Ptolemy VI Philometor
Ptolemy VI Philometor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ptolemy VIII Cleopatra II | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Consort | Cleopatra II (m. 175 BC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children |
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Father | Cleopatra I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | May/June 186 BC[note 1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 145 BC (aged 41) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Burial | Alexandria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dynasty | Ptolemaic dynasty |
Ptolemy VI Philometor (
Ptolemy VI, the eldest son of King
The people of
Background and early life
Ptolemy VI was the eldest son of
Ptolemy VI was born in 186 BC, probably in May or June.
First reign (180–164 BC)
Regencies
Ptolemy VI, who was only six years old, was immediately crowned king, with his mother Cleopatra I as co-regent. In documents from this period, Cleopatra I is named before Ptolemy VI and coins were minted under the joint authority of her and her son.[1] In the face of continued agitation for war with the Seleucids, Cleopatra I pursued a peaceful policy, because of her own Seleucid roots and because a war would have threatened her hold on power.[6][7] She probably died in late 178 or early 177 BC, though some scholars place her death in late 176 BC.[3]
Ptolemy VI was still too young to rule on his own. On her deathbed, Cleopatra I appointed Eulaeus and Lenaeus, two of her close associates, as regents. Eulaeus, a eunuch who had been Ptolemy VI's tutor, was the more senior of the two, even minting coinage in his own name. Lenaeus was a Syrian slave who had probably come to Egypt as part of Cleopatra I's retinue when she got married. He seems to have been specifically in charge of managing the kingdom's finances.[8]
Eulaeus and Lenaeus sought to reinforce their authority by augmenting the dignity of Ptolemy VI. In early 175 BC, they arranged his marriage to his sister Cleopatra II. Brother-sister marriage was traditional in the Ptolemaic dynasty and was probably adopted in imitation of earlier Egyptian Pharaohs.[9] The couple were incorporated into the Ptolemaic dynastic cult as the Theoi Philometores ('the Mother-loving Gods'), named in honour of the deceased Cleopatra I.[1] In Egyptian religious contexts, the title recalled the relationship of the Pharaoh as Horus to his mother Isis.[10] Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II were still young children, so the marriage was not consummated for many years; they would eventually have at least four children together.
Sixth Syrian War (170 BC–168 BC)
The Seleucid king
In October 170 BC, Ptolemy VIII was promoted to the status of co-regent alongside his brother and sister. The current year was declared the first year of a new era.[1][15] John Grainger argues that the two brothers had become the figureheads for separate factions at court and that these ceremonies were intended to promote unity within the court in the run-up to war.[16] Shortly afterwards, Ptolemy VI, now around sixteen, was declared an adult and celebrated his coming-of-age ceremony (the anakleteria).[17][18][1] He was now ostensibly ruling in his own right, although in practice Eulaeus and Lenaeus remained in charge of the government.
The Sixth Syrian War broke out shortly after this, probably in early 169 BC.
This defeat led to the collapse of the Ptolemaic government in Alexandria. Eulaeus attempted to send Ptolemy VI to the Aegean island of Samothrace with the Ptolemaic treasury.[23] Before this could happen, two prominent Ptolemaic generals, Comanus and Cineas, launched a military coup and took control of the Egyptian government.[24] As Antiochus IV advanced on Alexandria, Ptolemy VI went out to meet him. They negotiated an agreement of friendship, which in effect reduced Ptolemy VI to a Seleucid client.[25][26] When news of the agreement reached Alexandria, the people of the city rioted. Comanus and Cineas rejected the agreement and Ptolemy VI's authority, declaring Ptolemy VIII the sole king (Cleopatra II's position remained unchanged).[27][28] Antiochus IV responded by placing Alexandria under siege, but he was unable to take the city and withdrew from Egypt in September 169 BC, as winter approached, leaving Ptolemy VI as his puppet king in Memphis and retaining a garrison in Pelusium.[29][30]
