celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Egypt and Africa / Courtiers hid Ptolemy IV's death, killed his queen, read out a will naming themselves…
Case file s1337 · Egypt and Africa · 204 BCE
See 204 BCE on the timelineSee it in 3D
204 BCE
Ptolemy VI Philometor: Ring with the engraved portrait of Ptolemy VI Philometor.
Ptolemy VI Philometor. Unknown artistUnknown artist.. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
204 BC (Ptolemy IV; death announced later)
Place
Alexandria, Egypt
Field
Monarchy · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Ptolemaic royal testament; regency for a child king · Royal and church law
Historical event
The minority of Ptolemy V
Egypt and AfricaForged and faked willsBodies, bones and burialsMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldMiddle EastEgyptPtolemaic dynasty

Courtiers hid Ptolemy IV's death, killed his queen, read out a will naming themselves regents, and the Alexandrian crowd killed them and their family

Polybius writes that Ptolemy IV Philopator began his reign by killing his brother Magas and then neglected government for "his shameful amours and senseless and constant drunkenness." He married his sister Arsinoe III. When he died, his ministers Sosibius and Agathocles kept the death quiet. Before the queen could appear in public, they had her killed by agents under Philammon. Days later they raised a platform before the guards, crowned the six-year-old Ptolemy V and read a will naming themselves his guardians. Polybius calls it forged. They showed two silver urns said to hold the ashes of the king and queen; Polybius says one held only spices. The boy was put in the care of Agathocles' sister Agathoclea, the late king's mistress, and their mother Oenanthe. Tlepolemus, governor at Pelusium, rose against them, and the Macedonian troops went over to him. They took the boy to the stadium. Asked whether he would give up those guilty of his mother's death, he nodded. Agathocles was stabbed. Agathoclea and her sisters were stripped and killed. Oenanthe was dragged from a temple and killed. Philammon was beaten to death and his small son strangled. Ptolemy V was crowned at Memphis at about 12. The decree his priests issued in 196 BC is the text on the Rosetta Stone, now in the British Museum.

What the law took from it

A will produced and read only by the people it benefits invites the charge that they wrote it.

Record vs. record

Bevan dates the announcement of the death to about the end of 203 BC and calls the will "the will, or supposed will" ( Ptolemy V's reign is usually counted from 204 BC (

University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusWikipedia (English)
Sources
  1. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  2. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  3. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  4. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Courtiers hid Ptolemy IV's death, killed his queen, read out a will naming themselves regents, and the Alexandrian crowd killed them and their family,” story s1337, https://www.celebrity.estate/ptolemy-iv-regents-204-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

BronzePlaque-EdictOfSecondEmperor-Qin-ROM-May8-08: Small bronze plaque containing an edict from the second emperor of the Qin dynasty. 209 BC. Cat # 931.13.195 Bishop C. White Coll210 BCE · Shaqiu (Guangzong, Hebei), ChinaThe Shiji says the First Emperor's chancellor and his seal-keeper forged his last letter, and his eldest son killed himself on the forged orderShared: forged and faked wills; bodies, bones and burials; 6 years apartThe Shiji, completed by Sima Qian about a century later, gives this account. The First Emperor had more than 20 sons. His eldest, Fusu, had criticised him and was sent north to the army of the general Meng Tian.zh.wikisource.org and 4 moreMap of Turkey, marked on the globe41 BCE · Ephesus (near Selçuk, Turkey)Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV fought Caesar, walked in chains in his triumph and was killed at a temple on Antony's orders, and the skeleton said to be hers was a boy'sShared: bodies, bones and burials; murder and sudden death; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastIn 48 BC, while Julius Caesar was besieged in Alexandria, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe escaped the palace with her tutor, the eunuch Ganymedes, and proclaimed herself queen.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 5 moreSeqenenre Tao-mummy-head: Mummified head of Seqenenre Tao1555 BCE · Thebes (Luxor), EgyptKing Seqenenre Tao died with his hands tied and his skull broken by Hyksos weapons, and his sons finished his warShared: bodies, bones and burials; murder and sudden death; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastSeqenenre Tao ruled southern Egypt from Thebes while the Hyksos, a dynasty of Asian origin, held the north. A later tale, The Quarrel of Apophis and Seqenenre, describes tension with the Hyksos king Apepi.frontiersin.org and 3 moreMerneith stele: Detail of one of the two stelae erected in front of the tomb of Queen Mer-Neith at Abydos, Umm el Qaab, tomb Y (Tomb of Queen Mer-Neith). Now in the Egyptian Museum2950 BCE · Umm el-Qa'ab, Abydos, EgyptMerneith ruled for her young son Den, was buried at Abydos in a king's tomb ringed by servants' graves, and later king lists left her outShared: bodies, bones and burials; murder and sudden death; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastMerneith held the titles King's Mother and Foremost of Women. Her probable husband was King Djet. When Djet died, their son Den was probably too young to rule, and she most likely governed for him.penn.museum and 3 morePtolemy X Alexander Tetradrachm Sear7939: Egypt, Ptolemaiovské království (Alexandrie) AR Tetradrachm RY 20 (95/4 př. n. l.) - Ptolemaios X Alexander (106-88 př. n. l.)80 BCE · Alexandria, EgyptSulla sent Ptolemy XI to marry Queen Berenice III, he had her killed within three weeks, the Alexandrians killed him, and Rome produced a will leaving Egypt to RomeShared: bodies, bones and burials; murder and sudden death; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastWhen Ptolemy IX died in 80 BC, his daughter Berenice III ruled alone. From 101 BC she had ruled with Ptolemy X, who in 89 BC took the gold coffin of Alexander the Great to pay his troops and was killed at sea in 88 BC.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 4 moreKV 13 Bay: Isometric, plan and elevation images of KV13 taken from a 3d model1192 BCE · Thebes (Luxor), EgyptChancellor Bay put a boy king on the throne and was given a tomb among the kings, and a potsherd records that the king had him killedShared: bodies, bones and burials; murder and sudden death; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastBay began as a scribe and royal cupbearer under Seti II and was probably of Asian origin.ifao.egnet.net and 2 more

Where this case sits

Egypt and AfricaForged and faked willsBodies, bones and burialsMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldMiddle EastRoyal and church lawEgyptPtolemaic dynasty