Ptolemy XIII

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Ptolemy XIII (* 61 BC ; † 47 BC ) was the eldest son of Ptolemy XII. Neos Dionysus and after his death since 51 BC Chr. Ancient Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ). At first he ruled together with his older sister Cleopatra and because of his minority he was under the tutelage of the Minister Potheinos , the supreme general Achillas and the rhetor Theodotus of Chios . Since the ambitious Cleopatra Ptolemy XIII. and completely ousted his guardians from the government, it was taken over by them after a power struggle in 49 BC. Expelled and Ptolemy XIII. since then named in official documents as the sole ruler. 48 BC When Gaius Julius Caesar appeared in Egypt and sided with Cleopatra in the Ptolemaic power struggle , there was a threat of civil war between him and his sister . Caesar achieved an outward reconciliation between the royal siblings and Cleopatra's renewed recognition as co-regent. Achillas besieged Caesar with a strong army in Alexandria , where the Roman general entrenched himself and the royal family, including Ptolemy XIII, interned as a hostage in the palace. The Alexandrian War lasted for months and was extremely dangerous for Caesar . Finally, Caesar released the Ptolemaic king for reasons that were not exactly clear. Ptolemy XIII then immediately joined the Egyptian siege army. Beginning of 47 BC A relief army moved in to support Caesar, with whom he could unite his own troops. In the decisive battle that followed, which the Roman general won, Ptolemy XIII drowned. in the Nile .

Family relationships

The mother of Ptolemy XIII. is not mentioned in the preserved ancient sources. According to the research of the ancient historian Werner Huss , it is now widely assumed that only the first-born Berenike IV of Ptolemy XII. and his wife Cleopatra VI. Tryphaina , while the younger children of Neos Dionysus ( Cleopatra VII , Arsinoë IV , Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV ) could have emerged from a second relationship with a noble Egyptian woman, perhaps from the high priestly family of Memphis .

Co-government with Cleopatra VII.

The testament of Ptolemy XII. determined that his eldest son and his eldest (still living) daughter, the famous Cleopatra VII, should succeed him to the throne. When Cleopatra took office, 18-year-old Cleopatra was already of age, but not her brother, who was only 10 years old, whose interests were therefore represented by a Regency Council, the eunuch Potheinos as the most powerful minister, the Egyptian Achillas as the chief troop leader and the rhetor Theodotos of Chios as a teacher belonged to the young king.

At that time there was domestic political unrest in Egypt, also caused by poor harvests. Many villages were depopulated because taxes could no longer be paid. So in the year 51/50 all residents left the central Egyptian place Hiera Nesos except for the priests of the associated temple. Similarly, all non-locals left Tinteris in 50/49 BC. In the same year there was an insufficient flood of the Nile . In the Herakleopolitical Gau there were unrest which had to be put down militarily. Finally, a prostagma (royal order) was established on October 27, 50 BC. In which all grain buyers in Middle Egypt were obliged under the penalty of death to bring their goods only to the capital Alexandria , apparently to prevent starvation in the capital.

The precocious and ambitious Cleopatra initially clearly dominated the government and acted as sole ruler for about 18 months. She only had her portrait and name immortalized on coins, inscriptions and reliefs , while that of her brother was not mentioned. As the prostagma of October 27, 50 BC BC shows, their sole rule ended at this time, because here the king is mentioned first, the queen only after. Apparently Potheinos had been able to assert the interests of his protégé. Since June 49 BC BC appear on papyri double dates "year one, which is also year three"; apparently Ptolemy XIII counted. his reigning years independently and put them in front.

Expulsion of Cleopatra and assassination of Pompey

Around the autumn of 49 BC Cleopatra was driven out of Alexandria by Potheinos. The double dates are now disappearing, Cleopatra is no longer mentioned. Meanwhile in the Roman civil war Pompey had fled Italy to the east; his counter-senate stationed in Thessalonica recognized in October 49 BC BC Ptolemy XIII. as the rightful ruler without mentioning Cleopatra. This accepted the actual balance of power in Egypt.

