Ptolemy V (Epiphanes) 204-180 BC

He was the son of Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III. He was placed under the regency of
Agathocles and Sosibius after killing Arsinoe III and forging Philopator’s will.
Ptolemy V was about 6 years old when his father died and was entrusted to the
care of Agathocleia and her mother.

Sosibius did not live long after the regency leaving Ptolemy V under the regency
of Agathocles, who surrounded himself with bad elements giving them high posts
in the government. People of Alexandria hated them and there was a growing
opposition to Agathocles and his company. So at the end of 203 BC, Agathocles
and his entire family were delivered to the people of Alexandria and were torn into
pieces.

The young king was placed under the regency of an army officer who proved not
to be good enough and for that was replaced by another army officer called
Aristomenes in 201 BC.

Making use of the situation in Egypt, Antiochus III and Philip V came to a secret
agreement in 203/2 BC that is dividing the foreign territories of the Ptolemaic
Kingdom:

 Antiochus III began what is known as the 5th Syrian war early in 202 BC.
He occupied southern Syria including Phoenicia and marched south taking
Gaza as well in the course of 202/1 BC. But Ptolemaic leadership on the
borders had been changed and the Ptolemaic house succeeded to take back a
number of places in southern Palestine including Jerusalem. Then came the
decisive battle near Jordan’s River ending with Antiochus III’s victory and
he completed the annexation of Coele-Syria in 198 BC. Since that date,
Egypt’s control over Coele-Syria had come to an end forever.
 Philip V conquered Egyptian territories in Cyclades islands, in modern
Turkey, and in Thrace.

Thus by 200 BC, Egypt lost all of its foreign territories except for Cyrenaica
and Cyprus.
In 197 BC, Ptolemy V became 13 years old and was crowned as a pharaoh in
Memphis by the high priest of Ptah. Another man called Polykrates supplanted
Aristomenes; not as a regent but as the leading figure in the court.

Internally, the revolts of the Egyptians continued but eventually the king
succeeded in putting them down in 185 BC in Upper Egypt, then in 183 BC in
the Delta.

Such revolts resulted in some benefits for the Egyptians:

-Some taxes were abolished and others were lightened.

-Some debts that private individuals owe to the royal treasury were remitted.

-Egyptian soldiers, who had joined the revolts gained amnesty.

-Egyptians began to hold high posts in the government and army, and they also
received a lot of privileges.

All the above mentioned events including the king’s coronation were recorded
on the famous Rosetta stone found in 1799 during the French occupation of
Egypt. On the stone is inscribed a trilingual decree issued by a group of
Egyptian priests from the whole kingdom assembled at Memphis in 196 BC.

Ptolemy V married the daughter of Antiochus III for political reasons. This
princess called Cleopatra -who became known as Cleopatra I- was given by her
father the revenue of Coele-Syria as her wedding present. Ptolemy V was about
16 years old when this marriage took place in 193/2 BC.

During the reign of Ptolemy V, three innovations in the system of the kingdom
took place. The first was the appearance of a new office in priesthood that is
“the priestess of Arsinoe Philopator”, the king’s unhappy mother. The second is
a development of court hierarchy that is honorary titles given to a number of
persons creating a series of classes or orders, of which the highest was
(kinsman) whom the king addressed as father or brother, and the lowest was
(successors), probably who are going to succeed to a place in a higher order as
soon as there was a vacancy. The third innovation was that the governor of the
Theban nome had from that time onwards the position of viceroy “Epistrategos”
whose authority extended over all Upper Egypt.
Ptolemy V died in 180 BC leaving behind him his wife Cleopatra I, his two
sons Ptolemy VI and VIII, and his daughter Cleopatra II. He was followed by
his eldest son Ptolemy VI (Philomator).

Best wishes
Dr. Noha Shalaby