This was the stretch of the Nile river between the First Cataract at Syene and the Second Cataract at Wadi Halfa (the whole area is now submerged under Lake Nasser). The festival provided an opportunity for Ptolemy II to showcase the splendour, wealth, and reach of the Ptolemaic empire. [28][29] The conquered territory included the rich gold mines at Wadi Allaqi, where Ptolemy founded a city called Berenice Panchrysus and instituted a large-scale mining programme. Philadelphus, who succeeded him, was born in 308 BCE, took the throne when his father retired in 285, and ruled as Pharaoh of Egypt for almost forty years, till January 28th, 246 BCE., when he died. Ptolemy’s son was called Philadelphus because, in the tradition of … 273: Treaty with Rome ( Livy, Periochae 14.6 .) He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos. Its outbreak seems to be connected to the revolt of the co-regent Ptolemy 'the son' who had been leading the Ptolemaic naval forces against Antigonus II. At age 18 (290 BCE) Ptolemy was made his father's co-regent in order to guarantee his succession. [43][44] Gunther Hölb argues that the Ptolemaic focus was on the eastern Aegean, where naval forces under the command of the co-regent Ptolemy the Son, took control of Ephesus and perhaps Lesbos in 262 BC. On 28 March 284 BC, Ptolemy I had Ptolemy II declared king, formally elevating him to the status of co-regent. The conflict was probably the reason why Ptolemy executed two of his brothers, probably full brothers of Keraunos, in 281 BC. The peace was sealed by Antiochus' marriage to Ptolemy's daughter Berenice Phernopherus, which took place in 252 BC. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Φιλάδελφος, Ptolemaios Philadelphos "Ptolemy, friend of his siblings"; 309/8 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 to 246 BC. Tarn believed his birth (presumably in Alexandria, Egypt) was between August–September 36 BC. In about 285 BC, Ptolemy I Soter took as his co-ruler one of his sons by Berenice, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who became the sole ruler of Egypt upon his father’s death in about 282 BC. Ptolemy II,Philadelphus (284-246 b.c.) Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309 -246 BC ), was of a delicate constitution, no … [8], The fate of Ptolemy Philadelphos is unknown. Around 272 BC, Ptolemy II promoted himself and his sister-wife Arsinoe II to divine status as the Theoi Adelphoi (Sibling Gods). All three of these officials answered to the dioiketes and held equal rank, the idea being that each would act as a check on the others and thus prevent officials from developing regional power bases that might threaten the power of the king. Alexander Helios was born and educated in Alexandria.He was the second oldest of Cleopatra's sons, Caesarion being the oldest. He had two full sisters, Arsinoe II and Philotera. The festival included a feast for 130 people in a vast royal pavilion and athletic competitions. The adults were killed for their ivory, the children were captured in order to be trained as war elephants. His father Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra to a summit near Antioch, Syria (now a part of modern Turkey) in a place Plutarch locates as being situated between Beirut and Sidon, called Light, an unwalled village. Ptolemy is recorded by Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court at Pataliputra in India,[80] probably to Emperor Ashoka: He is also mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as a recipient of the Buddhist proselytism of Ashoka: Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-Servant-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. Antiochus II took advantage of this upset to declare war on Ptolemy II and he was joined by the Rhodians. His older son, Ptolemy Keraunos, fled to Seleucus, who promised to restore him. He retained that position until his rebellion in 259 BC. Even further south was Ptolemais Theron (possibly located near the modern Port Sudan), which was used as a base for capturing elephants. 21, "Callicrates of Samos and Patroclus of Macedon, champions of Ptolemaic thalassocracy", "A Re-Examination of the Chremonidean War", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ptolemy_II_Philadelphus&oldid=1020046894, Articles containing Koinē Greek-language text, Articles containing Ancient Egyptian-language text, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Between 259 and 255 BC, the Ptolemaic navy, commanded by Chremonides, was defeated in a sea battle at Ephesus. During Ptolemy II's reign, the material and literary splendour of the Alexandrian court was at its height. Ptolemy II and King Hiero II of Syracuse are regularly referred to as having enjoyed particularly close relations. He was a true polymath, not only being a general and strategist of considerable ability but also a statesman Two hieroglyphic stelae commemorate Ptolemy's activities in this context. Several of Ptolemy's contemporary kings had fought serious wars against Gallic invasions in Greece and Asia Minor, and Ptolemy presented his own victory as equivalent to theirs. Ptolemy Philadelphus (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Φιλάδελφος, "Ptolemy the brother-loving", August/September 36 BC – 29 BC) was a Ptolemaic prince and was the youngest child of Greek Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark … He promoted the Museum and Library of Alexandria. