Sanctuary of Arsinoe Aphrodite at Cape Zephyrion

The Temple to Arsinoe Aphrodite at Cape Zephyrion was a sanctuary commissioned around 279 BCE 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.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).