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Ptolemy III

 

 

Ptolemy III Euergetes Tryphon1 king of Egypt, son of Ptolemy II by Arsinoe I2, born c. 285-2753, official birthday Dios 5 (Mac.)4, very probably raised on Thera4.1, succeeded Ptolemy II probably Dios 25 (Mac.) = 28 January 2465, possibly briefly Great King of Babylon early 2456, incorporated in the dynastic cult with Berenice II between Artemisios year 4 (Mac.) = 7 July 244 and 30 Epheiph year 5 (Eg.) = 17 September 243 as the Benefactor Gods, Qeoi Euerghtai7, died of natural causes8 between 1 Thoth (Eg.) = 18 October and 15 Hathyr (Eg.) = 31 December 2229 and was succeeded9.1 by Ptolemy IV10.

Ptolemy III's titles as king of Egypt were:11

Horus               (1) Hkn-nTrw-rmT-Hr.f m-Szp.f-nsyt-m-a-jt.f12
                      (2) wr-pHtj jrj-aDt-m-bTnw.f13
Two Ladies        onw nDtj-nTrw jnb-mnx-n-TAmrj14
Golden Horus     wr-pHtj jrj-Axt nb-HAbw-sd-mj-PtH-TATnn jty-mj-Ra15
Throne Name     jwa-n-nTrwj-snwj stp-(n)-Ra sxm-anx-n-Jmn16
Son of Re          ptwlmjs anx-Dt mrj-PtH17

Ptolemy III had one marriage and no known liaisons18. He married Berenice II, daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene and Arsinoe/Apama19, by whom he had Ptolemy IV, Magas, Arsinoe III20 and Berenice21, and is presumed to have had an unknown son, here restored as Lysimachus, and Alexander22.

Update Notes:

10 Feb 2002: Added individual trees
21 Feb 2002: Split into separate entry
20 May 2002: Corrected Egyptian date equations as necessary
18 May 2003: Added Xrefs to the Lacus Curtius edition of Polybius
9 June 2003: Added mention of the gap in the Babylonian astronomical diaries for the period of Ptolemaic occupation of Babylon
18 June 2003: Added missed Xref to the Lacus Curtius edition of Polybius
23 Aug 2003: Added Xrefs to online Justin
23 Oct 2003: Added Xref to online translation of Canopus Decree
23 Oct 2003: Added mention of the coinage evidence for the period of Ptolemaic occupation of Babylon (thanks to Ron Wallenfels)
24 Feb 2004: Added Xref to online translations of Appian, Prol. Trogus and Commentary on Daniel
19 Nov 2004: Reworked discussion of the death date to address Polybius and the ambiguities in the papyrological evidence.
1 March 2005: Added notice of Babylonian chronicle BM 34428 of the Ptolemaic occupation of Iraq.
5 March 2005: Corrected summary of Wallenfels datum -- not actual coinage but contract specifications of coinage (thanks to Oliver Hoover)
11 Mar 2005: Added Greek transcription, links to Bevan
13 Sep 2006: Added links to Packard Humanities DB, Canon at Attalus
10 May 2007: Added discussion of Ptolemy III's Theran childhood (thanks to Edward Loring and Aayko Eyma)
7 June 2007: Added discussion of old proposals that Ptolemy IV succeeded before the death of Ptolemy III.
25 June 2007: Deepened discussion of IG XII,3 464 (thanks to Sheila Ager for discusion)
26 Nov 2010: Fix broken Perseus+DDbDP links
2 Jan 2011: Note Plutarch's mention of the "wives" of Ptolemy III.

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