Familiarity breeds: incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
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.
Ager
Sheila L
SL
University of Waterloo.
D003241:Consanguinity; D000076144:Egypt, Ancient; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000266:history; D018645:Greek World / Q000266:history; D049690:History, Ancient; D007179:Incest / Q000145:classification / Q000941:ethics / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008393:Marriage / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D018644:Roman World / Q000266:history; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology