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

b88 PTOLEMAEUS. PTOLEMAEUS.
the friend and counsellor of his father, who was and successor of PtolemyII., Philadelphus. When
believed to have advised the latter against altering a mere child he was betrothed to Berenice, the
the succession in favour of his younger son; and daughter of Magas; but it was not till after the
it was probably not long afterwards that he put to death of Magas, and the assassination of Demetrius
death his brother Argaeus, who was accused of the Handsome, who had made himself master of
conspiring against his life. Another of his brothers, Cyrene [BERENICE, p. 483], that their nuptials
who had attempted to excite a revolt in Cyprus, were solemnised. The date of these events is unsubsequently shared the same fate; and his first certain; but the marriage cannot have long prewife Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, was ceded the death of Philadelphus. B.c. 247. On
banished to Coptos in Upper Egypt on a similar that event Ptolemy succeeded quietly to the extencharge (Paus. i. 7. ~ 1; Diog. La/irt. v. 78; Schol. sive dominions of his father; to which he now
ad T]heocr. Id. xvii. 128). After her removal Pto- reunited Cyrene in right of his wife. But a still
lemy took the strange resolution of marrying his wider field was soon opened to his ambition. On
own sister Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus; a learning the death of Philadelphus, Antiochus II.
flagrant violation of the religious notions of the king of Syria, put aside his wife Berenice, the
Greeks, and which gave rise to severe animad- daughter of the Egyptian king, and recalled his
versions. Though she must have been many years former wife, Laodice, who soon sacrificed to her
older than himself, he appears to have continued resentment both her faithless husband and her
tenderly attached to her throughout her life, and rival, Berenice, with her infant son. Ptolemy
evinced his affection not only by bestowing her appears to have taken up arms on receiving the
name upon many of his newly-founded colonies, first news of the danger of his sister; but finding
but by assuming himself the surname of Philadel- that he was too late to save her, he determined at
phus, a title which some writers referred in derision least to avenge her fate, and invaded Syria in
to his unnatural treatment of his two brothers. person at the head of a numerous army. The
After her death he erected a temple to Arsinoe, cruelties of Laodice, and the unhappy fate of
and caused divine honours to be paid to her memory. Berenice, had already excited general disaffection;
(Paus. i. 7. ~~ 1, 3; Theocrit. Idyll. xvii. 130, and many cities voluntarily joined Ptolemy, and neiSchol. ad loc.; Athen. xiv. p. 621.) By this se- ther the youthful Seleucus nor his mother were
cond marriage Ptolemy had no issue: but his first able to oppose the progress of the Egyptian king,
wife had borne him two sons —Ptolemy, who suc- who advanced apparently without opposition as
ceeded him on the throne, and Lysimachus; and a far as Antioch, and made himself master of the
daughter, Berenice, whose marriage to Antiochus whole country south of Mount Taurus. But instead
II., king of Syria, has been already mentioned. of crossing that ridge, and pursuing Seleucus
Philadelphus died a natural death before the himself, he turned his arms eastward, crossed the
close of the year B. C. 247; having reigned thirty. Euphrates, advanced as far as Babylon and Susa,
eight years from his first accession, and thirty-six and after reducing all Mesopotamia, Babylonia; and
from the death of his father (Euseb. Arm. p. 114; Susiana, received the submission of all the upper
Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p. 379). He had been al- provinces of Asia as far as the confines of Bactria
ways of a feeble and sickly constitution, which pre- and India. From this career of conquest he was
vented him from ever taking the command of his recalled by the news of seditions in Egypt, and
armies in person; and he led the life of a refined returned to that country, carrying with him an
voluptuary, combining sensual and dissolute plea- immense booty, comprising, among other objects,
sures with the more elevated gratifications of the all the statues of the Egyptian deities which had
taste and understanding. (Strab. xvii. p. 789; been carried off by Cambyses to Babylon or Persia.
Athen. xiii. p. 576.) The great defects of his These he restored to their respective temples, an
character as an individual have been already ad- act by which he earned the greatest popularity
verted to, but there can be no doubt that his do- with his native Egyptian subjects, who bestowed
minions enjoyed the utmost prosperity under his on him in consequence the title of Euergetes (the
mild and pacific rule, and his skilful policy added Benefactor), by which he is generally known.
as much to the greatness and strength of his em- While the arms of the king himself were thus
pile as could the arms of a more warlike monarch. successful in the East, his fleets reduced the mariThe coins of Ptolemy Philadelphus are only to time provinces of Asia, including Cilicia, Pambe distinguished from those of his father by the phylia, and Ionia, as far as the Hellespont, togecharacter of the countenance, and in some instances ther with Lysimachia and other important places
by their dates; none of them bearing the epithet on the coast of Thrace which continued for a long
of Philadelphus. [E. H. B.] period subject to the Egyptian rule. (Monum.
Adulitan. ap. Clintor. F. H. vol. iii. p. 382; Hieronym. ad Daniel. xi. 7; Justin, xxvii. 1; Appian.
Syr. 65; Polyb. v. 58.) Concerning the events
which followed the return of Euergetes to his own
dominions (probably in B. c. 243) we are almost
fita 2 ) O wholly in the dark; but it appears that the greater
0lt/t' < 5 _ t Ad ffi: part of the eastern provinces speedily fell again into
4t)2 < v k < ) the hands of Seleucus, while Ptolemy retained possession of the maritime regions and a great part of
Syria itself. He soon obtained a valuable ally in
the person of Antiochus Hierax, the younger broCOIN OF PTOLEMAEUS IT., KING OF EGYPT. ther of Seleucus, whom he uniformly supported in
his wars against his elder brother, and by this
PTOLEMAEUS III. (ITroXAELa7os), king of diversion effectually prevented Seleucus from proEGYPT, surnamed EUERGETES, was the eldest son secting active hostilities against Egypt. The war