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Ptolemaic dynasty

Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled Egypt

Basileus of Egypt King of Macedonia King of Mauretania Caesariensis King of Syria King of Cyrene (Egypt) Ptolemy XVI (Syria) Ptolemy of Mauretania (Mauretania Caesariensis) 30 BC (Egypt) AD 40 (Mauretania)

The Ptolemaic dynasty (; , Ptolemaioi), also known as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, Lagidai; after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal house which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Reigning for 275 years, the Ptolemaic was the longest and last dynasty of ancient Egypt from 305 BC until its incorporation into the Roman Republic in 30 BC.

Ptolemy, a general and one of the somatophylakes (bodyguard companions) of Alexander the Great, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC he declared himself Pharaoh Ptolemy I, later known as Sōtēr "Saviour". The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. The new dynasty showed respect to local traditions and adopted the Egyptian titles and iconography, while also preserving their own Greek language and culture. The Ptolemaic period was marked by the intense interactions and blending of the Greek and Egyptian cultures. Under the Ptolemies, Hellenistic religion was largely shaped by religious syncretism and imperial cult. Elements of Greek education became widespread in urban spaces, culminating in the foundation of the Mouseion (including the Library of Alexandria) and the Serapeum. During the Hellenistic period, the city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great, would gradually surpass Athens as the intellectual centre of the Mediterranean world.

To emulate the previous dynasties of Egypt, the Ptolemaic dynasty eventually adopted the practice of inbreeding including sibling marriage; this did not start in earnest until nearly a century into the dynasty's history. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy, while queens regnant were all called Cleopatra, Arsinoe, or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her apparent suicide after the Roman conquest of Egypt marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt.

Rulers and consorts{{anchor|Rulers}}

Dates in brackets represent the regnal dates of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were often also their sisters, aunts or cousins. Several queens exercised regal authority. Of these, one of the last and most famous was Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Philopator", 51–30 BC), with her two brothers and her son serving as successive nominal co-rulers. Several systems exist for numbering the later rulers; the one used here is the one most widely employed by modern scholars.

Ptolemy I Soter (305–282 BC) married Thaïs, Artakama, Eurydice, and finally Berenice I
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282–246 BC) co-ruler since 285 BC; married Arsinoe I, then Arsinoe II;
- with his nephew Ptolemy Epigonos (267–259 BC)
Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 BC) married Berenice II
Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–203 BC) married Arsinoe III
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (203–181 BC) married Cleopatra I
Ptolemy VI Philometor (181–164 BC) married Cleopatra II
- Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (posthumously named king)
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (170–163 BC), married Cleopatra II
Ptolemy VI Philometor (163–145 BC)
- briefly with Ptolemy Eupator (152 BC)
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (145–131 BC), married Cleopatra III
Cleopatra II Philometor Soteira (170–116 BC), co-ruler with Ptolemy VI, VIII, IX and Cleopatra III, briefly expelled Ptolemy VIII from Alexandria and ruled as sole pharaoh
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (127–116 BC), reconciled with Cleopatra II in 124 BC
- with Ptolemy Apion (c. 120–96 BC), king of Cyrene.
Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Kokke (141–131 BC, 127–101 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra II, Ptolemy IX and Ptolemy X
Ptolemy IX Soter Lathyros (116–107 BC) married Cleopatra IV; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III
Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–88 BC) married Cleopatra Selene I, then Berenice III; ruled with Cleopatra III till 101 BC
Ptolemy IX Soter Lathyros (88–81 BC) married Cleopatra Selene
Berenice III Philopator (101–88, 81–80 BC)
Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC) married and ruled jointly with Berenice III before murdering her; ruled alone for 19 days after that.
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos Auletes (80–58 BC) married Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra V Tryphaena (79–69 BC) ruled jointly with her husband Ptolemy XII until her death or deposition
Berenice IV (58–55 BC) ruled jointly with Cleopatra VI Tryphaena (58–57 BC), possibly identical with Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos Auletes (55–51 BC)
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (51–30 BC)
- with Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC)
- with Arsinoe IV (48–47 BC) as rival queen
- with Ptolemy XIV Philopator (47–44 BC)
- with Ptolemy XV Caesarion (44–30 BC)

Other notable members of the Ptolemaic dynasty

Ptolemy Keraunos (died 279 BC) – eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter. Eventually became king of Macedonia.
Ptolemy Apion (died 96 BC) – son of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Made king of Cyrenaica. Bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome.
Ptolemy II of Telmessos, grandson of Ptolemy Epigonos, flourished second half of 3rd century BC and first half of 2nd century BC
Ptolemy of Cyprus, king of Cyprus c. 80–58 BC, younger brother of Ptolemy XII Auletes
Alexander Helios (born 40 BC) – elder son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII
Ptolemy Philadelphus (born 36 BC) – younger son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII.
Cleopatra Selene II (40–c.5 BC) – daughter of Cleopatra VII, last Ptolemaic ruler of Cyrenaica, then client queen of Mauretania where she ruled jointly with her husband Juba II on the behest of Rome
Ptolemy of Mauretania (c. 10 BC–AD 40) – client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome. Son of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania and Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony.

Health

Continuing the tradition established by previous Egyptian dynasties, the Ptolemies engaged in inbreeding including sibling marriage, with many of the pharaohs being married to their siblings and often co-ruling with them. Ptolemy I and other early rulers of the dynasty were not married to their relatives, the childless marriage of siblings Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II being an exception. The first child-producing incestuous marriage in the Ptolemaic dynasty was that of Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, who were succeeded as co-pharaohs by their son Ptolemy V, born 210 BC. The best-known Ptolemaic pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was at different times married to and ruled with two of her brothers (Ptolemy XIII until 47 BC and then Ptolemy XIV until 44 BC), and their parents were also likely to have been siblings or possibly cousins.

