PTOLKJLEUS PHILOMETOi;. 



PTOLEM^EUS NEOS DIONYSIUS. 



loco 



VI. PTOLEM.KUS, .urnamoJ PHILOMETOR, or 'mother-loving, 1 

 WM a chilil when hi* father died ; but the government wu conducted 

 by his mother Cleopatra. During the life-time of Cleopatra the king- 

 dom of Kuy pt enjoyed repose ; but on her death her brother Antiochus 

 Epiphanes claimed Ccele-Syria and Palestine, which had been given to 

 Ptolemy Kpiphanei as hu wife's dower. In B.C. 171 Antiochus 

 invaded Egypt and defeated the army of Philometor at Peliuium; 

 and in the following year he toot most of the principal towns in 

 Egypt, with the exception of Alexandria, and obtained possession of 

 the per*on of Philometor. After the capture of Philometor, the 

 Alexandrine* raised hi* brother to the throne, who took the name of 

 Euergetes II., but is more commonly known by that of Physcon. 



In B.C. 109 Antiochus invaded Egypt for the third time, under 

 pretence of restoring the kingdom to Philometor. He hud siege to 

 Alexandria, and would probably have obtained possession of the city, 

 had not ambassadors come from Home, who commanded him to 

 abandon the attempt. Afraid of provoking a war with the Romans, 

 he retired from Egypt, leaving Philometor nominal king of the whole 

 country with the exception of Alexandria. He appears to have hoped 

 that the quarrels of the brothers would have still further weakened 

 the country and rendered it an easier conquest to him ; but they, 

 seeing through his ambitious designs, agreed to divide the royal power 

 between them, and turn their forces against him. Disappointed in his 

 object, Antiochus again invaded Egypt in the following year (ac. 168), 

 and declared that he would not withdraw his forces unless Cyprus, 

 and the strong city of Peliuium, with the surrounding country, were 

 ceded to him. As the possession of the city of Pelusium would have 

 enabled him at any time to overrun Egypt, big proposals were refused ; 

 and he accordingly marched towards Alexandria, but was again met 

 within four miles of the city by the Roman ambassadors, who com- 

 pelled him to depart from Egypt (Liv., xlv. 11, 12.) 



The two brothers however did not agree ; and in the seventh year 

 of their joint reign Philometor was driven from Egypt by Physcon, 

 and obliged to take refuge in Rome. He was treated with great 

 distinction by the senate, who restored him to his kingdom, and 

 limited the dominions of Physcon to Cyrene. (Liv., ' Kpit.,' 46, 47 ; 

 Valerius Max., v. 1, 1.) In the following year Physcon went to 

 Rome to complain of the unequal division of the Egyptian kingdom, 

 and to beg that Cyprus might be given to him. The senate complied 

 with his rtquent, and commanded Philometor to surrender that island 

 to bis brother. Philometor however refused to do so ; and the Romans 

 accordingly declared war against him, B.C. 159 (Diod. Sic., vol. ii. 

 p. 620, ed. Wesseling), but did not prosecute it with much activity. 

 They did not tend any force to the assistance of Physcon, but gave 

 permission to their allies in Greece and Asia to enlist under his 

 standard. (Polyb., xxxiii 5.) In the war which followed between 

 the brothers the Romans took no part. Physcon was defeated in 

 Cyprus, and fell into the hands of Philometor, who however forgave 

 him, and allowed him to retain the sovereignty of Cyrene. (Polyb., 

 xl 12 ; Diod. Sia, ToL ii. p. 588.) 



About the year n.c. 151, Ptolemy Philometor marched into Syria to 

 support Alexander Bulas (Justin, xxx v. 1 ), who had been acknowledged 

 king of Syria by the Komans, in opposition to Demetrius the rightful 

 heir. [ALEXANDER BALAS, vol. i coL 119.] By the assistance of 

 Philometor and the kings of Pergamus and Cappodocia, Alexander 

 obtained possession of the throne, and married, in B.C. 150, Cleopatra, 

 the daughter of Philometor. (1 Mace., x. 57, 58; Joseph., 'Antiq.,' 

 xiii. 4, 1.) Shortly afterwards however Philometor, accusing Alex- 

 ander of an intention to murder him, took away his daughter, and 

 gave her in marriage to Demetrius II. He then marched into Syria, 

 and was crowned at Antioch as king of Asia and Egypt ; but afraid o! 

