Ptolemy

(tol'e-me.) [ L. Ptolemæus.) The dynastic name of 13 kings of Egypt, who reigned from 323 to 43 B. C. The most famous were P. Soter, who reigned from 323 to 285 B. c. He had been a general of Alexander the Great, and was appointed to the command in Egypt after his death; the sovereignty of which he a umed, and was able to maintain, and hand down to his son P. Philadelphus, who reigned from 285 to 247 B. c., a prince who still further consolidated the kingdom, not only by the succe ful conduct of its external relations, but also by the prudent management of its internal affairs. P. Euergetes, from 247 to 222 B. c., aspired to extend his territories, but he lost again most of the provinces he wrested from the kings of Syria. P. Epiphanes from 205 to 181 B. c., in whose reign the Romans first actively engaged in the affairs of Egypt. After his time the kingdom sank under the weakne and vices of its rulers, and was finally annexed to the Roman empire. [s. 739]