The Temple to Arsinoe Aphrodite at Cape Zephyrion was a sanctuary commissioned around 279 BC by Kallikrates, the commander of the Ptolemaic Naval Fleet. A Graeco-Macedonian Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt, Arsinoe II was directly involved in public affairs, war planning, and public and private ritual rites. As Arsinoe II was involved in cult worship during her lifetime both alone and alongside her husband and brother Ptolemy II, after her death, Arsinoe was deified– primarily associated as an aspect or incarnation of Aphrodite but sometimes influenced by Demeter and Isis. The sanctuary was built on Cape Zephyrion in wider Alexandria, serving as a temple for unmarried women, sailors and other sea laborers to beseech the deity for smooth traveling on the sea and in love. Thought to be located between the Canopic mouth of the Nile Delta and Pharos beach, the sanctuary served to reiterate Ptolemaic dynastic rule through the presentation of the deified Ptolemaic queen as a protector of the Ptolemaic military and generational order through her influence of successful wedlock.
History
In an epigram written by Poseidippos, Kallikrates the commander of the Ptolemaic Navy is honored as the commissioner of the Temple to Arsinoe as Aphrodite. Kallikrates commissioned the temple for Cape Zephyrion in 279 BC, years after Arsinoe II's death in 270-268 BC. The Ptolemies deified Arsinoe in Egypt, especially in Alexandria where members of the elite priests had interest in preserving the hegemony of the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, the royal family also created tax exemption incentives, inspiring priesthoods in inland Egypt, especially Memphis her birthplace, to keep the cult of Arsinoe II alive– a request that was accepted in order to gain prestige. Kallikrates cemented Arsinoe II's deification by creating this temple merging her with Aphrodite– ensuring that she not only was a deity in relation to her husband Ptolemy II, but also on her own. In Poseidippos's epigram– Kallikrates is described as creating the temple to Arsinoe Aphrodite to center her roles as goddess of love and seafaring. Kallikrates intended the temple to be as a sanctuary from the waves, a refuge for unmarried or “chaste” women seeking success in love, and sailors and naval warriors looking to request safe voyages. A clever religious-political move, the temple served as a reminder of the Ptolemies’ military power, as any and all boats stopping there would be either of the Ptolemaic fleet or would be reminded of it in requesting aid from the Ptolemized Aphrodite. The Temple was built on the coast so as to provide easy access from the sea, and so the temple could be seen from the sea and vice versa.
In 245 BC, Berenike II offered a lock of her own hair to Arsinoe Aphrodite at the sanctuary, to celebrate the safe return of her husband Ptolemy III Euergetes from the Third Syrian War. While this event did reportedly happen, the story was mythologized by poets Callimachus of Cyrene and later Catullus. The story evolved into one where Berenike's lock was lifted to the heavens by Zephyros the West Wind, and Arsinoe Aphrodite transformed it into the constellation now known as Coma Berenices. The location of the offering at her mother and law Arsinoe II's sanctuary, served to show gratitude for the goddesses’ naval prowess and sea-calming aspects in returning her husband. Additionally, the episode at a former deified Ptolemaic Queen served to justify through the poems, Berenike's later deification.
In a poem by Callimachus, it is said that Selenaia the daughter of Kleinias went to the Temple at Cape Zephyrion to offer a nautilus to Arsinoe Aphrodite. The offering– Nautiluses being sacred to Aphrodite– was given as an offering of thanks for her safe naval travel from Smyrna to Alexandria. However, the poem of Selenaia's offering also seems to indicate that her involvement with the cult may also have to do with her involvement in the love side of Arsinoe Aphrodite's cult, and provides evidence that unmarried women went to Arsinoe Aphrodite's temple to beseech love.