page_title: Ptolemy VI Philometor
hierarchical_section_title: Ptolemy VI Philometor
caption_attribution_description: English: Ptolemy_VI_Philometor_ring
context_page_description: Ptolemy VI Philometor was a king of Egypt from the Ptolemaic period. He reigned from 180 to 164 BC and from 163 to 145 BC. The eldest son of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I of Egypt, he came to the throne as a very young child in 180 BC and the kingdom was governed by regents: his mother until her death in 178 or 177 BC and then two of her associates, Eulaeus and Lenaeus until 169 BC. From 170 BC, his sister-wife Cleopatra II and his younger brother Ptolemy VIII Euergetes were co-rulers alongside him.
  Ptolemy VI's reign was characterised by external conflict with the Seleucid empire over Syria and by internal conflict with his younger brother for control of the Ptolemaic monarchy. In the Sixth Syrian War, the Ptolemaic forces were utterly defeated and Egypt was twice invaded by Seleucid armies. His attempts to negotiate an end to this conflict exacerbated the conflict with his brother. Though he managed to collaborate with his brother for long enough to secure peace and re-establish order within Egypt, Ptolemy VIII succeeded in expelling Ptolemy VI from Egypt in 164 BC.
  The people of Alexandria turned against Ptolemy VIII and invited Ptolemy VI back to the throne in 163 BC.
context_section_description: Ptolemy VI Philometor (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Φιλομήτωρ, Ptolemaĩos Philomḗtōr "Ptolemy, lover of his Mother"; May/June 186–145 BC) was a king of Egypt from the Ptolemaic period. He reigned from 180 to 164 BC and from 163 to 145 BC. The eldest son of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I of Egypt, he came to the throne as a very young child in 180 BC and the kingdom was governed by regents: his mother until her death in 178 or 177 BC and then two of her associates, Eulaeus and Lenaeus until 169 BC. From 170 BC, his sister-wife Cleopatra II and his younger brother Ptolemy VIII Euergetes were co-rulers alongside him.
  Ptolemy VI's reign was characterised by external conflict with the Seleucid empire over Syria and by internal conflict with his younger brother for control of the Ptolemaic monarchy. In the Sixth Syrian War (170-168 BC), the Ptolemaic forces were utterly defeated and Egypt was twice invaded by Seleucid armies. His attempts to negotiate an end to this conflict exacerbated the conflict with his brother. Though he managed to collaborate with his brother for long enough to secure peace and re-establish order within Egypt, Ptolemy VIII succeeded in expelling Ptolemy VI from Egypt in 164 BC.  
  The people of Alexandria turned against Ptolemy VIII and invited Ptolemy VI back to the throne in 163 BC. In this second reign he was much more successful in both conflicts. He banished his brother to Cyrenaica and repeatedly prevented him from using that as a springboard to taking Cyprus, despite substantial Roman intervention in his brother's favour. By supporting a series of rival claimants for the Seleucid throne, Ptolemy VI helped instigate a civil war in the Seleucid realm, which would continue for generations and eventually consume the Seleucid dynasty. In 145 BC, Ptolemy invaded Seleucid Syria and won a total victory at the Battle of the Oenoparus, which left him in charge of both the Seleucid and Ptolemaic realms. However, injuries that he sustained in the battle led to his death three days later. The gains from the war were almost immediately lost and his brother Ptolemy VIII returned to power.
caption: Ring of Ptolemy VI wearing a Greek diadem
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