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice. [71][72], The whole of Egypt was divided into thirty-nine districts, called nomes (portions), whose names and borders had remained roughly the same since early Pharaonic times. As Antigonus expanded his power through mainland Greece, Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II positioned themselves as defenders of 'Greek freedom' from Macedonian aggression. Some time around 250 BC, his forces defeated Antigonus in a naval battle at an uncertain location. [11][12][13] Keraunos himself had gone to the court of Lysimachus, who ruled Thrace and western Asia Minor following his expulsion from Egypt. Lysimachus’ court was divided on the question of supporting Keraunos. The Pithom stele records the inauguration of a temple at Pithom by Ptolemy, in 279 BC on his royal jubilee. Ptolemy Soter is described very briefly in Daniel, (Daniel 11:6) as one of those who should receive part of the empire of Alexander when it was "divided toward the four winds of heaven." Manetho links himself directly to Pharaoh Ptolemy II. She was the mother of his legitimate children:[82][57], Ptolemy II repudiated Arsinoe in the 270s BC. [53] In Delos, Ptolemy established a festival, called the Ptolemaia in 249 BC, which advertised continued Ptolemaic investment and involvement in the Cyclades,even though political control seems to have been lost by this time. One ancient account claims that Ptolemy II murdered his father, but other sources say that he died of old age, which is more likely given that he was in his mid-eighties. Ptolemy I had originally supported the establishment of his friend Seleucus I as ruler of Mesopotamia, but relations had cooled after the Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC, when both kings claimed Syria. [21] Shortly thereafter, Magas invaded Egypt, marching on Alexandria, but he was forced to turn back when the Libyan nomads launched an attack on Cyrene. An embassy from Ptolemy visited the city of Rome in 273 BC and established a relationship of friendship (Latin: amicitia). 274-271: Continued war against Antiochus I Soter ( First Syrian War, second part); no territorial changes. Ptolemy II was an eager patron of scholarship, funding the expansion of the Library of Alexandria and patronising scientific research. [10][9][notes 1], The fall-out from the succession conflict between Ptolemy II and Ptolemy Keraunos continued even after Ptolemy II's accession. Each village had a komarch (village-leader) and a komogrammateus (village-secretary), who reported to the nomarch and the basilikos grammateus respectively. We do not know what the outcome of this invasion was. In the Chremonidean War (c. 267-261 BC), Ptolemy confronted Antigonid Macedonia for control of the Aegean and suffered serious setbacks. Around the same time, Ptolemy was convinced to pay large subsidies to the Achaean League by their envoy Aratus of Sicyon. 46–120 AD) and according to George Syncellus Manetho links himself directly with Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC). Ptolemy "the son" and an associate took control of the Ptolemaic territories in western Asia Minor and the Aegean. [19][notes 2] Around the time of the rebellion, Ptolemy II legitimised the children of Arsinoe I by having them posthumously adopted by Arsinoe II.[18]. Plutarch states that the only child that Octavian killed out of Antony's children was Marcus Antonius Antyllus, but the ancient sources make no mention of him after being taken to Rome with his surviving siblings. Reigning at first with his father, Ptolemy I Soter, he became sole ruler in 283–282 and purged his family of possible rivals. [77] Ptolemy was also the first Egyptian ruler to enter into formal relations with the Roman Republic. Other scholars have identified the co-regent as the future, Scholia on Theocritus 17.128; Pausanias 1.7.3, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHölb2001 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFO'Niel2008 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHolbl2001 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFMookerji1988 (, Pliny the Elder, "The Natural History", Chap. Some scholars, such as Hans