PTOLEMY III 246BC Kyrene Mint RARE Depiction Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i52365

Item: i52365

Authentic Ancient

Greek coin of the
Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt

Bronze 14mm (1.41 grams) Kyrene mint
Reference: cf. Svoronos 873 (Ptolemy II); SNG Copenhagen 449-50

 Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, wearing aegis.

ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ, Draped bust of Li bya
right; cornucopia below chin.

Son of Ptolemy II by his first wife, Euergetes was an
energetic ruler under whom the Ptolemaic kingdom reached its apogee as an
international power. Early in his reign he invaded the Seleucid empire to avenge
the murder of his sister Berenike, widow of Antiochos II. After penetrating as
far as Media he was obliged to withdraw because of trouble in Egypt, where his
wife Berenike II was ruling in his absence. He was also active in the Aegean
area and on his death, in 221 B.C., he bequeathed to his successor a strong,
secure and peaceful realm which had now prospered for more than a century under
the wise rule of three generations of the Ptolemaic family.

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Authenticity.

Ptolemy III Euergetes, (Greek:
Πτολεμαῖος Ε�ε�γέτης, Ptolemaĩos
Euergétēs, reigned 246 BC – 222 BC) was the third ruler of the

Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt
.

 Family

Euergetes (“Benefactor”) was the eldest son of
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
and his first wife,
Arsinoe I,
and came to power in 246 BC
upon the death of his father. He married
Berenice of Cyrene
in the year corresponding to
244/243 BC; and their children were:

• Arsinoe III
  , born in ca 246/245 BC. She
  later married her brother Ptolemy IV
• Ptolemy IV Philopator
  , born ca 244 BC
• Possibly Lysimachus. The name of the son is not known, but he is said to
  have been born in ca 243 BC.
• Alexander, born in c. 242 BC
• Magas
  , probably born in ca 241 BC. Scalded
  to death in his bath by Theogos or Theodotus, at the orders of Ptolemy IV.
• Berenice, probably born in ca 239 BC and died a year later.

 Leadership

Ptolemy III Euergetes was responsible for the first known example of a series
of decrees published as
bilingual
inscriptions on massive stone blocks
in three
writing systems
. Ptolemy III’s stone
stela
is the
Canopus Stone
of 238 BC. Other well-known
examples are the Memphis Stele (Memphis Stone), bearing the
Decree of Memphis
, about 218 BC, passed by his
son,
Ptolemy IV
, and the famous

Rosetta Stone erected by
Ptolemy Epiphanes
, his grandson, in 196 BC.

Ptolemy III’s stone contains decrees about priestly orders, and is a memorial
for his daughter Berenice. But two of its 26 lines of
hieroglyphs
decree the use of a
leap day
added to the

Egyptian calendar of 365 days, and the associated changes in
festivals.

He is also credited with the foundation of the
Serapeum.

 War
with Seleucids

Due to a falling out at the Seleucid court, his eldest sister
Berenice Phernophorus
was murdered along with
her infant son. In response Ptolemy III invaded the Seleukid Kingdom. During this war, the
Third the Seleukid Kingdomn War
, he occupied
Antioch
and even reached Babylon
. In exchange for a peace in 241 BC,
Ptolemy was awarded new territories on the northern coast of the Seleukid
Kingdom, including
Seleucia Pieria, the port of Antioch. The Ptolemaic kingdom reached the height
of its power.

This war is cryptically alluded to in Daniel XI 7-9.

The
Ptolemaic Kingdom
(/ktɒləˈmeɪ.ɪˌ/;
Greek
: Πτολεμαϊκὴ
βασιλεία, Ptolemaïkḕ Basileía) was a
Hellenistic
kingdom based in
Egypt
. It was ruled by the
Ptolemaic dynasty
which started with
Ptolemy I Soter
‘s accession after the death of
Alexander the Great
in 323 BC- and which ended
with the death of
Cleopatra VII
and the
Roman conquest
in 30 BC.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded in 305 BC by
Ptolemy I Soter
, who declared himself
Pharaoh
of Egypt and created a powerful
Hellenistic
dynasty that ruled an area
stretching from southern Seleukid Kingdom
to
Cyrene
and south to
Nubia
.
Alexandria
became the capital city and a major
center of Greek culture and trade. To gain recognition by the native Egyptian
populace, they named themselves the successors to the Pharaohs. The later
Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves
portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in
Egyptian religious life. The Ptolemies had to fight native rebellions and were
involved in foreign and
civil wars
that led to the decline of the
kingdom and its final
annexation
by
Rome
. Hellenistic culture continued to thrive
in Egypt throughout the
Roman
and
Byzantine
periods until the
Muslim conquest
.