@Mictorrani 20 July 2020 edited

Names in the Ptolemaic Dynasty, Their Meaning & How to Write Them in Original and in English

This post is a brief explanatory supplement to my articles about Cleopatra and the Ptolemaic Dynasty. *"****Cleopatra -the Serpent of the Nile?****"* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/cleopatra-the-serpent-of-the-nile-4ed7b679 *"****The Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt****"* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/the-ptolemaic-dynasty-in-egypt-15504763 *"****The Crocodile, a Symbol of Egypt?****"* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/the-crocodile-a-symbol-of-egypt-6330b5af The language of the Ptolemaic Family was Greek and their names are Greek. But names are changing between languages. I would prefer to write the Greek Κλεοπάτρα and Πτολεμαῖος as Kleopatra and Ptolemaios. It would be a consistent transliteration to Latin letters of the Greek original. However, I write in English here and chose to adhere to English standard with *Cleopatra* and *Ptolemy*. Since the family in practice used only 4 different names, it is easy to discuss them all. Here are their meanings. **Πτολεμαῖος** - Ptolemaios - Ptolemaeus - Ptolemy - means “warlike”. Perhaps related to the name Bartholomeus/Bartholomew. **Κλεοπάτρα** - Kleopatra - Cleopatra - means "glory of the father". **Βερενίκη** - Berenike - from Φερενίκη *(Pherenikē)* - means “bearer of victory”. This is the same name as “Veronica”. **Aρσινόη** - Arsinoë - means “lifted mind” should probably be understood approximately as “clever”. Let's also include Mark Antony, who did not belong to the family but is a prominent figure in the story about Cleopatra. His name is originally Latin, not Greek. **Marcus Antonius** - Mark Antony - “Marcus” is probably derived from ”Mars”, the Roman god of war. “Antonius” was a gens, a Roman family name. According to Mark Antony himself, it was derived from Hercules' son Anton, from whom he claimed to be a descendant. Copyright © 2020 Meleonymica/Mictorrani. All Rights Reserved. All my articles about Egypt and Egyptology can be found here. https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/index-over-my-articles-at-read-cash-5f7c1e34#egyptology Interested in history, legends and myths, join my community History, Myths, Legends & Mysteries (be45). https://read.cash/c/history-myths-legends-mysteries-be45 You find all my writings on Read.Cash, sorted by topic, here. https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/index-over-my-articles-at-read-cash-5f7c1e34