Hauben, argue that Kos belongs to the Chremonidean War and was fought around 262/1 BC, with Patroclus in command of the Ptolemaic fleet. He had two full sisters, Arsinoe II and Philotera. Her cult would prove extremely popular in Egypt throughout the Ptolemaic period. Almost nothing is known about the events of the battle, except that Antigonus II Gonatas, although outnumbered, led his fleet to defeat Ptolemy's unnamed commanders. was the younger son of Ptolemy I, and ruled for the last two years of his father’s life. Priests and festivals are also attested on Cyprus at Lapethos, at Methymna on Lesbos, on Thera, and possibly at Limyra in Lycia. He organized the Alexandrian Library inaugurated by his father. At the top of the hierarchy, in Alexandria, there were a small group of officials, drawn from the king's philoi (friends). The Life of Rome's First Emperor: Augustus. Although the temple had existed since the sixth century BC, it was Ptolemy's sponsorship that converted it into one of the most important in Egypt.[63]. )-loving"), the youngest son of Ptolemy I; born 309 BC in Cos; succeeded his father in 285 BC and died 247. Probably in 273/2 BC, Ptolemy married his older sister, Arsinoe II. Octavian celebrated his military triumph in Rome, by parading the three orphans in heavy golden chains in the streets of Rome. It is one of our key pieces of evidence for the intended operation of the Ptolemaic tax system. [54], Ptolemy died on 28 January 246 BC and was succeeded by Ptolemy III without incident. In addition to Egypt, Ptolemy's empire encompassed much of the Aegean and Levant. The highlight was a Grand Procession, composed on a number of individual processions in honour of each of the gods, beginning with the Morning Star, followed by the Theoi Soteres, and culminating with the Evening Star. [49], The course of this war is very unclear, with the chronological and causal relationship of events attested at different times and in different theatres being open to debate. At the start of his sole reign, Ptolemy II deified his father and he deified his mother Berenice I as well after her death in the 270s. It is thought by some that he reigned briefly with his father, Ptolemy VI, c. 145 BC, and was probably murdered by his uncle, Ptolemy VIII. They had no offspring, but in the 260s BC, the children of Arsinoe I were legally declared to be her children. When Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it forty years within one. Both stelae record his achievements in terms of traditional Pharaonic virtues. The first set seem to have been minted by a Ptolemaic mint, perhaps left there in 276 BC after Pyrrhus of Epirus' withdrawal from Sicily. They are succeeded by a series that seems to have been minted by the regular Syracusan mint, perhaps on the outbreak of the First Punic War in 265 BC. His father had him schooled in the tradition of Alexander the … People - Ancient Egypt: Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Tour Egypt PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS, THE SECOND KING OF EGYPT'S GREEK PERIOD by Jimmy Dunn -- In about 285 BC, Ptolemy I Soter probably took as his co-ruler one of his sons by Berenice, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who became the sole ruler of Egypt and the rest of his father's empire upon the elder king's death in about … Ptolemy ordered the erection of the core of the Temple of Isis at Philae was erected in his reign and assigned the tax income from the newly conquered Dodekaschoinos region to the temple. [48], Around 260 BC, war broke out once more between Ptolemy II and the Seleucid realm, now ruled by Antiochus II Theos. Two years afterward Ptolemy the father died, and was buried by his son with a magnificence almost equal to that of his own coronation. [39][40] In 265/4 BC, Areus once again tried to cross the Isthmus of Corinth and aid the beleaguered Athenians, but Antigonus II concentrated his forces against him and defeated the Spartans, with Areus himself among the dead. Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika), Ptolemy married his first wife, Arsinoe I, daughter of Lysimachus, between 284 and 281 BC. Ptolemy II himself invaded Syria in 257 BC. The couple were worshipped as a pair, the Theoi Soteres (Saviour Gods). Ultimately, the parents of Philadelphos were defeated by Caesar Octavian (future Emperor Augustus) during the naval battle at Actium, Greece in 31 BC. [7] Octavian gave these siblings to Octavia Minor, his second-eldest sister who was their father's former wife. After his father died (283 BCE ), Ptolemy repudiated his first wife, married his older sister-- Arsinoe II --& made her co-regent of his empire (277 BCE ). [41] After a prolonged siege, the Athenians were forced to surrender to Antigonus in early 261 BC. From 275-271 BC, he led the Ptolemaic Kingdom