A 3rd century BC coin depicts the co-rulers of Ptolemaic Egypt: Ptolemy II Philadelphus (front), and his sister and wife
Arsinoe II. The Greek inscription
adelphon means "of siblings".
(
Greek:
,
Ptolemaĩos Philádelphos" 309 BC–246 BC), was the king of
Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BC to 246 BC. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom
Ptolemy I Soter and
Berenice, and was educated by
Philitas of Cos. He had two half-brothers,
Ptolemy Keraunos and
Meleager, both of whom became kings of
Macedonia (in 281 BC and 279 BC respectively). Both died in the Gallic invasion of 280-279 BC (see
Brennus).
As did the Ptolemy's III through V, Ptolemy II erected a commemmorative stele, the Great Mendes Stela.
Reign
He began his reign as co-regent with his father
Ptolemy I from ca. 290 BC–ca. 283 BCE, and maintained a splendid court in
Alexandria.
Egypt was involved in several wars during his reign.
Magas of Cyrene opened war on his half-brother (274 BC), and the
Seleucid king
Antiochus I Soter, desiring
Coele-Syria with
Judea, attacked soon after in the
First Syrian War. Two or three years of war followed. Egypt's victories solidified the kingdom's position as the undisputed naval power of the eastern Mediterranean; the Ptolemaic sphere of power extended over the
Cyclades to
Samothrace, and the harbours and coast towns of
Cilicia Trachea,
Pamphylia,
Lycia and
Caria.
The victory won by
Antigonus II Gonatas, king of Macedonia, over the Egyptian fleet at
Cos (between 258 BC and 256 BC) did not long interrupt Ptolemy's command of the
Aegean Sea. In a
Second Syrian War with the Seleucid kingdom, under
Antiochus II Theos (after 260 BC), Ptolemy sustained losses on the seaboard of
Asia Minor and agreed to a peace by which Antiochus married his daughter
Berenice (c. 250 BCE).
Ptolemy's first wife,
Arsinoë I, daughter of
Lysimachus, was the mother of his legitimate children. After her repudiation he married his full sister
Arsinoë II, the widow of
Lysimachus—an Egyptian custom—which brought him her Aegean possessions.
Court
thumb|130px|"Cameo Gonzaga", Hermitage
The material and literary splendour of the Alexandrian court was at its height under Ptolemy II. Pomp and splendor flourished. Ptolemy deified his parents and his sister-wife, after her death (270 BC). Ptolemy staged a procession in Alexandria in honor of Dionysus led by 24 chariots drawn by elephants and a procession of lions, leopards, panthers, camels, antelopes, wild asses, ostriches, a bear, a giraffe and a rhinoceros. According to scholars, most of the animals were in pairs - as many as eight pairs of ostriches - and although the ordinary chariots were likely led by a single elephant, others which carried a 7 foot tall golden statue may have been led by four.
Callimachus, keeper of the library,
Theocritus, and a host of lesser poets, glorified the
Ptolemaic family. Ptolemy himself was eager to increase the library and to patronize scientific research. He had exotic animals of far off lands sent to Alexandria. Although an enthusiast for Hellenic culture, he also adopted Egyptian religious concepts, which helped to bolster his image as a sovereign.
The tradition preserved in the
pseudepigraphical Letter of Aristeas which connects the
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek with his patronage is probably overdrawn. However, Walter Kaiser says, "There can be little doubt that the Law was translated in Philadelphus's time since Greek quotations from Genesis and Exodus appear in Greek literature before 200 B.C. The language of the Septuagint is more like Egyptian Greek than it is like Jerusalemite Greek, according to some." Ptolemy had many brilliant mistresses, and his court, magnificent and dissolute, intellectual and artificial, has been compared with the
Versailles of
Louis XIV.
Ptolemy was of a delicate constitution. Elias Joseph Bickermann (
Chronology of the Ancient World, 2nd ed. 1980) gives the date of his death as January 29.
Relations with India
Ptolemy is recorded by
Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named
Dionysius to the
Mauryan court at
Pataliputra in
India, probably to Emperor
Ashoka:
"But [India] has been treated of by several other Greek writers who resided at the courts of Indian kings, such, for instance, as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphus, expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the power and vast resources of these nations." Pliny the Elder, "The Natural History", Chap. 21
He is also mentioned in the
Edicts of Ashoka as a recipient of the
Buddhist proselytism of Ashoka, although no Western historical record of this event remain.
See also
- Ptolemais - towns and cities named after members of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
