Ptolemy IV

Name of Ptolemy IV.

Gold octa drachmon Ptolemy IV. Philopator, British Museum

Proper name

Ptolemaios anch dsched mer Ast
Ptolmys ˁnḫ ḏt mr ˁst
Ptolemaios, may he live forever, the beloved of Isis .

Ptolemy IV. Philopator (I) ( Greek Πτολεμαῖος Δʹ ὁ Φιλοπάτωρ (Αʹ) , "the father- lover "; * 245 BC ; † probably July or August 204 BC ), son of Ptolemy III. , was from 221 to 204 BC. Chr. Pharaoh (king) of Egypt from the dynasty of the Ptolemies in the Greco-Roman period .

Title

At the coronation of Ptolemy IV , Harmachis, the high priest of Ptah of Memphis , proclaimed the following rulers :

Horus name: The mighty boy, his father made him appear.
Nebtiname: The strong, great, the excellent (in the heart) towards all gods, the protector of humanity.
Gold name: The preserver of Egypt, the one who adorns the temples, the one who upholds the laws like the great Thoth , the lord of the Sed festivals like Ptah- Tatenen , the king like Re .
Throne names: The heir of the two gods benefactor, the chosen one of Ptah, enormous is the power of Re, the living image of Amun .

Regency

The Mediterranean basin 218 BC Chr.

With the knowledge of Ptolemy IV, his mother, Berenike II , and other relatives were murdered at the beginning of his reign . He married his sister Arsinoë III. , with whom he introduced himself as Theoi Philopatores (father-loving gods) into the Ptolemaic ruler's cult. Another propagandistic purpose was fulfilled by the construction of a monumental tomb ( sema ) in the center of Alexandria , in which he had the corpses of both his ancestors and Alexander the great transferred . Allegedly, Philopator just went for his amusement and was directed by favorites. His concubine Agathokleia is said to have had a dominant influence on him ; her brother Agathokles and the minister Sosibios largely directed Egyptian politics.

Among other things, the king had a magnificent ship named Thalamegos built for himself , which he used for representation, propaganda and entertainment purposes. He also set up the Lagynophoria (ancient Greek Λαγυνοφόρια ), an ancient Greek festival that was celebrated in Alexandria in honor of the god Dionysus .

Ptolemy IV took part as commander in chief in the Battle of Raphia , with which he waged the Fourth Syrian War (219-217 BC) against the Seleucid Empire under King Antiochus III. finished victorious. In this battle his personal physician, Andreas von Karystos, who also worked as a medical writer, was murdered. In the 16th year of the reign (207/206 BC) there was a revolt in Upper Egypt under the anti -king Harwennefer , which only began under Anchwennefer in 186 BC. BC by Ptolemy V could be crushed.

After his death

The ministers ruling him kept his death a secret for almost a year. When it became known, Philip V of Macedonia and Antiochus III decided. the division of the Ptolemaic Empire.

literature

Marco Frenschkowski : Ptolemy IV. Philopator. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1033-1035. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Werner Huss : Investigations into the foreign policy of Ptolemy IV. In: Munich contributions to papyrus research and ancient legal history. Issue 69, Beck, Munich 1976.
Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332-30 BC Chr.Beck , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47154-4 .
Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 , pp. 212-214.

Web links

Commons : Ptolemy IV. - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Ptolemy IV in the catalog of the German National Library
Chris Bennett biography

Individual evidence

↑ Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr.Beck , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47154-4 , p. 385.
↑ Werner Huss, Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332-30 BC Chr. , P. 470
↑ Walter Eder, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Art. 'II. 2nd dynasty of the Ptolemies', in: Eder, Walter (Hrsg.): Ruler Chronologies of the ancient world. Names, dates, dynasties. Stuttgart et al. 2004 (= Der neue Pauly: Supplemente; 1) , pp. 46–48, here p. 46.
↑ Zenobios : Proverbs. 3. 94 ( Epitome proverbiorum Lucii Tarrhaei et Didymi Alexandrini secundum ordinem alphabeticum graece. Florence 1497.); Strabo : Geôgraphiká. XVII 1. 8
↑ Eratosthenes : Arsinoë , quoted in Athenaios : Banquet 7,276.
^ Wolfgang Wegner: Andreas von Karystos. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 62.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ptolemy III	King of Egypt 222 to 204 BC Chr.	Ptolemy V

personal data
SURNAME	Ptolemy IV
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Philopator
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	King of Egypt
DATE OF BIRTH	245 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	204 BC Chr.

[Werner_Huß-1] Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr.Beck , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47154-4 , p. 385.

[2] Werner Huss, Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332-30 BC Chr. , P. 470

[3] Walter Eder, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Art. 'II. 2nd dynasty of the Ptolemies', in: Eder, Walter (Hrsg.): Ruler Chronologies of the ancient world. Names, dates, dynasties. Stuttgart et al. 2004 (= Der neue Pauly: Supplemente; 1) , pp. 46–48, here p. 46.

[4] Zenobios : Proverbs. 3. 94 ( Epitome proverbiorum Lucii Tarrhaei et Didymi Alexandrini secundum ordinem alphabeticum graece. Florence 1497.); Strabo : Geôgraphiká. XVII 1. 8

[5] Eratosthenes : Arsinoë , quoted in Athenaios : Banquet 7,276.

[6] Wolfgang Wegner: Andreas von Karystos. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 62.