General Notes

[2280151.ged]
Ruled 221 - 205 BC, Pharaoh of Egypt 1
Event: Throne Name Iwa-en-netjerwy-menkhwy Setep-ptah User-ka-re
Sekhem-ankh-amun 2
Note:
Ptolemy IV PHILOPATOR (Greek: Loving His Father) (b. c. 238 BC-d. 205
BC), Macedonian king of Egypt (reigned 221-205 BC), under whose feeble
rule, heavily influenced by favourites, much of Ptolemaic Syria was lost
and native uprisings began to disturb the internal stability of Egypt.
Classical writers depict Ptolemy as a drunken, debauched reveller,
completely under the influence of his disreputable associates, among whom
Sosibius was the most prominent. At their instigation, Ptolemy arranged
the murder of his mother, uncle, and brother. [Acting on a wild rumour
that Sosibius may well have started, Ptolemy agreed to have his mother
Berenice and his brother Magus respectively poisoned and scalded to death
within a year of his succesion. [Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Peter A.
Clayton, Thames and Hudson, Ltd., London, 1994, p. 211]]
Following the defection of one of Ptolemy's best commanders, Egypt's
Syro-Palestinian territory, Coele Syria, was seriously threatened by
Antiochus III, the Syrian Seleucid ruler. In 219, when the Seleucid ruler
captured some of the coastal cities, Sosibius and the Ptolemaic court
entered into delaying negotiations with the enemy, while the Ptolemaic
army was reorganized and intensively drilled. So grave was the threat
that for the first time under the Ptolemaic regime native Egyptians were
enrolled into the infantry and cavalry and trained in phalanx tactics. In
218 the negotiations collapsed, and Antiochus renewed his advance,
overrunning Ptolemy's forward defenses. In the spring of 217, however,
Ptolemy's new army met the Seleucid forces near Raphia in southern
Palestine, and with the help of the Egyptian phalanx Ptolemy was
victorious. Although holding the initiative, the Egyptian king, on
Sosibius' advice, negotiated a peace, and the Seleucid army withdrew from
Coele Syria.
After Raphia, Ptolemy married his sister, Arsinoe, who bore him a
successor in 210. The Egyptians, however, sensing their power, rose in a
rebellion that Polybius, the Greek historian, describes as guerrilla
warfare. By 205 the revolt had spread to Upper Egypt.
To the south, Ptolemy maintained peaceful relations with the neighbouring
kingdom. In the Aegean, he retained a number of islands, but, in spite of
honours granted him, he refused to become embroiled in the wars of the
Greek states. In Syria, also, Ptolemy avoided involvement in local
struggles, though Sosibius attempted to embroil Egypt there. According to
Polybius, Ptolemy's debauched and corrupt character, rather than his
diplomatic acumen, kept him clear of foreign involvements. As his reign
progressed he fell increasingly under the influence of his favourites,
and around November 205 he died. His clique of favourites kept Ptolemy's
death a secret, and about a year later murdered Queen Arsinoe, leaving
the young successor at their mercy.