against the rival Seleucid Empire in the First Syrian War and extended Ptolemaic power into Cilicia and Caria, but lost control of Cyrenaica after the defection of his half-brother Magas. He was active in many other spheres: under his kingship, the canal between the Red Sea and the Nile was restored, to facilitate trade and communication. Ptolemy II was the son of Ptolemy I Soter and his third wife Berenice I. Within each nome, there were three officials: the nomarch (nome-leader) who was in charge of agricultural production, the oikonomos (household steward) who was in charge of finances, and the basilikos grammateus (royal secretary), who was in charge of land surveying and record-keeping. He took the Egyptian name, Meryamun Setepenre, which means "Beloved of Amun, Chosen of Re". As a result, it is the administration of the countryside that is best known to modern scholarship. [13], The three children of Arsinoe I, who included the future Ptolemy III, seem to have been removed from the succession after their mother's fall. It is possible, but not certain, that Antigonus was still at war with Ptolemy II during this period and that his great naval victory over Ptolemy at the Battle of Kos (mentioned above) took place in 255 BC within the context of the Second Syrian War. As a result, both were given the epithet "Philadelphoi" (Koinē Greek: Φιλάδελφοι "Sibling-lovers"). [51][50], After the war was over, in July 253 BC Ptolemy travelled to Memphis. This was followed by a Second Syrian War (260-253 BC) against the Seleucid empire, in which many of the gains from the first war were lost. The tax farmers received any excess from the collected taxes as profit. The next year, his parents committed suicide as Octavian's legions invaded Egypt. Through this system, a chain of command was created which ran from the king all the way down to each of the three thousand villages of Egypt. 268/267: Beginning of co-regency of Ptolemy the Son. 1. [17] The marriage provided a model which was followed by most subsequent Ptolemaic monarchs. Even Ptolemy's mistress Bilistiche received sanctuaries in which she was identified with the goddess Aphrodite.[59][58]. As long as the two kings lived, this dispute did not lead to war, but with the death of Ptolemy I in 282 and of Seleucus I in 281 BC that changed. [75] Numismatic evidence seems to indicate that Ptolemy II funded Hiero II's original rise to power - a series of Ptolemaic bronze coins known as the 'Galatian shield without Sigma' minted between 271 and 265 BC, have been shown to have been minted in Sicily itself, on the basis of their style, flan shape, die axes, weight and find spots. Ptolemy II took advantage of this to expand his realm at Seleucid expense. [26] Around 275 BC, Ptolemaic forces invaded Nubia and annexed the northern twelve miles of this territory, subsequently known as the Dodekaschoinos ('twelve-mile land'). The Ptolemaic sphere of power extended over the Cyclades to Samothrace in the northern Aegean. [73] The Zenon papyri also record experiments by the dioiketes Apollonius to establish cash crop regimes, particularly growing castor oil, with mixed success. Decorative work on the Temple of Opet at Karnak and the north, This page was last edited on 26 April 2021, at 21:34. [5] Two years later in late 34 BC, at the Donations of Alexandria, part of her kingdom was granted to Ptolemy making him ruler of Syria, Phoenicia and Cilicia.[6]. The co-regency between Ptolemy II and his father continued until the latter's death in April–June 282 BC. Ptolemy I Soter ([323]305–282 b.c.e.) A tradition preserved in the pseudepigraphical Letter of Aristeas presents Ptolemy as the driving force behind the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek as the Septuagint. He had two elder brothers, Ptolemy Keraunos and Meleager, both of whom were Macedonian kings. [29], Probably in response to the alliance with Magas, Ptolemy declared war on Antiochus I in 274 BC by invading Seleucid Syria. This account contains several anachronisms and is unlikely to be true. [33][34], On the east coast of the sea, the key settlements were Berenice (modern Aqaba/Eilat)[35] and Ampelone (near modern Jeddah). His father Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra to a summit near Antioch, Syria (now a part of modern Turkey) in a place Plutarch locates as being situated between Beirut and Sidon, called Light, an unwalled village. Notes. From there, he sailed to Attica in 266 BC. Ptolemy XVI Philadelphos Antonius was of Greek and Roman heritage. At this same moment, Ptolemy's own forces were hamstrung. Hiero seems to have modelled various aspects of his royal self-representation and perhaps his tax system, the Lex Hieronica on Ptolemaic models. If the mention of someone named Manetho in the Hibeh Papyri, dated to 241/240 BC, is in He pursued an aggressive and expansionist foreign policy with mixed success. 