General Notes

[2280151.ged]
Event: Ruled 170 - 164 BC, Pharaoh of Egypt [Alexandria] [co-regent with
Ptolemy VI] 1
Event: Ruled 145 - 116 BC, Pharaoh of Egypt 2
Event: Ruled 163 - 145 BC, King of Cyrenaica [Libya] 1
Note:
Ptolemy VIII EUERGETES II (Greek: "Benefactor II"), also called PHYSCON
(Greek: "Potbellied") (d. 116 BC), Macedonian king of Egypt who played a
divisive role in trying to win the kingship, making himself subservient
to Rome and encouraging Roman interference in Egypt.
Ptolemy VIII ruled jointly with his brother, Ptolemy VI Philometor, in
170-164 BC and alone during the next year; he was king of Cyrenaica (in
modern Libya) in 163-145, and sole ruler of Egypt from 145 to his death
in 116, except for a brief exile in 131-129. Continuously quarreling with
his queen, Cleopatra II, the widow of Philometor, he caused civil war and
economic collapse in Egypt. Late in his reign (118) he instituted
extensive reforms to restore the country.
Around 117 an expedition sponsored by Ptolemy completed the first sea
voyage to India via the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, beginning Egypt's
interest in the spice trade. [Encyclopædia Britannica CD '97, PTOLEMY
VIII EUERGETES II]
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Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, repulsive and nicknamed 'physon' [potbelly],
was captivated by his niece, also Cleopatra, the daughter of his
sister-wife Cleopatra. The niece agreed to the liaison so long as she
could also become queen -- so mother and daughter, sister and niece of
Euergetes, became joint queens as Cleopatra II and III...The former was
much beloved by the people since her late husband Ptolemy VI's reign was
such a shining example and memory compared to their present situation.
Public resentment against Ptolemy VIII grew to such a point that he fled
to Cyprus, taking the younger Cleopatra (III), their two children and the
young boy Memphites (his son by Cleopatra II) with him. His flight was
not a moment too soon, for the mob broke into the palace seeking his
blood.
In Cyprus, Euergetes plotted his return to Egypt where his sister,
Cleopatra II, reigned as Cleopatra Philometor Soteira. In a fit of
maniacal revenge against his sister and the Alexandrian mob which had
been busy destroying his statues and memories of him, he murdered
Memphites, his own son by Cleopatra II, and sent the child's dismembered
body to her as a present on her birthday.
In 129, now strong enough to invade Egypt, Euergetes returned from Cyprus
and in 128 Cleopatra II fled for protection to her daughter, Cleopatra
Thea, now married to Demetrius II of Syria. Strangely, she was to return
to Egypt, and Euergetes survived until 116. What happened to his
sister-wife Cleopatra II after her return is not known, but she
presumably predeceased him as her daughter, Cleopatra III, inherited
Egypt by Euergetes' will.