PTOLEMIES. - 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 Ptolemies. Some of their exploits are mentioned in I and II Maccabees.
PTOLEMY I SOTER, son of Lagus (who gave the dynasty its name), a Macedonian noble, was a companion of Alexander the Great on his expedition to the East; on 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 Ptolemy I under the name of "king of the south"; it adds that one of the princes would be more powerful than he, and thus alludes to the relations between Ptolemy I and the Seleucids (v.) in connection with the dominion of Palestine, the constant apple of discord between the two dynasties, which passed several times from one to the other with alternating fortunes. As early as 312 he had conquered Palestine together with Seleucus Nicator, defeating at Gaza Demetrius, the son of Antigonus; but in 311 he had to withdraw; and he reoccupied it only in 301 after the battle of Ipsus.
PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS, born of Ptolemy I and Berenice in 309-308 on Cos, succeeded his father in 285; he married first his sister Arsinoe I and then his sister Arsinoe II; he above all 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 Ptolemy II, and Antiochus II of Syria; the dowry was Coele-Syria, but after the death of Philadelphus Berenice was repudiated by her husband and put to death by Laodice I, the first wife of Antiochus, whom he had taken back to himself.
T. III EUERGETES I, son of Philadelphus and Arsinoe I, ascended the throne in 146 and immediately undertook an expedition against the king of Syria to free his sister Berenice, who was still living at the time; once the prisoner had died, the expedition was carried through to its completion and the king of Egypt defeated his rival, but internal unrest forced him to withdraw, once again abandoning Coele-Syria to the Seleucids; Dan. 11:7-9 alludes to this.
On his death in 221 he was succeeded by his son PTOLEMY IV PHILOPATOR, who resumed the war against Syria; defeating the enemy king at Raphia in 217, he restored for a time the balance of the contending forces (cf. Dan. 11:10-12).
There followed in 205-204 PTOLEMY V EPIPHANES, then five years old; when he later, in 193-192, married Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus, he received Coele-Syria as his wife's dowry (cf. Dan. 11:13-20; I Macc. 10:51-58).
In 181 he was succeeded by his son PTOLEMY VI PHILOMETOR, very young, under the guardianship of his mother; when his mother died, Antiochus IV (v.) of Syria took advantage of the occasion to begin a new war against Egypt in 169, retaking Coele-Syria and advancing as far as Alexandria; the Romans intervened, but Coele-Syria remained with the Seleucids (cf. Dan. 11:21-45; II Macc. 4:21).
Then the Alexandrians placed on the throne the brother of Ptolemy VI under the name of PTOLEMY VII EUERGETES II (NEOS PHILOPATOR), later called Physcon because of his corpulence (φύσκων = pot-bellied), but Antiochus IV, having then become a supporter of Ptolemy VI, invaded Egypt; when the king of Syria withdrew, the two brothers came to an agreement, and when Antiochus IV returned to Egypt in 168 he was stopped by the Romans. A new discord then arose between the two brother Ptolemies, with various vicissitudes, which among other things led Ptolemy VII to make 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), when the child Antiochus V, supported by the Romans, succeeded to the throne of Syria, Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV, opposed him and usurped the throne in 161-160; the Romans then set against him Alexander Balas (v.), who found aid in Egypt with Ptolemy VI and among the Jews (Jonathan). At this point the narrative of I Macc. 11:1-10 intervenes: Alexander Balas, having defeated and killed Demetrius, succeeded in arranging a marriage with a Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy VI; but then, since Ptolemy VI had come to an agreement with Demetrius II Nicator, son of the previously killed Demetrius, and had opposed Balas, the young bride was turned away from Balas and given to Demetrius II; afterward Ptolemy entered Antioch and defeated Balas, who was then killed by an Arab (I Macc. 11:17). Ptolemy VI was in turn killed and Demetrius II recovered the kingdom.
The biblical narrative takes no further interest in the fortunes of the Ptolemies, of whom it suffices here to recall that in 145, on the death of Ptolemy VI, his brother Ptolemy VII married the widow Cleopatra II, then preferred to her Cleopatra III, daughter of Ptolemy VI; but Cleopatra II had him driven from Alexandria in 130; in 127, however, he recovered the throne and died in 116. There follow: PTOLEMY VIII SOTER called LATHYRUS, son of Ptolemy VII and Cleopatra III, whose life was made difficult by Cleopatra II and by the younger of his sons, Ptolemy Alexander; on the death of Ptolemy VIII (86). PTOLEMY IX called NEOS DIONYSUS, PHILADELPHUS, AULETES, 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 she married the adventurer Archelaus; in 55, accordingly, the Romans brought Auletes back to Egypt with an army and placed a garrison of theirs there. On the death of Auletes in 51, Cleopatra VII ascended the throne, and in the supreme conflict with Rome, with Antony as her accomplice, she gave the Romans the pretext to conquer Egypt.
Bibliography26 works
Aristide Calderini