General Notes

[2280151.ged]
Birth: in c. 276 BC 1
Death: in c. 222 BC 2
Event: Ancestor M
Event: Ruled 246 - 222 BC, Pharaoh of Egypt 3
Event: Throne Name Iwa-en-netjerwy-senwy Sekhem-ankh-re Setep-amun 4
Note:
Ptolemy III Euergetes...succeeded to the throne at the age of 30.
[Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Peter A. Clayton, Thames and Hudson, Ltd.,
London, 1994, p. 210]
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Ptolemy III EUERGETES (Greek: Benefactor) (fl. 246-221 BC), Macedonian
king of Egypt, son of Ptolemy II; he reunited Egypt and Cyrenaica and
successfully waged the Third Syrian War against the Seleucid kingdom.
Almost nothing is known of Ptolemy's youth before 245, when, following a
long engagement, he married Berenice II, the daughter of Magas, king of
Cyrene; thereby he reunited Egypt and Cyrenaica, which had been divided
since 258. Shortly after his accession and marriage, Ptolemy invaded
Coele Syria, to avenge the murder of his sister, the widow of the
Seleucid king Antiochus II. Ptolemy's navy, perhaps aided by rebels in
the cities, advanced against Seleucus II's forces as far as Thrace,
across the Hellespont, and also captured some islands off the Asia Minor
coast, but were checked c. 245. Meanwhile, Ptolemy, with the army,
penetrated deep into Mesopotamia, reaching at least Seleucia on the
Tigris, near Babylon. According to classical sources he was compelled to
halt his advance because of domestic troubles. Famine and a low Nile, as
well as the hostile alliance between Macedonia, Seleucid Syria, and
Rhodes, were perhaps additional reasons. The war in Asia Minor and the
Aegean intensified as the Achaean League, one of the Greek
confederations, allied itself to Egypt, while Seleucus II secured two
allies in the Black Sea region. Ptolemy was pushed out of Mesopotamia and
part of North Syria in 242-241, and the next year peace was finally
achieved. Ptolemy managed to keep the Orontes River region and Antioch,
both in Syria; Ephesus, in Asia Minor; and Thrace and perhaps also
Cilicia.
Within Egypt, Ptolemy continued the colonization of al-Fayyum (the
oasis-like depression southwest of Cairo), which his father had
developed. He also reformed the calendar, adopting 311 as the first year
of a "Ptolemaic Era." The Canopus decree, a declaration published by a
synod of Egyptian priests, suggests that the true duration of the year
(365 1/4 days) was now recognized, for an extra day was added to the
calendar every four years. The new calendar failed, however, to achieve
popular acceptance. The priests and classical sources also credited
Ptolemy with the restoration of the divine statues plundered from the
temples during Persian rule. In addition, the King initiated construction
at Edfu, the Upper Egyptian site of a great Ptolemaic temple, and made
donations to other temples.
Ptolemy avoided involvement in the wars that continued to plague Syria
and Macedonia. He did, however, send aid to Rhodes, after earthquakes
devastated the island, but he refrained from subsidizing the schemes of
the Spartan king against Macedonia, though he granted him asylum in 222.
In Asia Minor, when a pretender to one of the kingdoms, who was the
instigator of much of the trouble there, sought asylum in Ptolemaic
territory, Ptolemy promptly interned him. His policy was to maintain an
equilibrium of power, guaranteeing the safety of his own territory. After
declaring his son his successor, Ptolemy died, leaving Egypt at the peak
of its political power, and internally stable and prosperous