TOLOMEI. – Nine kings (of the «Lagid» dynasty) of Hellenistic Egypt, from 305 to 51 B.C., bore the name Πτολεμαίος; Dan. 11:4-29 alludes to them, referring to the first six T. Some of their deeds are mentioned in I and II Maccabees.
T. I SOTER, son of Lagos (who gave his name to the dynasty), a Macedonian nobleman, was a companion of Alexander the Great on his expedition to the East; at the conqueror’s death (323) he obtained the satrapy and then (305) the throne of Egypt. Dan. 11:5, after alluding to Alexander, refers to T. I by the name of “king of the south”; it adds that one of the princes would be more powerful than he, thus alluding to the relations between T. Seleucids (v.) concerning dominion over Palestine, the constant bone of contention between the two dynasties, which passed several times from one to the other amid alternating fortunes. As early as 312 he had conquered Palestine with Seleucus Nicator, defeating Demetrius, son of Antigonus, at Gaza; but in 311 he had to withdraw, and he reoccupied it only in 301 after the battle of Ipsus.
T. II PHILADELPHUS, born to T. I and Berenice in 309-308 B.C. at Cos, succeeded his father in 285; he first married his sister Arsinoe I and then his sister Arsinoe II. Above all, he promoted the arts and literature, while his generals proceeded to strengthen his power in the Mediterranean. Dan. 11:6 alludes to the marriage between Berenice, daughter of T. II, and Antiochus II of Syria; Coele-Syria was given as her dowry, but after the death of Philadelphus, Berenice was repudiated by her husband and put to death by Laodice I, Antiochus’s first wife, whom he had taken back.
T. III EVERGETES I, son of Philadelphus and Arsinoe I, ascended the throne in 246 and immediately undertook an expedition against the king of Syria to liberate his sister Berenice, who was still alive at that time; when the captive was killed, the expedition was carried through to its conclusion and the king of Egypt defeated his rival, but internal disturbances forced him to withdraw, abandoning Coele-Syria once again to the Seleucids; Dan. 11:7-9 refers to this.
At his death in 221 he was succeeded by his son T. IV PHILOPATOR, who resumed the war against Syria; by defeating the opposing king at Raphia in 217, he restored for some time the balance between the contending forces (cf. Dan. 11:10-12).
In 205-204 T. V EPIPHANES succeeded him, then five years old; when he later married Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus, in 193-192, he received Coele-Syria as his wife’s dowry (cf. Dan. 11:13-20; I Mach. 10:51-58).
In 181 he was succeeded by his son T. VI PHILOMETOR, still very young, under the regency of his mother; after his mother’s death, IV (v.) of Syria took advantage of the opportunity to begin a new war against Egypt in 169, recovering Coele-Syria and advancing as far as Alexandria. The Romans intervened, but Coele-Syria remained with the Seleucids (cf. Dan. 11:21-45; II Mach. 4:21).
The Alexandrians then placed T. VI’s brother on the throne under the name of T. VII EVERGETES II (NEOTEROS),
later called Physcon on account of his corpulence (φύσκων + potbellied), but Antiochus IV, who had then become a supporter of T. VI, invaded Egypt; after the Syrian king withdrew, the two brothers reached an agreement, and when Antiochus IV returned to Egypt in 168, he was stopped by the Romans. A new disagreement then arose between the two T. brothers, with various consequences, including T. VII’s making a will in favor of the Romans; a copy of this will has recently come to light at Cyrene in a surviving inscription. After the death of Antiochus IV (164), Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV, opposed the succession to the Syrian throne of the child Antiochus V, who was supported by the Romans, and usurped the throne in 161-160; BALA (v.) against him, and Alexander found support in Egypt among T. VI and among the Jews (Jonathan). At this point the account of I Mach. 11:1-10 intervenes: Alexander Balas, having defeated and killed Demetrius, succeeded in arranging a marriage with a Cleopatra, daughter of T. VI; but then, when T. VI reached an agreement with Demetrius II Nicator, son of the previously slain Demetrius, and opposed Balas, the young bride was taken from Balas and given to Demetrius II; subsequently T. entered Antioch and defeated Balas, who was later killed by an Arab (I Mach. 11:17). T. VI was in turn killed, and Demetrius II regained the kingdom.
The biblical account takes no further interest in the fortunes of the T., of whom it is sufficient here to recall that in 145, at the death of T. VI, his brother T. VII married the widow Cleopatra II and then preferred Cleopatra III, daughter of T. VI; but Cleopatra II had him driven from Alexandria in 130. In 127, however, he regained the throne and died in 116. There followed: T. VIII SOTER, called LATINUS, son of T. VII and Cleopatra III, whose life was made difficult by Cleopatra II and by the younger of her sons, Ptolemy Alexander; T. VIII died in 86. T. IX, called NEOPHILOPATOR, PHILADELPHUS, AULETES, the illegitimate son of the preceding, who in 59 was forced by the Alexandrians to take refuge in Rome, while his daughter Berenice remained on the throne and married the adventurer Archidios; in 55, therefore, the Romans brought Aulete back to Egypt with an army and stationed one of their garrisons there. When Aulete died in 51, Cleopatra VII ascended the throne; in the supreme conflict with Rome, as Antony’s accomplice, she gave the Romans the pretext for conquering Egypt.
(photo Enc. Cutz)