(CERAUNUS, king of Macedonia, was the son of Ptolemy I. king of Egypt,
by his second wife Eurvdice. The period of his birth is not mentioned ; but if Droysen is
right in assigning the marriage of Eurydice with Ptolemy to the year Hellenism. vol. i. p. 154), their son cannot have been
born till Syr. 62 ; Julstin. 16.2.) To this
step we are told that the old king was led not only by his warm attachment to his wife
Berenice and her son Philadelphus, but by apprehensions of the violent and passionate
character of his eldest son, which subsequent events proved to be but too well founded.
Ptolemy Ceraunus quitted the court of Egypt in disgust, and repaired to that of Lysimachus,
where his sister Lysandra was married to Agathocles. the heir to the Thracian crown. On the
other hand, Syr. 62; Memnon. 100.12;
His authority appears to have been acknowledged without opposition by the army, and this
enabled him to make himself master, with little difficulty, of the European dominions of
Lysimachus. Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, was sufficiently occupied with maintaining his
Asiatic and hereditary possessions, and Ptolemy Philadelphus was well contented to see his
half-brother established on another throne, which led him to abandon all projects concerning
that of Egypt. The usurper had the address to gain over Pyrrhus king of Epeirus, who might
have proved his most dangerous rival, by a promise of assisting him with an auxiliary force in
his expedition to Italy. Thus his only remaining opponent was Antigonus, the son of Demetrius,
who now attempted to recover the throne of his father, and for him Ptolemy was more than a
match. His fleet, supported by an auxiliary squadron of the Heracleans. totally defeated that
of Antigonus, and compelled the latter to withdraw into Boeotia, while Ptolemy established
himself, without farther opposition, on the throne of Macedonia. (Memnon. 100.13;
He was now able to fortify himself in his new position by a treaty with Antiochus, who
acknowledged him as sovereign of Macedonia. But his jealousy and apprehensions were still
excited by Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus, who had taken refuge at Cassandreia with her two
sons, Lysimachus and Philip; and he endeavoured to decoy them into his power by offering to
marry Arsinoe, and share the kingdom with her children. The queen, notwithstanding her
previous experience of his character, gave credit to his oaths and protestations and received
him at Cassandreia, but Ptolemy took the opportunity, during the nuptial festivities, to seize
on the fortress, and immediately caused the two young princes to be assassinated. (
Ptolemy, however, was not destined long to enjoy the throne which he had obtained by so
manyt crimes. Before the close of the year which had witnessed the death of Seleucus, he was
alarmed by the approach of a new and formidable enemy, the Gauls, who now, for the first time,
appeared on the frontiers of Macedonia. Their chief, Belgius, sent overtures for a treaty to
Ptolemy, but the Macedonian king haughtily refused them, and rejecting the proffered
assistance of Monunius, hastened to meet and give battle to the barbarian host. The result was
most disastrous; the Macedonian army was totally routed, and the king, having been thrown from
the elephant on which he was riding, fell alive into the hands of the enemy, by whom he was
put to death in the most barbarous manner, and his head carried about on the point of a spear,
in token of victory. (Syncell. p. 266;
Concerning the chronology of these events, sec Clinton (F. H. vol. ii.
pp. 237, 238). It seems certain that the death of Ptolemy must have taken place before the end
of I. c.) must be reckoned from the death of
Lysimachus, and not from that of Seleucus.