A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

682 PTOLEMAEUS. PTOLEMAEUST
enterprize, the winter campaign against the Cos- was probably at this period that he strengthened
saeans, B.C. 324. (Arr. ib. vii. 15.) his union with the new regent Antipater, by marFrom all these facts it is clear that at the death rying his daughter Eurydice. (Droysen, Hellenism.
of Alexander few among his friends and generals vol. i. p. 154.) But the very next year (B. c. 320)
occupied so prominent a place as the son of Lagus, we find him venturing on a bold step, in direct
and Perdiccas appears to have looked upon him contravention of the arrangements then made, by
from the first as one of his most formidable rivals. seizing on the important satrapy of Phoenicia and
But Ptolemy was too prudent to allow his ambition Coele-Syria, which had been assigned to Laomedon,
to lead him into any premature demonstrations of whom he did not scruple to dispossess by force of
enmity. In the first assembly of the generals he arms. (Diod. xviii. 39, 43; Appian. Syr. 52;
had indeed proposed that the government should Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 71, b.) It was probably
be administered by a council of officers; but this during this expedition that he made himself
suggestion being rejected, he attached himself to master of Jerusalem, by attacking the city on the
the party of Perdiccas during the subsequent trans- Sabbath day. (Josephus, Ant. xii. 1, adv. Apion.
actions. But he was far from losing sight of his i. 22.)
own interests. It is said to have been by his ad- The death of Antipater (B. c. 319) produced a
vice that the different provinces and satrapies were great change in the relative situations of the difportioned out among the generals, and he took ferent leaders, and Ptolemy was now induced to
care to secure for himself in the distribution the contract an alliance with Cassander and Antigonus
important government of Egypt, at once the most against Polysperchon and Eumenes. He at first
wealthy and the most secure from foreign invasion. fitted out a fleet, with which he repaired to the
(Curt. x. 6. ~~ 1 3, 16, 7. ~ 1 6; Justin. xiii. 2, 4; coasts of Cilicia, and commenced operations against
Arrian ap. Phot. p. 69, a; Dexippus, ibid. p. 64, a; Eumenes, who in his turn threatened Phoenicia
Paus. i. 6. ~ 2.) Thither he appears to have has- (Diod. xviii. 62, 73); but the war was eventually
tened as speedily as possible: and one of his first drawn off to the upper provinces of Asia, and
acts on arriving in his new government was to put Ptolemy remained a passive spectator of the conto death Cleomenes, who had administered the test. At length the decisive victory of Antigonus
province under Alexander with the title of receiver- over Eumenes raised the former to a height of
general of tributes, and had been expressly ap- power which rendered him scarcely less formidable
pointed by the council of generals to continue as to his allies than his enemies, and his treatment
hyparch under Ptolemy. Cleomenes had amassed of Pithon and Peucestes sufficiently betrayed his
vast treasures by extortion and rapine, and his ambitious designs. Seleucus, who had himself
execution thus tended to conciliate the minds of with difficulty escaped from his hands, fled for
the Egyptians at the same time that it removed out refuge to Egypt, and by his representations of the
of the way of Ptolemy a partisan of Perdiccas, character and projects of Antigonus awakened
and put him in possession of this accumulated Ptolemy to a sense of the danger, and induced
treasure. (Paus. i. 6. ~ 3; Arrian, 1. c.; Dexip- him to enter into an alliance with Cassander and
pus, 1. c.) Lysimachus against their common enemy, B.C.
All his efforts were now directed to strengthen 316. (Id. xix. 56; Paus. i. 6. ~ 4.)
himself in his new position: he attached his subjects The next spring (315), after ineffectual attempts
by the mildness of his rule at the same time that at negotiation, Antigonus commenced hostilities by
he raised large forces, and concluded a secret league the invasion of Syria, quickly recovered most of the
with Antipater against their common enemy, the cities in Phoenicia which had fallen under the yoke
regent Perdiccas. A still more overt act of dis- of Ptolemy, and laid siege to Tyre, the most imobedience was his persuading Arrhidaeus, who portant of all, and the strength of which for a long
had been entrusted with the funeral of Alexander, time defied all his efforts. While he was engaged
to allow his body to be transported to Egypt, in this siege, and in the equipment of a fleet, and
instead of conducting it, as originally agreed, to his nephew Ptolemy was carrying on the war in
Aegae in Macedonia. (Diod. xviii. 14, 26, 28; Asia Minor with great success, the king of Egypt
Paus. i. 6. ~ 3; Arrian, ap. Ptot. p. 70, b.) About was undisputed master of the sea, of which he
the same time (B. C. 322) he took advantage of availed himself to establish a footing in Cyprus,
the civil dissensions at Cyrene to annex that im- where he either gained over or subdued almost all
portant city and province to his dominions. (Diod. the petty princes among whom the island was
xviii. 21; Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 70, a.) divided. At the same time he did not neglect the
It was not till the beginning of the year B. C. affairs of Greece, whither he despatched a strong
321 that hostilities actually commenced between fleet under his admiral Polycleitus, and endeavoured
Perdiccas and his adversaries. The regent, justly to gain over the Greek cities by idle proclamations
deeming Ptolemy the most formidable of his anta- of liberty. Polycleitus, on his return, defeated
gonists, determined to leave Eumenes to make Theodotus, one of Antigonus's admirals, at Aphrohead against his enemies in Asia, while he him- disias in Cilicia, and took his whole fleet. But the
self marched against Egypt. The result of his next year (314) Tyre at length fell into the hands
expedition has been already given under PER- of Antigonus, who now found himself undisputed
DICCAS [p. 187]. The personal popularity of master of Syria and Phoenicia, and was, consePtolemy with the Macedonian army, which had quently, able to turn his own attention towards
contributed essentially to his success, secured him Asia Minor, leaving his son Demetrius to protect
a welcome reception by the royal forces imme- the newly-acquired provinces. The youth of Dediately after the death of Perdiccas, but he wisely metrius would have induced Ptolemy to attempt
declined the office of regent, which was bestowed, their recovery, but his attention was occupied
by his advice, on Arrhidaeus and Pithon. In the during the year 313 by a revolt in Cyrene, and the
new arrangements at Triparadeisus, he naturally defection of several of the princes of Cyprus. The
retained possession of Egypt and Cyrene; and it former he succeeded in putting down through the