 exciting the jealousy of the liomans, he relinquished Syria to his new 

 son-in-law. Daring these transactions Alexander was in Cilicia ; anc 

 as soon as be beard of what bad taken place, he marched towards 

 Antioch, near which ho was defeated by Ptolemy and Demetrius, 

 B.C. 146. Philometor however died a few days afterwards of the 

 wounds which he bad received in battle. (1 Mace., XL 1-18 

 Joseph., 'Antiq.,' xiii. 4, 6-8; Justin, xxxix. 2.) He left a son 

 who was only a child at bis death, and two daughters of the name o 

 Clco|*tra, of whom one married successively Alexander Balas anc 

 Demetrius, as already stated, and the other afterwards reigned in 



Egypt jointly with her sons. 



PTOLEMJiUS, surnamed EUEROETES II., or PHYSC9N 

 'Big-Belly,' succeeded his brother B.C. 146, and commenced his reign 

 by putting to death his brother's son. (Justin, xxxviii 8.) Physcon 

 is represented by the ancient writers as a cruel and sensual tyrant 

 He derived his name of Physcon, or Big-Belly, from his unwieldy form 

 for he was, according to Justin (xxxviii. 8) and Diodorus (vol. ii. p. 697) 

 ugly in face, short in stature, big-bellied, and rnoro like a beast than a 

 man. The portrait which Rotellini gives of Physcon, from the aucien 

 monuments of Egypt, is also that of a fut and sensual man. Posi 

 donius the Stoic also described him (Athen., xii. p. 549) as a fa 

 unwieldy man, who never went out without a stick. 



He married Cleopatra, his own sister and his brother's widow, who 

 bore him a son in the second year of his reign, while he was at Mem 

 phis for the purpose of being crowned. (Diod., vol. ii. p. 595.) H 

 soon afterwards nut away bis cister, and married her younger daughter 

 his own niece, Cleopatra. He practised all kinds of cruelties upon 



lis subjects, till at length Alexandria became almost deserted, and 



'hyscou was obliged to solicit strangers to settle there. (Justin, 



xxxviii 8.) He possessed an able minister in Hierax (Diod., vol. ii. 



>. 597), who compensated in some degree for the misconduct of the 



ting, and restrained for a time the discontents of his subject* ; but 



at length the people could bear his cruelty no longer, and in the 



sixteenth year of his reign compelled him to fly to Cyprus. The 



government was committed by the people to Cleopatra, his sister and 



livoroed wife. Her son was with his father at Cyprus; and Physcon, 



earing lest she might make use of her son's name to strengthen her 



on the throne, put him to death, and sent hi* hands, feet, and head 



o Cleopatra, with directions that they should be given her in the 



midst of an entertainment (Diod., vol. ii. p. 602, 603; Justin, 



xxxviii 8 ; Liv., ' Epit,' 59 ; Valer. Max., ix. 2, 6.) In the war 



which followed, Physcon again obtained possession of the throne, 



hicb he held till his death, ac. 117. 



In the year B.C. 143, Scipio Africanus was sent at the head of a 

 .toman embassy to Egypt, and was received with great pomp and 

 respect by Physcou, who conducted him as far as Memphis. (Diod. 

 Sia, vol. ii p. 629, 630 ; Justin, xxxviii 8.) 



Physcon, though a sensualist and a tyrant, was a patron of learning 

 and the fine arts. He was a disciple of Ari.-t irchus, and wrote him- 

 self an historical work, which is frequently referred to by Athenians 

 (ii p. 71 ; xiv. p. 654, Ac.). Physcon had by his niece Cleopatra five 

 hildren ; two sons, Ptolemy Soter and Alexander, and three daughters, 

 Tryphiea, Cleopatra, and Selene. He also left an illegitimate son, 

 Ptolemy Apion, who reigned at Cyrene, and bequeathed his kingdom 

 to the Romans at his death in B.C. 96. (Clinton, vol. iii. p. 389.) 



