Scope: The Middle Ptolemies were a family that today would be classified as dysfunctional. They were excessive in their lifestyles, often killed each other, and never seemed to have time to oversee the country they ruled. The Egyptians hated them and frequently rebelled, forcing some to flee for their lives. With each Ptolemy, we will see Egypt sinking deeper and deeper into the mire, so that when a Ptolemy finally comes to the throne who wants to restore Egypt to its former greatness, it is almost impossible.
Outline
I. Ptolemy III Eugertes was the last “good” Ptolemy (246-222 BC).
A. He began the Horus Temple at Edfu, the best preserved temple in all of Egypt.
1. The temple has written on its walls the oldest drama in the world: “The Contendings of Horus and Seth.”
2. For eighty years, according to the ancient myth, the two gods did battle, until Horus was finally given Egypt to rule.
3. Each year, the pharaoh would have the play enacted to ensure that divine order prevailed.
4. The temple also has on its walls the ceremony of “the stretching of the cord,” the foundation ritual for all temples.
B. The Decree of Canopus (March 6, 237 BC) tells of Ptolemy Ill’s good deeds. Like the Rosetta stone, it is written in hieroglyphs, demotic, and Greek.
1. There were three copies of the decree.
2. When the Nile didn’t rise, the decree related, Ptolemy saved the people by buying corn at high prices.
3. He recaptured Egyptian statues of the gods seized by the Persians.
4. The priests vowed to worship his daughter, Berenice, who died young: “Berenice, Lady of Virgins.”
C. Ptolemy III also built the Serapeum at Alexandria, which was dedicated to Serapis, a bearded fertility god.
1. The temple had two fireplaces with pipes going through the walls to channel hot, dry air to various rooms. This may have been the “daughter library” of Ptolemy I’s great library, the warm air keeping the papyri dry in Alexandria’s moist air.
2. Incoming ships were searched for books, which were copied and then returned to their owners.
3. Ten foundation deposit plaques in the temple were discovered in 1943, inscribed in Greek and hieroglyphs.
4. In 1945, more plaques were found at the comer of a shrine to Ptolemy IV.
II. Ptolemy IV Philopater (222-205 BC) started the decline.
A. He had his mother poisoned and his brother, Magus, scalded to death.
B. He died of excess living at the age 41. His sister-wife Arsinoe was poisoned soon after.
III. The next several pharaohs were inconsequential.
A. Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-180 BC) took the throne as a child. The Decree of Memphis in 196 BC (the Rosetta stone) was a thank-you note from the priests to Ptolemy.
B. Ptolemy VI Philomater (180-145 BC) fought a civil war with his brother.
C. Ptolemy VII Philopater (145 BC) was murdered after one year as king.
IV. Ptolemy VIII Eugertes II (145-116 BC) had a more interesting reign.
A. He married the wife of Ptolemy VI but also had a liaison with his niece. Both were Cleopatras, and the relations were so confusing that the people called the women “the sister” (Cleopatra II) and “the wife” (Cleopatra III).
B. The people called Ptolemy VIII “Physicon” (“fatty”) because he was so obese. When the Egyptians revolted, he fled to Cyprus. Cleopatra II, his sister, ruled in his absence.
C. He murdered Memphites, his son by Cleopatra II, and sent the dismembered body to her on her birthday.
D. He eventually returned to Egypt and died, leaving two young sons (Ptolemy IX and X.)
E. During his reign, a double temple dedicated to Sobek (the crocodile god) and Haroeris (a form of Horus) was built. It had sacred pools where crocodiles were kept.
V. Ptolemy IX Soter II had two reigns (116-110 BC) and (88-80 BC).
A. He began the Temple of Hathor at Dendera.
B. Accused of plotting to kill his mother, he fled to Cyprus.
VI. Ptolemy X Alexander I (110-88 BC) followed. He was so obese he couldn’t walk without help.
VII. Ptolemy XI Alexander II. (80 BC) was the end of a line.
A. He disliked his older aunt, who was popular with the people, and murdered her a couple of weeks after their wedding.
B. Ptolemy was lynched after a nineteen-day reign. There was now no legitimate descendant of Ptolemy I—they’d killed each other off!
Essential Reading:
Edwyn R. Bevan, The House of Ptolemy.
Supplementary Reading:
Peter A. Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, pp. 213-216.
Questions to Consider:
1. What does the Decree of Canopus tell us about Ptolemy III’s attitude toward Egypt?
2. What were the signs of decay in the Ptolemaic line?