Within two months, Ptolemy VI had reconciled with Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra II and returned to Alexandria. The restored government repudiated the agreement that Ptolemy VI had made with Antiochus IV, and began to recruit new troops from Greece.[31][32] In response, Antiochus IV invaded Egypt for a second time in the spring of 168 BC. Officially, this invasion was presented as an effort to restore Ptolemy VI's position against his younger brother.[33] Antiochus IV quickly occupied Memphis, where he was crowned king of Egypt, and advanced on Alexandria.[34] However, the Ptolemies had appealed to Rome for help over the winter; a Roman embassy led by Gaius Popillius Laenas confronted Antiochus IV at the town of Eleusis and forced him to agree to a settlement, bringing the war to an end.[35][36][37]
Rebellions and expulsion (168–164 BC)
The joint rule of the two brothers and Cleopatra II continued in the immediate aftermath of the war. However, the complete failure of the Egyptian forces had left the Ptolemaic monarchy's prestige seriously diminished and caused a permanent rift between Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII.[38]
In 165 BC,
Owing to the preceding years of conflict, many farms had been abandoned, threatening the government's agricultural revenue. In autumn 165 BC the Ptolemies issued a royal decree, On Agriculture, which attempted to force land back into cultivation. The measure was very unpopular and prompted widespread protests.[44] A new branch of government, the Idios Logos (Special Account), was established to manage estates that had become royal property as a result of confiscation or abandonment.[45]
Late in 164 BC,[1] probably not long after Ptolemy VI had returned from the south, Ptolemy VIII, who was now about twenty years old, somehow expelled Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II from power – the exact course of events is not known. Ptolemy VI fled to Rome for help, traveling with only a eunuch and three servants. In Rome, he seems to have received nothing, and for accommodation had a poor room in an attic, offered by and shared with a painter of personal acquaintance.[46] From there he moved on to Cyprus, which remained under his control.[47]
Second reign (163–145 BC)
In summer 163 BC, the people of Alexandria rioted against Ptolemy VIII, expelling him in turn and recalling Ptolemy VI. The restored king decided to come to an agreement with his younger brother and granted him control of Cyrenaica. This may have been done at the instigation of a pair of Roman agents present in Alexandria at the time. Egypt fell under the joint rule of Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II; they were mentioned together in all official documents. This system of co-rule, which would be the norm for most of the rest of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was inaugurated by an amnesty decree and a royal visit to Memphis to celebrate the Egyptian new year festival.[48]
Conflicts with Ptolemy VIII and the Seleucids
Ptolemy VIII was not satisfied with Cyrenaica and went to Rome in late 163 or early 162 BC to request help. The Roman Senate agreed that the division was unfair, declaring that Ptolemy VIII ought to receive Cyprus as well. Titus Manlius Torquatus and Gnaeus Cornelius Merula were sent as envoys to force Ptolemy VI to concede this, but he procrastinated and obfuscated. On their return to Rome at the end of 162 BC, they convinced the Senate to abandon their alliance with Ptolemy VI and to grant Ptolemy VIII permission to use force to take control of Cyprus.[49][50] The Senate offered him no actual support in this endeavour and Cyprus remained in Ptolemy VI's hands.[51][52][53]
In 162 BC, Ptolemy VI was also involved in a scheme to destabilise the Seleucid kingdom. His agents in Rome helped the king's cousin
In 154 BC, after surviving an assassination attempt which he blamed on his brother, Ptolemy VIII again appealed for assistance against Ptolemy VI to the Roman Senate. The Senate agreed to send a second embassy led by Gnaeus Cornelius Merula and Lucius Minucius Thermus, equipped with troops, in order to enforce the transfer of Cyprus to his control.
As a result of the conflict with his brother, Ptolemy VI made particular efforts to advance his eldest son Ptolemy Eupator as heir. The young prince was made priest of Alexander and the royal cult in 158 BC, when he was only eight years old. At age fourteen, in spring 152 BC, Ptolemy Eupator was promoted to full co-regent alongside his parents, but he died in autumn of the same year. This left the succession very uncertain, since Ptolemy VI's remaining son was very young. He began advancing his daughter Cleopatra III, formally deifying her in 146 BC.
