Ptolemy IV Philopator | Macedonian King
Ptolemy IV Philopator | Macedonian King
Ptolemy IV Philopator was born to the great Ptolemy III Euergetes and his wife Queen Berenice II of Cyrene. His birth took place most probably in May or June of the year 244. He held power from 18 October to 31 December in 222. He was weak and debauched. Being an Eratosthenes follower, he was more interested in the humanities and sciences.
In 221, he had his entire family massacred, including his mother and his uncle Lysimachus, who had been governor of Coptos since 240. He left control of power to his ministers, Agathocles (or Agathocles) and Sosibios (or Sosibe), who played a major role in the massacre. Sosibios' Egyptian foreign policy was directed towards fighting the Seleucids for control of Syria.
In June 217, within the framework of the Fourth Syrian War (219-217), Ptolemy III achieved an outstanding win in Palestine in the battle of Raphia against Seleucus king Antiochos III Megas (223-187). The Ptolemaic King, 70000 infantry with 4700 horse and 73 battle elephants in front of him, saw the battle off to a bad start, however he managed, claims Polybius (a Greco-Roman general, politician and writer, c.205-126 BC), to turn the situation around and conquer the enemy. This victory nevertheless left the dynasty in slow decline.
In 205, the power of the Lagids was shaken by a revolt in Thebaid and a large part of Upper Egypt, where a Theban dignitary, Horuennéfer (or Harmakhis), proclaimed himself king. Some scholars claim he was of Nubian origin. Like his father, Ptolemy IV remained neutral in the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage.
Ptolemy IV, it is said, built a giant boat known as Tessarakontères “forty” (or Thalamège from the Latin Thalamegus θαλαμηγός), a huge type of galley topped with cabins. The forty in its name may refer to a number of rowers' rows. The only recorded cases of this vessel are the description by Callixenus of Rhodes, who wrote in the third century AD, and by Athenaeus of Naucratis (Greek rhetorician and grammarian, late second century-early third century AD) in the second century AD.
Plutarch (Greek philosopher, biographer and moralist, 46-c.125) also mentions that Ptolemy Philopator owned a huge ship. The current theory is that the Pharaoh's ship was an oversized catamaran galley, measuring 128 m x 420 m.