Contemporaries describe a number of the Ptolemaic dynasty members as extremely obese, while sculptures and coins reveal prominent eyes and swollen necks. Familial Graves' disease could explain the swollen necks and eye prominence (exophthalmos), although this is unlikely to occur in the presence of morbid obesity. This is all likely due to inbreeding depression. In view of the familial nature of these findings, members of the Ptolemaic dynasty are likely to have suffered from a multi-organ fibrotic condition such as Erdheim–Chester disease, or a familial multifocal fibrosclerosis where thyroiditis, obesity and ocular proptosis may have all occurred concurrently.{{cite journal|last=Ashrafian|first=Hutan|title=Familial proptosis and obesity in the Ptolemies|journal=J. R. Soc. Med.|year=2005|volume=98|issue=2|pages=85–86|pmc=1079400|pmid=15684370

Gallery

File:Ptolemy I Soter Louvre Ma849.jpg|Ptolemy I, founder of the dynasty. File:Ptolemy II MAN Napoli Inv5600.jpg|Ptolemy II File:Ptolemy III Euergetes.jpg|Ptolemy III File:PtolemyIV-StatueHead MuseumOfFineArtsBoston.png|Ptolemy IV File:Ptolemaeus V.jpg|Ptolemy V File:Ring with engraved portrait of Ptolemy VI Philometor (3rd–2nd century BCE) - 2009.jpg|Ptolemy VI File:Cleopatra II and III Kom Ombo Temple.jpg|Cleopatra II (right) File:Relief of Ptolemy VIII in Kom Ombo Temple.jpg|Ptolemy VIII File:Edfu29.JPG|Ptolemy IX File:Ägyptisches Museum Berlin 112.jpg|Ptolemy X File:Kom Ombo 0312.JPG|Ptolemy XII File:Kom Ombo 0333.JPG|Ptolemy XIII and Sekhmet File:Ptolemy XIV.jpg|Ptolemy XIV File:Cleopatra VII statue fragment, 69-30 BC - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC09761.JPG|Cleopatra VII File:Denderah4 Cesarion.jpg|Ptolemy XV, commonly called Caesarion. File:Cameo Ptolemaic prince Bab111 CdM Paris.jpg|Sardonyx cameo of a Ptolemaic prince as the Greek god Hermes, Cabinet des médailles, Paris. File:Posthumous painted portrait of Cleopatra VII of Egypt, from Herculaneum, Italy.jpg| Posthumous portrait of Cleopatra VII, from Roman Herculaneum, mid-1st century AD. File:Coupe_des_Ptolémées_01.JPG|The Cup of the Ptolemies: front (top) of the cup (Cabinet des Médailles) File:Coupe_des_Ptolémées_02.JPG|The Cup of the Ptolemies: back (bottom) of the cup (Cabinet des Médailles)

Timeline

Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt
{{#tag:timeline

Family tree

References

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

Bingen, Jean. Hellenistic Egypt. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007 (hardcover, ; paperback, ).
A. Lampela, Rome and the Ptolemies of Egypt: The development of their political relations 273–80 B.C. (Helsinki, 1998).
J. G. Manning, The Last Pharaohs: Egypt Under the Ptolemies, 305–30 BC (Princeton, 2009).
Susan Stephens, Seeing Double: Intercultural Poetics in Ptolemaic Alexandria (Berkeley, 2002).

References

{{harvnb. Depuydt. 2005. Pomeroy. 1990
[[Epiphanius of Salamis]], however, puts the total number of years of the Ptolemaic dynasty at 306, presumably calculated from 306/5 BC to 1 AD. See: ''Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures – The Syriac Version'' (ed. James Elmer Dean), University of Chicago Press 1935, p. 28 (note 104). Compare ''[[On Weights and Measures]]''.
[https://www.avclub.com/move-over-lannisters-no-one-did-incest-and-murder-lik-1830399087 Move over, Lannisters: No one did incest and murder like the last pharaohs] on [[The A.V. Club]]
"Cleopatra the Great: Last Power of the Ptolemaic Dynasty".
W. Huß, ''Ägypten in hellenistischer Zeit'' (''Egypt in Hellenistic times''). C. H. Beck, Munich 2001, p. 679
Pfrommer, Michael; Towne-Markus, Elana (2001). ''[http://d2aohiyo3d3idm.cloudfront.net/publications/virtuallibrary/0892366338.pdf Greek Gold from Hellenistic Egypt]''. Los Angeles: Getty Publications (J. Paul Getty Trust). {{ISBN. 0-89236-633-8, pp. 22–23.
Walter Scheidel. (September 1996). "Brother-sister and parent-child marriage outside royal families in ancient Egypt and Iran: A challenge to the sociobiological view of incest avoidance?". Ethology and Sociobiology.
[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ptolemy-II-Philadelphus Ptolemy II "Philadelphus"] on ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
(2003). ""Morbid obesity and hypersomnolence in several members of an ancient royal family"". Thorax.
(2001). "Cleopatra of Egypt: from History to Myth". Princeton University Press (British Museum Press).
Fletcher, Joann (2008). ''Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend''. New York: Harper. {{ISBN. 978-0-06-058558-7, image plates and captions between pp. 246-247.

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