Category:Ptolemy II Philadelphus (subject)
Ptolemy II Philadelphus was King of Egypt, from 283 BCE to his death in 246 BCE.
Overview
Ptolemy II Philadelphus was the son and successor of Ptolemy I Soter. He was associated to the kingdom already in c290 BCE, when his father was still alive.
Under his rule, the Ptolemaic kingdom was at his height. He continued the tradition inaugurated by his father, as patron of science, letters, and arts. He made Alexandria and his library the cultural center of the ancient world.
He died in 246 BCE and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy III Euergetes.
Ptolemy II Philadelphus and the Jews
As King of Egypt, Ptolemy II Philadelphus ruled over the land of Israel. He consolidated his power in the region, defeating any military challenge from the Seleucids.
Ptolemy II is praised in Jewish sources for freeing the slaves ("a hundred and twenty thousand people") brought by his father from Jerusalem into Egypt.
The translation of the Torah into Greek (the Septuagint), of which the Letter of Aristeas preserves a legendary account, was most likely completed under Ptolemy II's reign.
Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Second Temple sources
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities
Ant XII 2:1 -- When Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it forty years within one. He procured the law to be interpreted, and set free those that were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in slavery there, who were a hundred and twenty thousand... (A detailed summary of the Letter of Aristeas follows in Ant 2:1-14.)
Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Scholarship
Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Fiction
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