Intervention in Syria (152–145 BC)
A new claimant to the Seleucid throne, Alexander Balas, appeared in 153 BC. John Grainger proposes that Ptolemy VI provided Alexander with financial backing, naval transport, and secured Ptolemais Akko as a landing base for him. He argues that Alexander's chancellor Ammonius should be seen as a Ptolemaic agent.[63] There is however no explicit evidence for this, and Boris Chrubasik presents Alexander's initial successes as accomplished without any Ptolemaic involvement, and challenges the identification of Ammonius as an Egyptian in particular. At any rate, an agreement between Ptolemy VI and Alexander was sealed in 150 BC, when Ptolemy VI married his teenage daughter Cleopatra Thea to Alexander in a ceremony at Ptolemais Akko.[64][65][66]
By May 146 BC, however, Ptolemy VI was gathering troops. In 145 BC he invaded Syria while Alexander was putting down a rebellion in
While he was at Ptolemais Akko, however, Ptolemy VI switched sides. According to Josephus, he discovered a plot against his life by Alexander's chancellor Ammonius. When Ptolemy VI demanded that Ammonius be punished, Alexander refused.[70] Ptolemy VI remarried his daughter to Demetrius II and continued his march northward. The commanders of Antioch, Diodotus and Hierax, surrendered the city to Ptolemy and crowned him king of Asia. For a short period, documents referred to him as King of Egypt and Asia, and he initiated a double regnal count, with his Egyptian Year 36 = his Syrian Year 1. However, fearing that a unification of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms would lead to Roman intervention, Ptolemy VI decided to abandon the title. Instead, he limited himself to annexing Coele Syria and pledged to serve as a "tutor in goodness and guide" to Demetrius II.[71][65][69]
Alexander returned from Cilicia with his army, but Ptolemy VI and Demetrius II defeated his forces at the Oenoparas river.[72] Alexander then fled to Arabia, where he was killed. His severed head was brought to Ptolemy VI. For the first time since the death of Alexander the Great, Egypt and Syria were united. However, Ptolemy VI had been wounded in the battle and he died three days later.[73] By late 145, Demetrius II had expelled all Ptolemaic troops from Syria and reasserted Seleucid control by leading his own forces all the way down to the Egyptian border.[74][75] Ptolemy VI seems to have intended for his seven-year-old son, also named Ptolemy, to succeed him, but instead the Alexandrians invited Ptolemy VIII to assume the throne. Young Ptolemy was eventually eliminated by his uncle, apparently only after 143 BC, when he served as eponymous priest, and perhaps as late as 132/1 BC.[76]
Regime
Pharaonic ideology and Egyptian religion
Like his predecessors, Ptolemy VI fully embraced his role as pharaoh and maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with the traditional Egyptian priesthood. In particular, he maintained close ties with the worship of Ptah and Apis at Memphis. Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II seem to have visited Memphis and stayed in the Serapeum there for the Egyptian New Year festival every year. During these visits, Ptolemy VI personally made the ritual temple offerings expected of the pharaoh.[47]
In summer 161 BC, Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II gathered a synod of all the priests of Egypt in order to pass a decree granting tax relief and other benefactions to the priests in exchange for cultic honours in Egyptian temples – part of a series of
Relations with the Jews
The Jewish historian
Relations with Nubia
Until the reign of
Marriage and issue
Ptolemy VI and his sister-wife, Cleopatra II, had the following issue:
Name | Image | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ptolemy Eupator | 15 October 166 BC | August 152 BC | Briefly co-regent with his father in 152 BC. | |
Cleopatra Thea | c. 164 BC | 121/0 BC | Married in succession to the Antiochus VII. Eventually queen regnant of Seleucid Syria.
| |
Cleopatra III | 160–155 BC? | September 101 BC | Married her uncle Ptolemy VIII, ruled as senior co-regent with her sons Ptolemy X from 116/5–101 BC.
| |
Ptolemy | c. 152 BC | 143/141 or 132/1 BC? | Survived his father but was eventually eliminated by his uncle, Ptolemy VIII. Traditionally, he was identified with his cousin and half-brother, Ptolemy Neos Philopator, who died in 132/131 BC and was deified under that name in 118 BC. | |
Berenice | 160s BC? | Before 133 BC | Briefly engaged to Pergamum , her parentage and even her membership of the Ptolemaic dynasty is entirely hypothetical.
|
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Chris Bennett. "Ptolemy VI". Tyndale House. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
- ^ a b Grainger 2010, p. 274
- ^ a b Chris Bennett. "Cleopatra I". Tyndale House. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
- JSTOR 148087.
- ^ Jerome, Commentary on Daniel 11.20
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 143
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 281–2
- ^ Morkholm 1961, pp. 32–43
- ^ "Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt". Ancient Egypt Online. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 143 & 168
- II Maccabees3.
- ^ Livy XLII.26.8
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 143–4
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 284–8
- ^ Skeat, T.C. (1961). "The twelfth year which is also the first": the invasion of Egypt by Antiochos Epiphanes". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 47: 107–113.
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 294–5
- ^ Polybius XXVIII.12.8
- ^ a b Walbank, F. W. (1979). Commentary on Polybius III: Commentary on Books XIX–XL. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. pp. 321ff.