Cleopatra recruited mercenaries in Palestine and marched with her private army against the Egyptian border fortress of Pelusion . With his advisors and the Ptolemaic army, Ptolemy XIII moved. towards his sister and set up his base on the Kasischer Berg near Pelusion, not far from Cleopatra's army. But before the battle broke out, Pompey appeared on the coast of Egypt, where he had fled after his defeat at Pharsalus. The Roman general, who because of his friendship with Ptolemy XII. as guardian of his son Ptolemy XIII. could occur, asked the Ptolemaic government for support and acceptance. It is controversial in today's research whether the Regency Council, which is now in session, alone decided to assassinate Pompey without Ptolemy XIII. because of his youth would have had a say, as Plutarch claims. In any case, the young king appeared on the bank in full regalia to greet Pompey and thereby supported the assassination plans of his ministers.

Conflict with Caesar

Just two days after the assassination of Pompey (on July 27, 48 BC according to the Julian calendar), the victorious Gaius Julius Caesar reached Alexandria with his fleet and a small army of 4,000 men and quartered himself with his people in the palace district. He behaved imperiously and provoked unrest among the Alexandrians, who were already anti-Roman. He also acted as arbiter in the battle for the throne of the royal siblings and asked them to dismiss their troops and come to Alexandria, where they should bow to his judgment. Potheinos traveled to Alexandria with his wards, but left Achillas with his troops at Pelusion.

There was a dispute between Potheinos and Caesar over various demands of the dictator, e.g. B. the repayment of enormous sums of money, which Ptolemy XII. Rome is said to have owed it for its former recognition and return to the throne. The Ptolemaic tried in vain to prevent his sister's arrival. She could secretly get to Caesar and win him over. When Ptolemy XIII. When he met Cleopatra at Caesar's next morning, he fled angrily from the palace, threw his diadem on the ground and called on the Alexandrians, perhaps prompted by Potheinos, for support. However, he was seized by the soldiers of Caesar, who, in order to prevent the crowd from storming the palace, called a popular assembly in which he referred to the will of Ptolemy XII. called and brought about an outward reconciliation of the royal brothers and sisters; Cleopatra was restored to her previous position as co-regent.

Potheinos incited the Alexandrines further and called Achillas with his army of 20,000 men; the messengers that Ptolemy XIII. sent to the Egyptian general at Caesar's pressure, he had him killed. Since Caesar had far too few soldiers, he holed up in the palace quarter and seized the royal family for his protection. This did not prevent Achillas from opening the Alexandrian War , which brought Caesar heavy fighting over the next few months. Meanwhile Ptolemy XIII lived. forcibly with his hostile sister Cleopatra and the rest of the royal family as well as with Potheinos under Roman guard in the palace.

Nevertheless, Cleopatra's younger sister, Arsinoë IV, managed to escape to Achillas. She was raised to the rank of anti-queen, but soon quarreled with Achillas about command. The Roman general had Potheinos executed because he secretly supported Achillas. Ptolemy XIII at Caesar's request had to proclaim from a raised seat to the Alexandrians that the war was not in his favor; instead he wanted to act as a mediator to bring about a truce. However, it was clear to the besiegers that their king was only in favor of a break in the war and they therefore ignored his demands. Arsinoe now eliminated Achillas and gave her tutor Ganymedes the supreme command of the Egyptian troops. The fighting continued, with Caesar's life at one point in danger.

release

Despite some successes of Ganymedes, the Alexandrines were soon dissatisfied with his and Arsinoë's leadership and negotiated around December 48 BC. BC (Julian) with Caesar about a release of Ptolemy XIII. Their envoys stated that the Alexandrians would obey the orders of their king and would be ready to make peace if he reached a reconciliation with Caesar for them. Caesar agreed. A follower of the Roman dictator, as the author of the Alexandrian War , reports that Caesar had shown the young king how much his fatherland had already been destroyed by the war and that he should make his subjects peaceable and thus save them.

