edouard Will in CAH' (1984) vol. VII pt.
1 pg. 117), she was in Samothrace helping her son (by Lysimachus) in his claim to the
Macedonian throne.
43 Fraser PA i 237 cites some evidence in the form of street-names (SB 1025 - Arsinoe receives
attributes of Hera, Athena, Demeter). The same author (PA i pp. 197, 239-40 and ii pp. 331-2 nn.
44-50, and pp. 388-90 nn. 388-93, 396-7, and 400) also mentions various poems (as well as
documentary evidence) to support his case, such as Theocritus Idyll XV (Adoniazusae) lines 22-4:
Arsinoe is said to be sponsoring the dramatizations of the wedding of Aphrodite and Adonis, and
Adonis' subsequent funeral. At lines 110-1, Arsinoe is said to cherish Adonis (i. e., she is equated
with Aphrodite). The performances, if historically genuine, must have been held while the queen
was still alive. We can infer that Arsinoe was already identified with Aphrodite within her lifetime.
Berenice I, the mi-other of Philadelphus and Arsinoe, also had some connection with Aphrodite in
the context of the dynastic cults (Theocritus Idyll XV lines 106-8, and Idyll XVII lines 45ff.:
Berenice is deified by Aphrodite).
cally opposed to Arsinoe and her pro-Sparta policy, many years after the
fact.44
In the text, at the beginning (196A) and again at the conclusion (203B),
Ptolemy II is referred to as 'Philadelphus'. He acquired this name by marrying
his sister, and the royal couple was deified as the Brother-Sister Gods while
they were both still alive, by 272/1 B.C.45 Of course, it is impossible to
determine whether Ptolemy II was already called Philadelphus at the time
of the Pompe, but if he was, then he already must have been married to
Arsinoe II.
Unfortunately, there is really no evidence for these hypotheses about
Arsinoe's marital status at the time of the Pompe. It is perhaps better to leave
Tu6v ia3cLXEwv (Athen. 197D) as an unsolved mystery. For those scholars who
have accepted the Pompe as a Ptolemaieia festival of the 270's, the debate has
focussed upon which of the penteteric anniversaries of the death of Soter it
occurred in: 279/8, 275/4, or 271/0 B.C.46 The determination of the year by
the cycle of Venus obviates fruitless speculation about Arsinoe II.47
Conclusion
The Pompe described by Callixeinus was the second Ptolemaieia, a series of

processions and isolympic competitions which took place at Alexandria
between December 275 and February 274 B.C. The season is given in the text
as winter (196D). The year is determined by finding the winter in the 270's
B.C. in which Venus disappeared as Morning Star and reappeared as Evening
Star, the temporal limits of the festival. Only one year, 275/4 B.C., satisfies
this condition. Because 275/4 B.C. coincides with the penteteric anniversary
of Soter's death, and because the Pompe is itself penteteric, I conclude that the
Pompe is indeed a celebration of the Ptolemaieia, which was established as a
penteteric festival by Ptolemy II Philadelphus in 279/8 B.C.
The status of Arsinoe II cannot be extracted from Callixeinus' account, but
in any case is not crucial to the argument. The Winter 275/4 B.C. date places
the Pompe immediately before the outbreak of the First Syrian War in 274
44 Fraser PA i p. 238 points out that one of Arsinoe's attributes is Chalkioikos 'Athena of the
Brazen House', a well-known Spartan deity. Arsinoe was posthumously responsible for the pro-
Spartan policy of her consort that resulted in the Ptolemaic alliance with King Areus (Syll.3 434/5
lines 16-7 of 266/5 B.C.), and the Chremonidean War.
45 P. Hibeb 199 (272/1 B.C.).
46 Volkmann (n. 25) rejects 279/8 because only Soter was honored in the first installment,
unlike the Pompe in which Berenike is also memorialised, and he rejects 275/4 because of political
considerations. He decides upon 271/0 B.C. as the probable date of the Pompe, citing U. Wilcken
(Sitz.-Ber. Akad. Berl. (1918) 311ff.) and W. G. Otto (Abh. Akad. Munch. 34 pt. 1 (1928) 6ff.).
47 Rice (n. 7) pp. 184-5 briefly gives the pros and cons of these years, which principally depend
upon whether Arsinoe was queen or not.
104 VICTORIA FOFRTMNEYER, The Dating of the Pompe of Ptolemy 11 Philadelphus
B.C. The military parade, described at the end of Athenaeus' excerpt from
Callixeinus (202F-203A), may therefore represent the mobilization for the
war, rather than, as has sometimes been suggested, a celebration of its
success. 48
I wish to acknowledge thanks to Noel Swerdlow for his comments on the
first draft of this paper, and to Otto Neugebauer, Ann Ellis Hanson, and
Dorothy J. Thompson for their comments on the second draft.
Princeton University Victoria Foertmeyer
41 W. G. Otto, Priester und Tempel (Leipzig and Berlin

that the penteteric date for the Pompe was 275/4 B.C., because he viewed the military display
(202F-203A) as part of the mobilization for the First Syrian War later in 274 B.C. On the other
hand, Heinz Heinen (CAH2 VII pt. 1 p. 417) thinks that the Pompe is in connection wvith the
271/0 B.C. Ptolemaieia, in celebration of Philadelphus' triumph after the First Syrian War
(274-1 B.C.). Cf. n. 46 of this paper, in which W. G. Otto's later estimate of 271/0 B.C. as the
date of the Pompe is cited.

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The Dating of the Pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Author(s): Victoria Foertmeyer

The description of the Pompe of Philadelphus, narrated hundreds of years

The Year of the Pompe

By using astronomical information which is contained within Athenaeus'

Theocritus Idyll XV (Adoniazusae) lines 106-8 - Berenice I becomes immortalized by

because of the large scale of the Pomp

" Diogenes Laertius 8.14, 9.23; Pliny NH 2.37.

Location Latitude v capricorn' v aquarius- v pisces? v aries?

Clima III 30;22 56;28 44;49 79;55 83;29

h capricorn- h aquarius- h pisces-- h aries*

Alexandria 6;35 - 0;08 6;05 14;11

The values for v (and consequently h) perta

I shall now discuss in detail the astronomical considerations which

16 John D. Weir ('The Venus Tablets: A Fresh

The Middle of Winter

24 C. Manitius, Gemini Elementia Astronomiae (Leipzig 1898) p. 224. Neugebauer places

The Pompe and the Penteteris

The Pompe and the Ptolemaieia

If the Pompe is to be accepted as the Ptolemaieia, why does Athenaeus not

If Callixeinus or Athenaeus had claimed to be writing a complete account,

One more controversial point remains. In Athenaeus' account of the

35 Shear (n. 13) p. 3 lines 55-6 'for his father'.

marriage of Arsinoe II to Philadelphus is unknown, but lies somewhere

The Pompe described by Callixeinus was the second Ptolemaieia, a series of

Princeton University Victoria Foertmeyer

41 W. G. Otto, Priester und Tempel (Leipzig and Berlin

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