Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lillie Pierce Fund, 1901, 01.8207. Photograph © 2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Portrait of Arsinoë III, ca. 215 B.C., Greek, Hellenistic Period
Writers of the third century BC remarked on the looks of both Arsinoë II and III. Arsinoë II's beauty was renowned while Arsinoë III's was refined. Portraits of these queens reflect both their grace and power. They are shown alongside their husbands or on their own on the faces of coins, in the guise of Egyptian goddesses in granite or as Greek beauties in marble and bronze. Many of the portraits can be considered realistic, although they were made after the subjects' deaths. Upon her death, Arsinoë II was deified, while a priesthood was established in honor of Arsinoë III when she died.