Caesar also expressed his hope that the young king would not commit a breach of trust. But Ptolemy XIII. had already been very experienced in the art of fine deception and had therefore hypocritically asked Caesar with tears not to send him away; he loves Caesar more than his kingdom. The Roman general dismissed him, but in freedom the young king took over the leadership of the fight against the Romans with ardor. In conclusion, the author disagrees with the claim that Caesar acted out of kindness and was deceived, as some of his friends believed. Rather, Caesar is said to have acted like this out of calculation.

The historian Cassius Dio , who wrote at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, believes that Caesar believed that a change of heart of his enemies was possible, having learned that the Egyptians were cowardly and despondent about their failures. The dictator did not see any strengthening of the Egyptian position in the release either and also learned of the capture of Pelusion by his ally Mithridates of Pergamon , who would therefore soon come to his aid with his relief army. According to the author of the Alexandrian War, however, Caesar does not seem to have heard of the advance of the reinforcements.

The reasons for the release are also controversial in modern research. It has been suggested, for example, that Caesar was deceived or that he tried to split the enemies into a party of Arsinoe and one of Ptolemy supporters.

Christoph Schäfer deals with this question in detail . In the opinion of this historian, Caesar expected the relieving army to appear soon, even if he had not yet found out directly. In addition, Caesar was certainly convinced of his superiority and did not naively believe in a change of heart of his enemies when the young king was released. To strengthen Cleopatra's position, which should guarantee a politically stable alliance with Rome, Ptolemy XIII. may no longer play a role after a Roman victory. But this was only possible after the king's release, his foreseeable breach of trust and his subsequent military defeat against the Roman troops, since he would then have been either dead or a prisoner who had broken his word. If Caesar had against it until his victory Ptolemy XIII. if held captive, action against a king who was not involved in the war would have been impossible. Cleopatra probably also demanded the release of her brother, since she would only have remained regent in the event of a Roman success, while her brother, as a loser, would have threatened death or at least deposition in the end. Your position would then have been strengthened at the same time.

Battle of the Nile and death

No sooner had the Egyptian troops arrived than the young king himself took command and energetically carried on the war. He received support from his Philoi (= "friends"), who probably consisted of people from his closest circle, high-ranking Alexandrians and leading military officials. According to the chronology of the author of the Alexandrian War , there were only now the first rumors of the approach of Caesar's reinforcement troops. This relief army, commanded by Mithridates of Pergamon, took Pelusion by storm and advanced rapidly to the vicinity of Alexandria.

Ptolemy XIII learned about the same time as Caesar that Mithridates was no longer far from the capital. The king then went against the Pergamener to prevent his union with Caesar's troops. Presumably Ptolemy XIII sailed. with his army on the Nile ships across Lake Mareotis and a canal into the Canobic Nile arm, went ashore and pitched a well-protected camp. Caesar first steered his fleet to the mouth of the Canobe arm of the Nile, then switched off the lights to deceive his enemies, sailed back under cover of night, went ashore west of Alexandria and marched with his soldiers around Lake Mareotis. The Ptolemy XIII. Sent cavalry and lightly armed men were supposed to prevent the Roman general from crossing a branch of the Nile, but were defeated. The dictator refused the peace talks requested by the Ptolemaic because he could now unite his army with Mithridates' relief army. On January 14, 47 BC BC (Julian) the decisive battle took place near the Mareotis Lake on the banks of the Nile. Caesar took the young king's camp by storm. Ptolemy XIII fled like many of his people; but his ship sank under the weight of those who followed. He drowned in the Nile.

Myth about the alleged survival

Since the popular belief was widespread in Egypt that death in the Nile was holy and bestowed eternal life, Caesar had the drowned king searched for , according to a tradition that goes back to the Roman historian Titus Livius , and presented his golden armor, drawn from the Nile, to the Alexandrians as Proof of Ptolemy's death. The desired effect was not lacking. Christoph Schäfer doubts this tradition, since Cassius Dio mentions the death of the king in the Nile, but just as little as the detailed Alexandrian War reports on the discovery of his corpse and the display of its gold armor to subjugate the Alexandrians. Plutarch and Appian 's statement that the king disappeared after the battle should agree with this.

