Menelaus, son of Lagus
Brother of Ptolemy I and commander in Cyprus, defeated at Salamis in 306 BCE. Lagus is his attested father. Arsinoe is a proposed mother, not an explicitly named mother in the surviving evidence.
Parentage
Recorded default; alternative parentage accounts are listed separately below.
- father: LagusAttested patronymic; the proposed mother is kept in a separate account.Chris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)
Parentage accounts
Each account is a separate source claim. The parentage and children listed outside these accounts use the recorded default. Selecting an account in the interactive app updates its lineage, descent classification and inherited-power candidates. Linked pedigree accounts are selected together; other records retain their recorded parentage. Claims of ancestry are not proof of biological descent or attested powers.
- Lagus — mother unnamedThe father is attested; the mother is not named in the surviving evidence reviewed here.
Descent unresolved; fraction unquantified because the account is incomplete.
- father: LagusChris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)
- Lagus and Arsinoe — inferred maternityBennett treats Arsinoe as probable because she is the only known wife of Lagus. This inference is not part of the default parentage.
mortal by descent in this account.
- father: LagusChris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)
- mother: Arsinoe, mother of Ptolemy IChris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)
Relations
- father: LagusAttested patronymic; the proposed mother is kept in a separate account.Chris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)
- proposed mother: Arsinoe, mother of Ptolemy IArsinoe is inferred as his mother because she is the known wife of Lagus; her maternity is not directly attested.Chris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)
- sibling: Ptolemy I SoterThe source calls Menelaus Ptolemy's brother without establishing their shared maternity.Plutarch, Demetrius 15.2 and 16.1-4 (primary)
Sources
- Brother of Ptolemy and commander defeated in Cyprus.: Plutarch, Demetrius 15.2 and 16.1-4 (primary)
- Lagus is the father; Arsinoe as mother is a modern inference.: Chris Bennett, Egyptian Royal Genealogy, Menelaus, notes 1-3 (including P.Hib. I 84a and P.Eleph. 2) (secondary)