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

PTOLEMAEUS. PTOLEMAEUS. 595
uninterrupted until the death of Ptolemy. (Justin. death. To his natural son Ptolemy surnlamed
xxxix. 1, 2; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 9; Euseb. Arm. Apion, he bequeathed by his will the separate kingpp. 167, 168.) This took place in the year B. c. dom ofCyrene [PTOLEMAEIrS APION]. [E.H.B.]
117, ten years after his restoration to the throne, PTOLEMAEUS VIII. (ITroAeXua7os), king of
and twenty-nine after the death of his brother EGYPT, surnamed SOTER II., and also PHILOMEPhilometor. But he himself reckoned the years TOR, both of which titles he bears on inscriptions,
of his reign from the date of his first assumption but more often distinguished by historians by the
of the regal title at Alexandria, in a. c. 170, and appellation of LATHYRUS or LATHUTRUS (Adfovaccording to this mode of computation, his death pos). He was the eldest son of Ptolemy Physcon,
took place in the fifty-fourth year of his reign. by his niece Cleopatra, and was already of full age
(Porphyr. ap. Euseb. A1rm. p. 115; Clinton. F. H. at the time of his father's death, B. c. 117. Cleovol. iii. p. 386.) patra, however, who had'been appointed by the
The character of Ptolemy Physcon has suffi- will of her late husband to succeed him on the
ciently appeared from the foregoing narrative. But throne, was desirous to associate with herself her
stained as he was at once by the most infamous younger son, Ptolemy Alexander, to the exclusion
and degrading vices, and by the most sanguinary of his brother. But the latter was popular with
and unsparing cruelty, he still retained in a great the Alexandrians, and the queen was obliged to
degree that love of letters which appears to have give way. She accordingly sent Alexander to
been hereditary in the whole race of the Ptolemies. Cyprus, while she declared Lathyrus king, with
He had in his youth been a pupil of Aristarchus, the titles of Soter and Philometor. But, in order
and not only courted the society of learned men, to retain her influence over him undivided, she combut was himself the author of a work called V'ro- pelled him to repudiate his sister Cleopatra, to!,v1Oiuaira, or memoirs, which extended to twenty- whom he had been previously married and was
four books. It is repeatedly cited by Athenaeus tenderly attached, and marry his younger sister
(ii. p. 43, e., 71, b., ix. p. 387, x. p. 438, xiv. p. Selene in her stead (Justin. xxxix. 3; Paus. i. 9.
654, &c.), but the quotations refer to minute and ~ 1). This arrangement seems to have in some
miscellaneous points from which it is impossible to degree produced its intended effect; at least the
judge of the general character of the work. It mother and son were able to rule conjointly for
would seem, however, to have been a sort of general near ten years before they came to any open
natural history, rather than an historical narration rupture. But they were on many occasions opposed
of events. But even in his patronage of literature to one another, in their foreign as well as domestic
Ptolemy displayed his capricious and tyrannical policy, and we find Ptolemy sending assistance to
character: and during the first years of his sole Antiochus Cyzicenus in his wars against the Jews,
reign his cruelties appear to have produced a gene- in direct opposition to the will of his mother, who
ral consternation among the philosophers and men had uniformly favoured the latter, and had placed
of letters at Alexandria, many of whom fled from two officers of that nation at the head of her army.
Egypt, and took refuge in other countries, where But Cleopatra could ill brook such resistance to
they opened schools, and thus introduced the her authority: and by accusing Ptolemy of a
learning and science of Alexandria (Athen. iv. p. design against her life, she excited such an insur184). Ptolemy endeavoured in the later years of rection in Alexandria that the king was forced to
his reign to repair the mischief he had thus caused, seek safety in flight, B. c. 107. (Justin. xxxix. 4;
and again draw together an extensive literary Paus. i. 9. ~ 2; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 10. ~~ 2, 4;
society in his capital. To him also is ascribed, with Porphyr. ap. Euseb. A} rm. p. 115.)
some probability, the prohibition of the export of His brother Alexander now assumed the sovepapyrus, a measure which was dictated by jealousy reignty of Egypt, in conjunction with his motherof the growing literary riches of the kings of Per- while Lathyrus was able to establish himself in the
gamus, and led, as is well known, to the invention possession of Cyprus. Cleopatra indeed attempted
of parchment (Plin. H. N. xiii. xiii. 11 (21)). Some to dispossess him of that island also, but without
writers, however, refer this statement to Euergetes success, and Ptolemy held it as an independent
I. (See Parthey, Das Alex. Museuzm, p. 48.) kingdom for the eighteen years during which CleoEuergetes II. left two sons; Ptolemy, after- patra and Alexander reigned in Egypt. His wars
wards known as Soter II., and Alexander, both of in Syria are the only events which have been rewhom subsequently ascended the throne of Egypt; corded to us of this period. In B. c. 103 he
and three daughters: 1. Cleopatra, already mar- landed in Syria with a large army, in order to
ried to her brother Ptolemy; 2. Tryphaena, the support the citizens of Ptolemais and Gaza against
ife of Antiochus Grypus, king of Syria; and 3. Alexander Jannaeus, king of the Jews, defeated
Eelene, who was still unmarried at her father's that monarch in a great battle on the banks of the
Jordan, and made himself master of Ptolemais,
Gaza, and other cities. Hereupon Cleopatra hastened with an army to oppose him, and reduced
Phoenicia and Ptolemais, while Lathyrus, after an?~%~,~ /unsuccessful attempt to march upon Egypt itself,
retired to Gaza, and the following spring withdrew
to Cyprus, a.c. 101 (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 12, 13).
In the subsequent disputes of the Syrian princes
he and his mother, as was to be expected, took
opposite sides, Ptolemy being in close alliance with
Antiochus Cyzicenus, while Cleopatra supported
his brother Antiochus Grypus (Justin. xxxix. 4).
COIN OF 1'TOLEMAEUS VIL., KING OF EGYPT. At a later period (in B. c. 94) we find Ptolemy
again taking part in the civil wars which followed
qQ 2