Ptolemy IV Philopator

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Gold octadrachm issued by Ptolemy IV Philopator, British Museum

Under the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (Greek: Πτολεμαίος Φιλοπάτωρ, reigned 221-204 BC), son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II of Egypt, the decline of the Ptolemaic kingdom began.

His reign was inaugurated by the murder of his mother, and he was always under the dominion of favourites, male and female, who indulged his vices and conducted the government as they pleased. Self-interest led his ministers to make serious preparations to meet the attacks of Antiochus III the Great on Coele-Syria including Judea, and the great Egyptian victory of Raphia (217), where Ptolemy himself was present, secured the northern borders of the kingdom for the remainder of his reign.

The arming of Egyptians in this campaign had a disturbing effect upon the native population of Egypt, leading to the secession of Upper Egypt under pharaohs Harmachis (also known as Hugronaphor) and Ankmachis, (also known as Chaonnophris) thus creating a kingdom that occupied much of the country and lasted nearly twenty years.

Philopator was devoted to orgiastic forms of religion and literary dilettantism. He built a temple to Homer and composed a tragedy, to which his vile favourite Agathocles added a commentary. He married (about 215 BC) his sister Arsinoë III, but continued to be ruled by his mistress Agathoclea, sister of Agathocles.

Ptolemy IV is a major protagonist of the apocryphal 3 Maccabees, which describes purported events following the Battle of Raphia, in both Jerusalem and Alexandria.