Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/598

Rh 686 PTOLEMAEUS. the most conspicuous was Thai's, the celebrated Athenian hetaera. By her he had two sons, named Leontiscus and Lagus, and a daughter, Eirene, who was married to Eunostus, one of the petty princes of Cyprus. (Athen. xiii. p. *>76, e. ; Pans. i. 6. § 8.) Another son of Ptolemy, named Argafeus, is also mentioned, who was probably ille- gitimate, but his mother is unknown. (Pans. i. 7. §1.) [E.HB.] PTOLEMAEUS II. (^To^6A.a^os), king of Egypt, surnamed Philadelphus, was the son of Ptolemy I. by his wife Berenice. He was born in the island of Cos, whither his mother had accom- panied her husband during the naval campaign of B. c. 309. (Theocr. Idyll, xvii. 58; et Scliol. (xd luc. ; Callim. //. ad Dei. 165 — 190 ; Droysen, Helleimm. vol. i. p. 418.) We have scarcely any information concerning the period of his boyhood or youth, though we learn that he received a careful educa- tion ; and Philetas, the elegiac poet of Cos, and Zenodotus the grammarian, are mentioned as his literary preceptors (Suid. s.v. *iAT?Tasand 2n]vo^o- Tos). But it is probable that his own promising character and disposition combined with the par- tiality of his father for Berenice, to induce "the aged monarch to set aside the offspring of his former marriage in favour of Pliiladelphus. In order to carry this project into execution, and secure the suc- cession to this his favourite son, the king at length resolved to abdicate the sovereign power, and esta- blish Philadelphus (at this time 24 years of age) upon the throne during his own lifetime. The young prince appears to have been personally popular with the Alexandrians, who, we are told, welcomed the announcement with the utmost joy, I and the accession of the new monarch (Nov. b. c. 285) was celebrated with festivities and proces- sions of the utmost magnificence. (Justin, xvi. 2 ; Athen. v. pp. 1 ^'o — 203 ; Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Arm. p. 113.) It is probable that the virtual authority of king still remained in the hands of Ptolemy Soter, during the tv/o years that he survived this event ; but no attempt was made to disturb his arrange- ment of the succession. Ptolemy Ceraunus and Meleager quitted Egypt, and Philadelphus found himself at his father's death (u. c. 283) the un- disputed master of his wealthy and powerful king- dom. His long reign was marked by few events of a striking character, while his attention was mainly directed to the internal administration of his kingdom, and the patronage of literature and science ; his foreign policy was essentially pacific, and the few external wars by which his reign was troubled, were not of a nature to affect deeply the prosperity of his dominions. Unfortunately, our liistorical information concerning his reign is so scanty, that we have the greatest difficulty in ar- ranging and connecting the few notices that have been transmitted to us. Its tranquillity appears to have been first disturbed by hostilities with his half brother Magas, who had governed Cyrene as viceroy under Ptolemy Soter, but on the death of that monarch threw off the yoke, and asserted his independence. Not content with maintaining him- self in the possession of the Cyrenaica, Magas even attemj^ed to invade Egypt, and had ad- vanced as far as Paraetonium, when he was re- called to his own dominions by a revolt of the Marmaridae. A formidable mutiny among his Gaulish mercenaries prevented Ptolemy from pur- PTOLEMAEUS. §§ 1, 2 ; Schol. ad Callim. H. in Del. 170 — 190). Magas, however, subse- quently induced Antiochus II., king of Syria, to make common cause with him against the Egyptian monarch, aud himself undertook a second expedi- tion against Egypt, in which he again advanced to the frontier, and took the fortress of Paraetonium ; but the efforts of Antiochus were paralysed by the address of Ptolemy, and lie was able to effect nothing on the side of Syria. At length the war was terminated by a treaty, which left Magas in undisputed possession of the Cyrenaica, while his infant daughter Berenice was betrothed to Ptolemv, the son of Philadelphus. (Paus. i. 7. § 3 ; Po- lyaen. ii. 28 ; Justin, xxvi. 3 ; Droysen, Hellenism. vol. ii. pp. 244—250.) It was probably during the continuance of this war that we find Ptolemy also taking an active part in the affairs of Greece, by sending a fleet under Patroclus to the assistance of the Athenians against Antigonus Gonatas [PatroclusJ. Nor was he inattentive to the events that were passing in more distant countries. After the defeat of Pyrrhus by the Romans, he had hastened to con- clude a treaty with the rising republic, and during the subsequent war between Rome and Carthage, he continued faithful to his new allies, and refused to assist the Carthaginians. (Liv. Epit. xiv. ; Dion Cass. fr. 146; Zonar. viii. 6 ; Justin, xviii.2 ; Val. Max. iv. 3. § 9 ; Appian. Sic. 1.) Of the subsequent relations between Egypt and Syria, we know only in general terms that hostili- ties between them were frequently interrupted or suspended, and as often renewed ; but the wars appear to have been marked by no events of a striking character. It nnist have been towards the close of the reign of Philadelphus that the long protracted contest was terminated by a treaty of peace, by which Ptolemy gave his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus II. The other stipulations of the peace are unknown to us, but it is certain that Phoenicia and Coele-Syria — the never-failing cause of dispute between the two monarchies — remained in the hands of Ptolemy (Hieron, ad Daniel, xi. 6 ; Droysen, vol. ii. p. 316.) In Greece Ptolemy appears to have continued throughout his reign on unfriendly if not directl}' hostile terms with Macedonia, and lost no opportu- nity of assisting the party opposed to that power ; but it was not until a few years defore his death that the successes of Aratus and the rise of the Achaean leagtie opened out to his policy fresh prospects in thjit quarter. He hastened to support Aratus with considerable sums of money, and received him in the most friendly manner when he visited Alexandria in person. (Plut. Aral. 11, But while Ptolemy was thus attentive to the events th.at were passing among the neighbouring potentates, his chief care was directed to the in- ternal administration of his kingdom, and to the encouragement and extension of its foreign com- merce. One of the first measures of his reign was to take effectuial steps for clearing Upper Egypt from the robbers and banditti by which it was in- fested (Theocr. Idyll, xv. 46—49, and Schol. ad loc), and he afterwards carried his arms far into Ethiopia, and established friendly relations with the barbarian tribes of that country. He was also the first to derive from those regions a supply of elephants for war, which had been previously prw J