Queen Arsinoë II was born into the Greek-Macedonian Ptolemaic Dynasty that ruled Egypt. Because I was invited to write The Princess of Egypt Must Die for an anthology, it gave me the opportunity to imagine a condensed origin story for the ruthless woman who would become one of history’s greatest survivors. And I loved every tragic moment of it. Except for Cassander, I based all the characters upon known historical figures. King Lysimachus would go on to lose the support of his people—in part—for murdering a son. It took Arsinoë years, but she eventually destroyed the royal family of Thrace. Later, she returned to Egypt, became queen and was anointed Pharaoh in her own right. She planned victorious wars. She won an Olympic medal for horse harnessing. And she was deified as an incarnation of the goddess Isis, whom the Greeks believed was the eternal goddess of spring. All that, of course, is a much longer story. It is my intention to write a full-length novel that explores the life of this extraordinary queen one day.
Arsinoe II of Egypt
