page_title: Ptolemy IV Philopator
section_title: Ptolemaic dynastic cult
hierarchical_section_title: Ptolemy IV Philopator / Regime / Ptolemaic dynastic cult
caption_attribution_description: Greek, Ptolemaic; Oktadrachm; Coins
context_page_description: Ptolemy IV Philopator, son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II, was the fourth Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 221 to 204 BC.
  Ptolemy's succession to the throne was accompanied by a wide-ranging purge of the Ptolemaic royal family, which left control of the realm's government largely in the hands of his courtiers Sosibius and Agathocles. His reign was marked by the Fourth Syrian War with the Seleucid empire, which culminated in a decisive Ptolemaic victory at the Battle of Raphia, one of the largest battles of the whole Hellenistic Age. In the final years of his rule, control over the southern portion of the country was lost to the rebel Pharaoh Hugronaphor. Ptolemy IV died in mysterious circumstances in 204 BC and was succeeded by his young son Ptolemy V Epiphanes under the regency of Sosibius and Agathocles.
  In ancient sources, Ptolemy was criticised for being more interested in luxury and court ceremony than government, politics, and foreign relations. The decline of the Ptolemaic dynasty is usually traced to his reign.
context_section_description: Like early Ptolemaic monarchs, Ptolemy IV was proclaimed to be a deity on his accession to the throne, as the Theos Philopator (Father-loving God). Particularly after the Fourth Syrian War, Ptolemy IV systematised the dynastic cult, reinforcing the links between the worship of the reigning king and the cults of Alexander the Great and Dionysus. 
  In 216/215 BC, after the victory celebrations for the Fourth Syrian War, Ptolemy IV and his wife as the Theoi Philopatores (Father-loving gods) were formally incorporated into the dynastic cult. This meant that they were added to the title of the Priest of Alexander the Great in Alexandria, who led the Ptolemaia festival and whose name and titulary was used to name the year in all official and private documents. This followed the pattern that had been laid down by Ptolemy's predecessors, particularly Ptolemy III, whose incorporation into the dynastic cult seems to have formed part of the victory celebrations for the Third Syrian War.
  In order to assert the unity of this dynastic cult, Ptolemy had the existing tomb of Alexander the Great and the tombs of the individual Ptolemaic kings in Alexandria demolished. A new, pyramidal structure was built within the palace district of Alexandria to house the bodies of Alexander and the Ptolemies together. This structure seems to have been consecrated at the Ptolemaia festival of 215/14 BC. At the same time, Ptolemy IV incorporated the cult of the dynastic founders Ptolemy I and Berenice I as the Theoi Soteres (Saviour gods) into the main dynastic cult overseen by the priest of Alexandria. Probably also in 215/4 BC, Ptolemy IV instituted a new cult in the Greek city of Ptolemais in southern Egypt, dedicated to Ptolemy I and the reigning monarch.
  In 211 BC, Ptolemy IV seems to have begun propagating another cult for his deceased mother Berenice II, on the model of the earlier cult for Ptolemy's grandmother, Arsinoe II. A temple for Berenice sozousa (Berenice who saves) was established in Alexandria, by the shore, and seems to have been associated with protection of sailors, closely paralleling the cult of Arsinoe II. Berenice also received a special priestess, the athlophorus (prize-bearer), who marched in the Ptolemaia procession and appeared in official records of the date ahead of the canephorus (basket-bearer) of Arsinoe II. Similar priestesses would be established for later queens in the following reigns.
  Ptolemy also strongly emphasised the cult of Dionysus and linked him closely to the dynastic cult. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and was closely associated with the royal ideal of opulence and luxury, known in Greek as tryphe, which Ptolemy wished to cultivate. Several new festivals of Dionysus were inaugurated, in which Ptolemy himself led the processions, beating on a tympanon. He renamed several areas of Alexandria in honour of the god and his attributes. Sometime before 217 BC, Ptolemy ordered all priests of Dionysus to come to Alexandria to be registered and to submit their holy books and mystery rites to government inspection. This demonstrates a desire to assert his total control of Dionysus worship within his realm. Ptolemy himself was referred to as the Neos Dionysos (New Dionysus) and depicted with attributes of the god in images. Equations with other deities were also made in royal imagery: one notable set of gold octodrachms depicts him with the rayed crown of Apollo or Helios, the trident of Poseidon, and the aegis of Athena, Zeus, and Alexander the Great.
  Many Greek cities that were under Ptolemy's control or aligned with him also established official cults in his honour during his reign. Greek cities in this period regularly granted such cults to monarchs and other powerful individuals, usually in thanks for a specific benefaction. Notable examples are found in Jaffa and other cities of the Levant after the victory at Raphia.
caption: Ptolemy IV depicted with a range of divine attributes on a gold octobdrachm.
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