A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Πτολεμαῖος) of ALORUS, regent, or according to some authors king of Macedonia. The circumstances connected with his elevation, and the revolutions in which he took part, are very variously related. Diodorus (15.71) calls him a son of Amyntas II.; but this seems to be certainly a mistake, and Dexippus (apud Syncell. p. 263b.) says that he was a stranger to the royal family. During the short reign of Alexander II., the eldest son of Amyntas, we find Ptolemy engaged in war with that prince, and apparently disputing the throne with him. Their differences were terminated for a time by the intervention of Pelopidas, but the reconciliation was a hollow one, and Ptolemy soon took an opportunity to remove the young king by assassination. B. C. 367. (Plut. Pel. 26, 27; Diod. 15.71; Marsyas apud Althen. xiv. p. 629d.) It seems probable that this murder was perpetrated with the connivance, if not at the instigation, of the queen-mother Eurydice [EURYDICE, No. 1.]; and Ptolemy in consequence obtained possession of the supreme power without opposition. But the appearance of a new pretender to the throne, Pausanias, soon reduced him to great difficulties, from which he was rescued by the intervention of the Athenian general Iphicrates, who established the brother of Alexander, Perdiccas III., upon the throne, while Ptolemy exercised the virtual sovereignty under the name of regent. (Aesch. de F. Leg. pp. 31, 32; Corn. Nep. Iphicr. 3.) It was probably after this that the partisans of the late king invoked the assistance of Pelopidas, who invaded Macedonia with a mercenary force, but was met by Ptolemy, who disarmed his resentment by protestations of submission, and obtained the confirmation of his authority as regent, giving hostages for his friendly disposition towards the Thebans. (Plut. Pel. 27.) To this new alliance it may be ascribed that Ptolemy abandoned his friendly relations with the Athenians, notwithstanding the benefits he had received from Iphicrates. (Aesch. l.c. p. 32.) He continued to administer the sovereign power for a period of three years, when he was, in his turn, assassinated by the young king Perdiccas III., B. C. 364. (Diod. 15.77.) Diodorus gives Ptolemy the title of king, and his name is included by the chronographers among the Macedonian kings (Dexippus apud Syncell. I.c. ; Euseb. Arm. pp. 153, 154), but it seems more probable that he assumed the regal authority without its designation. (Compare, in regard to the above facts, Thirlwall's Greece, vol. v. p. 162-165; Flathe, Gesch. Mlacedoniens, vol. i. p. 38-40; and Abel, Makedonien vor König Philipp. p. 217-223.)

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