General Notes

Dead

Dead

Note: Ptolemy V (210?-181 bc), called Ptolemy Epiphanes("illustrious"), king of Egypt (205-181 bc), grandson of PtolemyII Euergetes. At the beginning of his reign, Antiochus III ofSyria and Philip V of Macedonia agreed to divide the foreignpossessions of Egypt between them, and Egypt was greatlyweakened. The official coronation of Ptolemy V was held in 197bc; it was the occasion on which the Egyptian priesthoodpublished the decree that forms the trilingual inscription onthe Rosetta Stone. In 193 bc Ptolemy married the Seleucidprincess Cleopatra I.

========================================================================

Ptolemy V EPIPHANES

(Greek: Illustrious) (b. c. 210--d. 180 BC), Macedonian king ofEgypt from 205 BC under whose rule Coele Syria and most ofEgypt's other foreign possessions were lost.

After Sosibius, Ptolemy IV's corrupt minister, had murderedPtolemy V's mother, the five-year-old king was officiallyelevated to the throne; Sosibius became his guardian. Accordingto the 2nd-century BC Greek historian Polybius, all prominentofficials were banished from Egypt while Sosibius' cliqueannounced the young king's accession and the death of hisparents. The rulers of Macedonia and of the Syrian-basedSeleucid kingdom, however, realizing Egypt's weakness, conspiredto partition that Kingdom's Asiatic and Aegean possessions.

When Sosibius retired about 202, Agathocles, another member ofthe clique, became Ptolemy's guardian. Soon, however, heprovoked Tlepolemus, the governor of Pelusium (Egypt's easternfrontier city), who marched on Alexandria, where his supportersroused a mob, compelling Agathocles to resign in favour ofanother courtier. When the boy king, enthroned in the stadiumwhile the mob clamoured for the murderers of his parents, noddedin confusion at the prompting of a courtier, the mob searchedout and butchered Agathocles and his family. Tlepolemus,however, soon proved incompetent and was removed.

During the confusion in Egypt, Antiochus III, the Seleucid king,made serious inroads into Coele Syria. Ptolemy's forces mounteda counteroffensive, capturing Jerusalem; but in 201 the Seleucidking returned, defeating the Ptolemaic army and later seizingthe Ptolemaic lands in Asia Minor. Roman diplomatic interventionfinally halted the war; and in 194/193 BC, as part of the peacetreaty, Cleopatra I, a daughter of Antiochus, was married toPtolemy.

Within Egypt the revolts that had begun under Ptolemy's fathercontinued; in 197 the King fought rebels in the Nile Delta,exhibiting great cruelty toward those of their leaders whocapitulated. In Upper Egypt troubles persisted until 187/186.Though an adult, the King still was under the control of hisguardians and advisers. To forestall further insurrections, heextended the authority of the governor of Thebes to include allUpper Egypt. In 196 he promulgated the decree inscribed on theRosetta Stone; found in 1799, it provided the key to thehieroglyphic, or pictographic writing, of ancient Egypt. Thedecree, which reveals the increasing influence of Egyptiannatives, remitted debts and taxes, released prisoners, pardonedrebels who surrendered, and granted increased benefactions tothe temples.

Ptolemy retained existing alliances in Greece. Late in his reignan able eunuch was sent to recruit Greek mercenaries; butwhatever the King's plans may have been, he died suddenly, aboutMay 180, leaving two sons and a daughter, with the Queen astheir regent.