Magas of Cyrene

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Magas of Cyrene (r. 276 - 250 BCE) was a Greek king of Cyrene (today's Libya). He managed to wrestle independence for Cyrene from the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. Magas was the son of Berenice and Philip, a Macedonian noble man, before Berenice remarried with the powerful Ptolemy I Soter, founder of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. Magas was a half-brother to their son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the second Ptolemy ruler of Egypt.

Reign

Magas received the governorship of Cyrene from his mother Berenice. Following the death of Ptolemy I, however, Magas tried on several occasions to wrestle independence for Cyrene, until he crowned himself king around 276 BCE.

Magas then married Apama, the daughter of the Seleucid Empire king Antiochus I Soter, and used his marital alliance to foment a pact to invade Egypt. Apama and Magas had a daughter called Berenice II, who was their only child. He opened hostilities against his half brother Ptolemy II Philadelphus in 274 BCE, attacking Egypt from the west, as Antiochus I was attacking Palestine. However, Magas had to cancel his operations due to an internal revolt of the Libyan nomad Marmaridae. In the east, Antiochus I suffered defeat against the armies of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Magas at least managed to maintain the independence of Cyrene until his death in 250 BCE, upon which the kingdom was almost immediately reabsorbed by Ptolemaic Egypt.

Relations with India

Magas is mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka, as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great's Buddhist prozelitism, although no Western historical record of this event remain Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbalism, for men and animals, in the territories of the Hellenistic kings

The philosopher Hegesias of Cyrene, from the city of Cyrene where Magas ruled, is sometimes thought to have been influenced by the teachings of Ashoka's Buddhist missionaries.

Magas of Cyrene

Reign

Relations with India

Notes

See also