Ptolemy


Claudius Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemaeus of Alexandria

Wrote the Almagest. This was the Ptolemy whose geocentric model was challenged by the Copernican revolution.

Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt

Ptolemy I Soter annexed Judea from Seleucus I. Ptolemy I encouraged Jews to migrate to multicultural Egypt.

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283-246 B.C.), Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246-221 B.C.), Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-204 B.C.), and Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204-180 B.C.) ruled Judea in succession.

Ptolemy V suddenly died, prompting Antiochus III of Syria to annex Judea. An Egyptian (Ptolemaic Dynasty) army moved to check his advance but was defeated near Sidon in 198 B.C. The Ptolemies lost control of Judea, and it became part of the Seleucid kingdom.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty continued to exert influence over the area, but they fell into decline and ended in 30 B.C. Their influence lives on in the realm of Hellenistic culture and governance.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Old Testament and New Testament Apocrypha by R. K. Harrison, Page 80-81; ChatGPT4 for Ptolemy II-IV info.)

Ptolemy the Gnostic

This Ptolemy was a prominent disciple of Valentinus.

(https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15256a.htm)