316 – 271 B.C. The leaders of these missions established a chain of 270 harbour bases along the coasts, some of which grew to be important commercial centres. The Seleucid forces were afflicted by economic problems and an outbreak of plague. At that time, Ptolemy I had occupied the southern portion of the region, Coele Syria, up to the Eleutherus river, while Seleucus established controlled over the territory north of that point. [31], Ptolemy revived earlier Egyptian programmes to access the Red Sea. Pronunciation: Ber-e-NEE-kay SEER-a. Ptolemy's other sister Philotera also received a cult. Antiochus II then took control of the Ptolemaic cities in. 309, and was consequently twenty-six years of age at the commencement of his sole reign. The Achaean League was a relatively small collection of minor city-states in the northwestern Peloponnese at this date, but with the help of Ptolemy's money, over the next forty years Aratus would expand the League to encompass nearly the whole of the Peloponnese and transform it into a serous threat to Antigonid power in mainland Greece. Ptolemy forged alliances with the two most powerful Greek cities, Athens and Sparta. At the end of the war, Ptolemy had lost sections of Pamphylia and Cilicia, but none of the Syrian territory south of the Eleutheros River. [2] If Plutarch is to be believed, Philadelphos was conceived during this meeting between roughly November and December 37 BC. Through her, the Ptolemaic line intermarried back into the Roman nobility for many generations. Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who succeeded his father as pharaoh of Egypt in 283 BC, was a peaceful and cultured pharaoh, and no great warrior. [27] The conquest was publicly celebrated in the panegyric court poetry of Theocritus and by the erection of a long list of Nubian districts at the Temple of Isis at Philae, near Syene. (2) Ptolemy II, surnamed Philadelphus (Philadelphos, "Brother(sister? PHILADELPHUS, B.C. With Apame's help, Demetrius seized control of the city, but he was assassinated by Berenice. It achieved this goal with greatest efficiency under Ptolemy II. Two of the luminaries of Ptolemy II's court, the poet Theocritus and the mathematician and engineer Archimedes came from and eventually returned to Syracuse. If Plutarch is to be believed, Philadelphos was conceived during this meeting between roughly November and December 37 BC. Ptolemy was educated by a number of the most distinguished intellectuals of the age, including Philitas of Cos and Strato of Lampsacus. Ptolemy XVI Philadelphos Antonius was of Greek and Roman heritage. He was one of the most successful members of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, leaving Egypt in a much better condition than he inherited it in. A key goal of this administrative system was to extract as much wealth as possible from the land, so that it could be deployed for royal purposes, particularly war. [36] Ptolemy was able to pursue this interventionist policy without any challenge because a long-running civil war in Macedon had left a power vacuum in the northern Aegean. Ptolemy II was the son of Ptolemy I Soter and his third wife Berenice I. In 271 BC, Antiochus abandoned the war and agreed to peace, with a return to the status quo ante bellum. [14], Continued conflict over the issue within his kingdom led to the execution of Agathocles and the collapse of Lysimachus' kingdom in 281 BC. [54], Also in the late 250s BC, Ptolemy renewed his efforts to reach a settlement with Magas of Cyrene. [38] In late 268 BC, Chremonides declared war on Antigonus II. Ptolemaic naval forces even entered the Black Sea, waging a campaign in support of the free city of Byzantion. Each subsequent royal couple would be added to the priest's title until the late second century BC. He inherited his father's love for literature and genius for administration, but not his military capacity. Large indemnity payments to the Seleucids were presented by Ptolemy II as the dowry connected to this wedding. Roller speculates that he may have died from illness in the winter of 29 BC.[9]. Ptolemy VIII Ptolemy VIII (184-116 BC) was known as Ptolemy Euergetes (“benefactor”) II and was the king of Egypt from 145-116 BC. [20], Antiochus did this by pursuing ties with Ptolemy II's maternal half-brother, Magas who had been governor of Cyrenaica since around 300 BC had declared himself king of Cyrene sometime after Ptolemy I's death. On the other hand, Lysimachus' heir, Agathocles, was married to Keraunos' full sister Lysandra. On the one hand, Lysimachus himself had been married to Ptolemy II's full sister, Arsinoe II, since 300 BC. Philadelphus was the first of the Ptolemies to fully understand the political necessity of making such adaptations.