Since the new king was only five years old when his father died and he ascended to the throne, his mother, Arsinoe III, was eager to take control as regent. Fearing that she was too powerful, two of Ptolemy IV's ministers, Sosibius and Agathocles, murdered her. As a result, control of the young king was passed from one advisor to another throughout most of his life. [image: touregypt]

The political and administrative decline of his father's reign left the child-king Ptolemy V Epiphanes a land with internal rebellions, an upstart king in the south, and more disastrous foreign invasions. Eventually, the forces in Alexandria repelled the invaders and even defeated the rebel king, Wennefer, but most of the foreign provinces of Egypt that were gained at the beginning of the dynasty. Invasions by Antiochus III of Syria and Philip V of Macedonia whittled away at the vast foreign holdings in Asia Minor.

Antiochus defeated Ptolemy in the Battle of Panion 200 BCE and peace was cemented by the marriage of the young Egyptian king to Cleopatra I, daughter of Antiochus. He died at the young age of 28 during a battle in the delta -- although there were rumors that he had been poisoned. He left his young wife, Cleopatra I, as regent for their young son Ptolemy VI Philomentor.

Ptolemy V is uniquely associated with the famed Rosetta Stone, which allowed the world to finally understand the hieroglyphic language -- he was crowned in 196 BCE in Memphis with traditional egyptian rites and the decrees issues for the occasion were copied and sent out. One of these Decrees of Memphis was discovered in 1799 and is known as the Rosetta Stone.

pharaohs

Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy III Euergeter
Ptolemy IV Philopater
Ptolemy V Epiphanes
Cleopatra I
Ptolemy Eupator
Ptolemy VI Philometor
Cleopatra II
Ptolemy VII Neos Philpator
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II
Cleopatra III & Ptolemy IX Soter II
Cleopatra III & Ptolemy X Alexander
Cleopatra Berenice
Ptolemy XI Alexander
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos
Berenice IV
Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XIII
Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XIV
Ptolemy XV Cesarion

monuments

the Rosetta Stone