page_title: Ptolemy VIII Physcon
section_title: Pharaonic ideology and traditional Egyptian religion
hierarchical_section_title: Ptolemy VIII Physcon / Regime / Pharaonic ideology and traditional Egyptian religion
caption_attribution_description: Monumental stela attributed to Ptolemy VIII, glorifying his rule and describing his support of Egyptian gods. The stela was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs as well as Greek. Grand Palais exhibition. Personal photograph 2006.
context_page_description: Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Tryphon, nicknamed Physcon, was a king of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. He was the younger son of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I Syra. His reign was characterised by fierce political and military conflict with his older brother Ptolemy VI Philometor and his sister Cleopatra II.
  Ptolemy VIII was originally made co-ruler with his older siblings in the run-up to the Sixth Syrian War. In the course of that war, Ptolemy VI was captured and Ptolemy VIII became sole king of Egypt. When the war ended and Ptolemy VI was restored to the throne in 168 BC, the two brothers continued to quarrel. In 164 BC Ptolemy VIII drove out his brother and became sole king of the Ptolemaic empire, but he was expelled in turn in 163 BC. As a result of Roman intervention, Ptolemy VIII was awarded control of Cyrenaica. From there he repeatedly tried to capture Cyprus, which had also been promised to him by the Romans, from his brother.
  After Ptolemy VI's death in 145 BC, Ptolemy VIII returned to Egypt as co-ruler with his sister.
context_section_description: From the beginning of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Ptolemies had taken on the traditional role of the Egyptian Pharaoh and pursued a symbiotic alliance with the Egyptian priestly elite. The degree of investment of the Ptolemies in this aspect of their rulership steadily increased over the third and second centuries BC. Ptolemy VIII nevertheless represents a new stage in this process, since in the conflict with Cleopatra II he proved more popular among the Egyptians as their Pharaoh than among the Greeks as their king. 
  In the Amnesty decree that announced the reconciliation of Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra III, and Cleopatra II in 118 BC, the royal trio undertook to support reconstruction and repair work at temples throughout Egypt. They also promised to pay for the mummification and entombment of the Apis and Mnevis bulls.
caption: Stele attributed to Ptolemy VIII, glorifying his rule and describing his support of Egyptian gods. The stele was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs as well as Greek.
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