VIII. PTOLEMjEUS, suruamed SOTER II., but more frequently 

 called LATH Y'RUS (Strab., p. 795), succeeded bis father Euergetes II., 

 ac. 117. He reigned together with his mother Cleopatra, who wished 

 to have her younger son Alexander for her partner on the throne, but 

 she was obUged by the people to select the elder. (Justin, xxix. 3.) 

 She always showed the greatest hostility to her eldest son, who is 

 sometimes in consequence called ironically Philometor. (Paus., i, ix. 

 1.) During the lifetime of Physcon, Lathyrm was sent to Cyprus ; 

 and though compelled to make him king, she did everything in her 

 power to weaken his authority. At the commencement of his reign 

 she compelled him to put away his slater Cleopatra, to whom he was 

 married, and marry his youngest sister Selene. (Justin, xxxix. 3.) She 

 gave the island of Cyprus to her younger son, and after reigning ten 

 yean in conjunction with Lathyrus, at length raised an insurrection 

 in Alexandria against him, which compelled him to leave Egypt She 

 permitted him however to retire to Cyprus, after taking away from 

 him his wife Selene ; and she recalled her younger son Alexander to 

 Egypt, and associated him with her in the government, B.c. 107. 

 (Justin, xxxix. 4 ; Paus., i. 9, 2.) 



Lathyrus subsequently took an active part in the affairs of Palestine. 

 Qaza and some other cities of Palestine requested his assistance 

 against Alexander Janntcus, and he accordingly lauded in 1'.. 

 with an army of 30,000 men. (Joseph., 'Antiq.,' xiii. 12.) He at lirst 

 met with considerable success, but Cleopatra, fearing lest her son, 

 after the conquest of Palestine, should march upon Egypt, sent an 

 army to the assistance of Alexander, which compelled Lathyrua to 

 give up the war and retire to Cyprus. 



In the year ac. 89, Cleopatra was put to death, after a reign of 

 twenty-eight years, by her favourite son Alexander, who wished to 

 obtain the sole possession of the crown. The people however rose 

 against him a few months after, and compelled him to flee from I 

 bis brother Lathyrus was then restored. (Paus., i 9, 2, 3 ; Justin, 

 xxxix. 5.) The city of Thebes however refused to submit to his 

 authority ; but it was taken and plundered after a siege of three yean. 

 (Paus., i 9, 3.) He died B.C. 81, leaving a daughter, Berenice or 

 Cleopatra, and two illegitimate sons, Ptolemy Auletes and Ptolemy 

 who reigned in Cyprus. The latter is mentioned in several of Cicero's 

 orations (' Pro Sextio,' 26 ; ' Pro Domo,' 8, 20 ; ' Pro Flaeco,' 13). 



There is some difficulty respecting the immediate successor of 

 Lathyrus. It appears that there were two kings of the name of Alex- 

 ander, who successively reigned between the death of Lathyrus and 

 the accession of Auletes ; but as Clemens of Alexandria (' Strom.,' i., 

 p. 331) and Strabo (xvii., p. 796) both mention Auletes as the im- 

 mediate successor of Lathyrus, the authority of the two Alexanders 

 was probably not acknowledged in all parts of Egypt, or they must at 

 least have reigned for a very short time. The subject is fully discussed 

 by Mr. Clinton (voL iii, pp. 391-H2). 



IX. PTOLEMJBUS, suruamed NEOS DIONY'SUS, 'the young 

 Dionysus,' but more commonly AULETES, ' the piper,' was an ille- 

 gitimate son of Latbyrus, and succeeded to the throne, B.C. 81. Hi 

 vices and low habits made him contemptible to his people (Strabo, 

 xvii, p. 796 ; compare Cic., ' Do Leg. Agrar.,' ii. 1C), who expelled him 

 from Alexandria in B.C. 58. He came to Rome in the same year, and 

 on bis way thither met Cato at Rhodes. (Plut, ' Cat Min.,' c. 35.) 

 The Alexandrians placed upon the throne Berenice, the daughter of 

 Auletes, and sent ambassadors to Rome to plead their cause against 

 the king. Auletes however found means to gain over a huge party in 

 the senate. Cicero made a speech in his favour, which was afterwards 

 published, but of which only a few fragments have come down to us ; 

 and the creditors of Auletes, who were very numerous, used every 



