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| Alexander Helios | |
|---|---|
| Prince ofPtolemaic Egypt | |
.jpg) Bronze statuette identified as Alexander Helios, mid-1st century BC,Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
| King of Armenia (nominal) | |
| Reign | 34–30 BC[1] |
| Coronation | 34 BC at theDonations of Alexandria |
| Predecessor | Artavasdes II |
| Successor | Artaxias II |
| Born | 40 BC (presumed, exact date unknown) Alexandria,Egypt |
| Died | possibly between 29 and 25 BC Rome,Roman Empire |
| Dynasty | Ptolemaic |
| Father | Mark Antony |
| Mother | Cleopatra VII Philopator |
Alexander Helios (Greek:Ἀλέξανδρος Ἥλιος; late 40 BC – unknown, but possibly between 29 and 25 BC)[2] was aPtolemaic prince and son ofPharaohCleopatra VII of thePtolemaic dynasty andRoman triumvirMark Antony. Alexander'sfraternal twin sister wasCleopatra Selene II.[3][4] Cleopatra named her son afterAlexander the Great.[5]His second name inAncient Greek means "Sun"; this was the counterpart of his twin sister's second nameSelene (Σελήνη), meaning "Moon".[6]
Alexander Helios was born and educated inAlexandria. He was the second of Cleopatra's three sons,Caesarion being the oldest. In late 34 BC, at theDonations of Alexandria, Alexander Helios, aged six, was dressed in a Median costume and was given the title king of Kings and the ruler ofArmenia,Media,Parthia and any countries yet to be discovered between theEuphrates and Indus Rivers, .[7][8][9] although most of this territory stood outside of their control at that time.[10] These areas were, in fact, already ruled byArtaxias II of Armenia (who had been elected King that same year after Antony captured his fatherArtavasdes II),Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene andPhraates IV ofParthia. In 33 BC, Alexander was engaged to his distant relativeIotapa,[11][12] a princess of MediaAtropatene and daughter ofArtavasdes I.[13] However, Mark Antony and Cleopatra were defeated byOctavian at theBattle of Actium in 31 BC. The next year, they committed suicide as Octavian and his army invaded Egypt. Iotapa left Egypt to return to her father and later married her maternal cousin KingMithridates III of Commagene, who was of Armenian and Greek descent.[14]
When Octavian conquered Egypt he spared Alexander but took him, his sister and his brother,Ptolemy Philadelphus, from Egypt toRome. Octavian celebrated his military triumph in Rome by parading the children in heavy gold chains in the streets behind an effigy of their mother clutching an asp to her arm. It is unclear whether Ptolemy Philadelphus survived the journey to Rome, asCassius Dio mentions the twins only in hisHistory of Rome.[15] Octavian gave the children toOctavia Minor, his elder sister and a former wife of Mark Antony, to be raised under her guardianship in Rome. They were generously received by Octavia, who educated them with her own children.[16]
The fate of Alexander Helios is unknown.Plutarch,Cassius Dio andSuetonius state that Octavian killed Antony's sonMarcus Antonius Antyllus and Cleopatra's son with Julius Caesar,Caesarion.[17] The only further mention of Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus comes from Cassius Dio, who states that when their sister, Cleopatra Selene II, married KingJuba II [25 BC], Octavian (by then named Augustus) spared the lives of Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus as a favor to the couple.[18] After Helios arrives in Rome he disappears from historical records.