- ^ Diodorus 30.16
- ^ Porphyry, FGrH 260 F 49a
- ^ Polybius 28.19; Diodorus 30.18
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 296–7
- ^ Polybius 28.21; Diodorus 30.17
- ^ Polybius 28.19
- ^ Polybius 30.23
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 297–300
- ^ Polybius 29.23.4; Porphyry FGrH 260 F 2.7
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 300–1
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 144–6
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 301–2
- ^ Polybius 29.23.4; Livy 45.11.2-7
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 303–4
- ^ Diodorus 31.1
- ^ Mooren, L. (1978–1979). "Antiochos IV Epiphanes und das Ptolemäische Königtum". Actes du XVe Congrès Internationale du Papyrologie. Brussels. pp. IV.78–84.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Polybius 9.27; Diodorus 31.2-3.
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 146–8
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 305–8
- ^ a b c Grainger 2010, pp. 310–1
- ^ Diodorus 31.15a
- ^ a b McGing, B.C. (1997). "Revolt Egyptian Style: Internal Opposition to Ptolemaic Rule". Archiv für Papyrusforschung. 43 (2): 289–90.
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 181
- ^ Diodorus 31.17b
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 181–2
- ^ P. Genova 3.92 (original text)
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 182
- ^ Diodorus 31.18; Valerius Maximus 5.1.1.
- ^ a b c Hölbl 2001, p. 183
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 184
- ^ Polybius 31.10, 17-20
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 312 & 319–320
- ^ Polybius 33.11.4-7
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 185–7
- ^ a b Grainger 2010, p. 325
- ^ Grainger 2010, p. 321 & 325
- ^ Polybius 33.5
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 326–328
- ^ Bagnall, Roger (1976). The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions Outside Egypt. Leiden: Brill. p. 257.
- ^ Polybius 33.11
- OGIS116
- ^ Polybius 39.7; Diodorus 31.33
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 187–8
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 327–328
- ^ Grainger 2010, pp. 330–332
- I Maccabees10.48-58; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13.80-82.
- ^ a b c Hölbl 2001, pp. 192–3
- ^ Chrubasik 2016, pp. 131–2
- I Maccabees11.3-8
- ^ Lorber, Catharine C. (2007). "The Ptolemaic Era Coinage Revisited". Numismatic Chronicle. 167: 105–17.
- ^ a b Chrubasik 2016, pp. 133–134
- I Maccabeesdoes not mention the episode and presents Ptolemy VI as planning to support Demetrius II from the start. Josephus presents Ptolemy as genuinely supporting Alexander until this moment.
- I Maccabees11; Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 13.106-107, 115
- ^ Strabo 16.2.8.
- I Maccabees11.1-11.19
- Astronomical DiariesIII.144 obv. 35
- ^ Chrubasik 2016, pp. 134–5
- ^ Chauveau 2000: 259; Bielman 2017: 95-98.
- ^ Lanciers, C. (1987). "Die Stele CG 22184: Ein Priesterdekret aus der Regierungszeit des ptolemaios VI. Philometor". Gottinger Miszellen: Beiträge zur agyptologischen Diskussion. 95: 53–61.
- ^ a b Hölbl 2001, p. 189
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13.74-79
- ^ Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 12.387 & 13.65-71
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 189–191
- ISBN 978-90-04-17197-8.
Bibliography
- Bielman, A., "Stéréotypes et réalités du pouvoir politique féminin: la guerre civile en Égypte entre 132 et 124 av. J.-C.," EuGeStA 7 (2017) 84-114.
- Chauveau, M., "Encore Ptolémée «VII» et le dieu Neos Philopatôr!," Revue d’Égyptologie 51 (2000) 257-261.
- Chrubasik, Boris (2016). Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 131–5. ISBN 9780198786924.
- Grainger, John D. (2010). The Syrian Wars. pp. 281–328. ISBN 9789004180505.
- Hölbl, Günther (2001). A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. London & New York: Routledge. pp. 143–152 & 181–194. ISBN 0415201454.
- Morkholm, Otto (1961). "Eulaios and Lenaios". Classica et Medievalia. 22: 32–43.
External links
- Ptolemy Philometor at LacusCurtius — (Chapter IX of E. R. Bevan's House of Ptolemy, 1923)
- Ptolemy VI — (Egyptian Royal Genealogy)
- Ptolemy VI Philometor entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith