However, the royal family also created tax exemption incentives, inspiring priesthoods in inland Egypt, especially Memphis her birthplace, to keep the cult of Arsinoe II alive– a request that was accepted in order to gain prestige.
[1] Kallikrates intended the temple to be as a sanctuary from the waves, a refuge for unmarried or “chaste” women seeking success in love, and sailors and naval warriors looking to request safe voyages.
In 245 BCE, Berenike II offered a lock of her own hair to Arsinoe Aphrodite at the sanctuary, to celebrate the safe return of her husband Ptolemy III Euergetes from the Third Syrian War.
[4] The location of the offering at her mother and law Arsinoe II's sanctuary, served to show gratitude for the goddesses’ naval prowess and sea-calming aspects in returning her husband.
Kallikrates made offerings on behalf of the Theoi Adelphoi to the traditional Greek gods in different parts of Greece, but also established a temple to Anubis and Isis– dedicated to Ptolemy and Arsinoe, possibly trying to merge the two.
Kallikrates decision to solidify Arsinoe's identification with Aphrodite was a move on his part to cement her as an overseer of the Ptolemaic Navy-– creating a thinly veiled military cult.
[6] This epithet would have been used in the side of the cult at Zephyrium that encouraged unmarried women to beseech Arsinoe Aphrodite for luck and protection in love, as well as to pray for successful wedlock.
This function was wrapped up in the desire to present Arsinoe Aphrodite as a protectress and creator of Ptolemaic dynastic continuation, while influencing broader patriarchal roles.
[1] As Poseidippus was poet at the court of the Ptolemies, it is clear that his poetics were used to help clarify Arsinoe's deification and inspire people to pray to her for their success in naval expeditions and battles.
The Temple must have been a therapeutic rest stop for sailors and naval warriors of the royal fleet alike, allowing for individuals to form their own connection to and interpretation of Arsinoe's cult.
Thus, we can assume that the temple's proximity to both Alexandria and the ocean allowed for an active cult in which both sailors and unmarried women found solace and prayed for protection on the sea and in love matters.
During life, she was deified as part of the Theoi Adelphoi and was depicted as a divine royal on temple walls, but it is unclear whether Arsinoe played a specific role in her association with the navy.
Thus, we can assume that Arsinoe II's deification and construction of a sanctuary was a political move to advertize Ptolemaic Naval influence and to ensure loyalty to the crown, though spiritual and personal reasons likely joined in the creation of the new Goddess.
[8] It is clear that the temple at Cape Zephyrion was a decisive construction that benefitted the Ptolemaic Navy and royal family just as much if not more than it helped ease the mind of sailors and unmarried women.