A few years later (41 BC) a man in Arados presented himself as Ptolemy XIII. out, but Cleopatra had to be extradited on the orders of Mark Antony .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ According to Appian , Civil Wars II 71, 296 and II 84, 354 he was involved in the assassination of Pompey in 48 BC. 13 years old.
  2. ↑ Werner Huss, The Origin of Cleopatra Philopator . In: Aegyptus. Volume 70, 1990, pp. 191-203.
  3. ↑ Caesar , Civil War III 108, 4-6 et al
  4. ^ Caesar, Civil Wars III 108, 1; Appian, Civil Wars II 84 et al
  5. ^ Günther Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Darmstadt 1994, pp. 205f .; Hans Volkmann : Ptolemaios 35. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXIII, 2, Stuttgart 1959, Sp. 1756-1759 (here: 1757).
  6. ↑ Werner Huss: Egypt in Hellenistic times. Munich 2001, p. 706f .; Günther Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Darmstadt 1994, pp. 205f.
  7. ↑ Caesar, Civil Wars III 103, 2; Plutarch , Caesar 48 et al
  8. ↑ Lucan , Pharsalia V 58-64.
  9. ^ Caesar, Civil Wars III 103, 2f. among others
  10. ↑ Plutarch, Pompey 78.
  11. ^ Appian, Civil War II 84 et al
  12. ^ Caesar, Civil Wars III 106; Cassius Dio , Roman History. XLII 7f. among others
  13. ^ Caesar, Civil Wars III 107, 2; 109, 1.
  14. ↑ Plutarch, Caesar 48, 8.
  15. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History. XLII 34f .; Plutarch, Caesar 49.
  16. ^ Caesar, Civil Wars III 109; Cassius Dio, Roman History. XLII 42; Plutarch, Caesar 49, 5.
  17. ^ Caesar, Civil War III 112, 10ff .; Alexandrian War 4; Cassius Dio, Roman History. XLII 39, 1 - 40, 1.
  18. ↑ Alexandrian War 23f.
  19. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History. XLII 42
  20. ^ So Günther Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Darmstadt 1994, p. 211.
  21. ^ So Hans Volkmann: Cleopatra. 1953, p. 67.
  22. ↑ Christoph Schäfer: Cleopatra. 2006, pp. 76-78; similar to Joachim Brambach: Cleopatra. 1996, p. 90.
  23. ↑ Alexandrian War 25, 1.
  24. ↑ Alexandrian War 26; Cassius Dio, Roman History XLII 41; Flavius ​​Josephus , Jewish War 14, 130.
  25. ↑ Alexandrian War 28, 1.
  26. ↑ Alexandrian War 28–31; Cassius Dio, Roman History. XLII 43; among others; Werner Huss: Egypt in Hellenistic times. Munich 2001, p. 719.
  27. ↑ Florus , Epitoma de Tito Livio II 13, 60; Eutropius , Breviarium ab urbe condita VI 22, 1; Orosius , Historiae adversum Paganos VI 16, 2.
  28. ↑ Alexandrian War 31, 6; Cassius Dio, Roman History. XLII 43, 4; Plutarch, Caesar 49, 9 and Pompey 80, 8; Appian, Civil Wars V 9; on this Christoph Schäfer: Cleopatra. 2006, p. 79.
  29. ↑ Appian, Civil Wars V 9.
predecessor Office successor
Ptolemy XII Co- king of Egypt
51–47 BC Chr. 		Ptolemy XIV
personal data
SURNAME Ptolemy XIII
BRIEF DESCRIPTION younger brother and husband of Cleopatra VII.
DATE OF BIRTH 61 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 47 BC Chr.