Category:Ptolemy V Epiphanes (subject)

Ptolemy V Epiphanes was King of Egypt, from 204 BE to 181 BCE.

Overview

Ptolemy V was the son and successor of Ptolemy IV Philopator. He was the fifth ruler of the Ptolemaic Dinasty.

When his father died, Ptolemy V was only a five-year-old child. Antiochus III the Great and Philip V of Macedonia immediately seized the opportunity to expand their possessions against the Ptolemaic kingdom. With the Battle of Panium (198 BCE) Antiochus gained control of all disputed lands in Syria and imposed a peace treaty that included the marriage of Ptolemy with Antiochus' daughter Cleopatra, which was celebrated in 193 BCE.

Ptolemy V Epiphanes and the Jews

As king of Egypt, Ptolemy V initially ruled over the land of Israel, but he lost control of it to the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great with the battle of Panium in 198 BCE. Ptolemy was still a child and the power of the Ptolemaic Empire was declining; this time the Jews sided with the Seleucids.

The marriage with Cleopatra "by way of dowry" gave Ptolemy some rights in the collection of taxes from the land of Israel, which had to be divided between the two monarchies, while the political and military control of the region remained in the hands of the Seleucids.

Ptolemy V Epiphanes in Second Temple sources

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities

Ant XII 5:3 -- Now it happened that in the reign of Antiochus the Great, who ruled over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants of Celesyria, suffered greatly, and their land was sorely harassed; for while he was at war with Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who was called Epiphanes, it fell out that these nations were equally sufferers, both when he was beaten, and when he beat the others: so that they were very like to a ship in a storm, which is tossed by the waves on both sides; and just thus were they in their situation in the middle between Antiochus's prosperity and its change to adversity. But at length, when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy, he seized upon Judea; and when Philopater was dead, his son sent out a great army under Scopas, the general of his forces, against the inhabitants of Celesyria, who took many of their cities, and in particular our nation; which when he fell upon them, went over to him. Yet was it not long afterward when Antiochus overcame Scopas, in a battle fought at the fountains of Jordan, and destroyed a great part of his army. But afterward, when Antiochus subdued those cities of Celesyria which Scopas had gotten into his possession, and Samaria with them, the Jews, of their own accord, went over to him, and received him into the city [Jerusalem], and gave plentiful provision to all his army, and to his elephants, and readily assisted him when he besieged the garrison which was in the citadel of Jerusalem.

Ant XII 6:1 -- After this Antiochus made a friendship and league with Ptolemy, and gave him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and yielded up to him Celesyria, and Samaria, and Judea, and Phoenicia, by way of dowry. And upon the division of the taxes between the two kings, all the principal men framed the taxes of their several countries, and collecting the sum that was settled for them, paid the same to the [two] kings.

Ptolemy V Epiphanes in Scholarship

Ptolemy V Epiphanes in Fiction

Related categories

External links

• Wikipedia