Ptolemy Macron ( 2nd century BCE) was a Greek official in the

Hellenistic era In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...

. He first served the

Ptolemaic Kingdom The Ptolemaic Kingdom (; , ) or Ptolemaic Empire was an ancient Greek polity based in Ancient Egypt, Egypt during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 305 BC by the Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy I Soter, a Diadochi, ...

as governor of the island

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. During the

Sixth Syrian War The Syrian Wars were a series of six wars between the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom, Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Diadochi, successor states to Alexander the Great's empire, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC over the region then c ...

between the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

under King

Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus IV Epiphanes ( 215 BC–November/December 164 BC) was king of the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. Notable events during Antiochus' reign include his near-conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt, his persecution of the Jews of ...

and the Ptolemaic Kingdom under King

Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VI Philometor (, ''Ptolemaĩos Philomḗtōr'';"Ptolemy, lover of his Mother". 186–145 BC) was a Greek king of Ptolemaic Egypt who reigned from 180 to 164 BC and from 163 to 145 BC. He is often considered the last ruler o ...

, he surrendered Cyprus to an invading Seleucid fleet, betraying the Ptolemies and joining the Seleucid Empire. Roman intervention to end the war would require that the Seleucids hand Cyprus back to the Ptolemies, meaning Ptolemy Macron thereafter served the Seleucids in their empire in

Coele-Syria Coele-Syria () was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. The term originally referred to the "hollow" Beqaa Valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, but sometimes it was applied to a broader area of the region of Sy ...

and

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

as governor (

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

) there. However, with the death of King Antiochus IV and his replacement by

Lysias Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), logographer (speech writer) in ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrac ...

as regent, he apparently fell out of favor with the Seleucid court. His death around 162 BCE was attributed to suicide. The books of Maccabees refer both to a "Ptolemy, who was called Macron" who acted positively toward the Jews and a commander called "Ptolemy son of Dorymenes" who led troops into battle against the rebel Jews at the

Battle of Emmaus The Battle of Emmaus took place around September 165 BC during the Maccabean Revolt between Judean rebels, led by Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee), and an expedition of Seleucid Empire forces under generals Gorgias, Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, ...

. Scholars disagree on whether these passages refer to a single person or to two separate people.

Primary sources

The most important surviving sources on Ptolemy are

1 Maccabees 1 Maccabees, also known as the First Book of Maccabees, First Maccabees, and abbreviated as 1 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which details the history of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire as well as the founding and earliest hi ...

and

2 Maccabees 2 Maccabees, also known as the Second Book of Maccabees, Second Maccabees, and abbreviated as 2 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which recounts the persecution of Jews under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt against him. It ...

, both books written from a Jewish perspective. Additionally,

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

's '' The Histories'' provides crucial background material about the

, and his background appears elsewhere in Polybius along with other epigraphical writings. An intriguing possibility from these writings is that his name may come from his grandfather: one of these inscriptions marks a "Ptolemy son of Ptolemy son of Macron", potentially the same person as Ptolemy Macron. He seems to have served as governor of the island of

for the

from around 180–168 BCE. There are also some derivative, later sources: a mention in Josephus's ''

Jewish Antiquities ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It contains ...

'', albeit likely paraphrased from the mention in 1 Maccabees, as well as a brief biography in the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

''.

2 Maccabees 8 The book 2 Maccabees contains 15 chapters. It is a deuterocanonical book originally written in Koine Greek that is part of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Christian biblical canons. It is still considered an important so ...

refers to a figure called "Ptolemy, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia" and says this Ptolemy appointed Nicanor to fight against the early stages of the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

that

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

had started. A more interesting section happens in Chapter 10, which describes a short biography as well as his death after

takes control of the Empire as regent and

Gorgias Gorgias ( ; ; – ) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years ...

is appointed the new governor of Coele-Syria: Some passages refer to a "Ptolemy son of Dorymenes", who some scholars suggest may be the same person.

2 Maccabees 4 The book 2 Maccabees contains 15 chapters. It is a deuterocanonical book originally written in Koine Greek that is part of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Christian biblical canons. It is still considered an important so ...

recounts a story that the corrupt High Priest

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central ...

paid a bribe to Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, one of the king's advisors, to avoid punishment for his misdeeds. According to 1 Maccabees 3:38-39, Lysias selected Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, Nicanor, and Gorgias as commanders of the Seleucid force that would eventually fight in the

(c. 165 BCE).

Analysis

The argument that Ptolemy Macron and Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes are the same person is simple: what is the likelihood of two separate men of the same name governing consecutively in the same Seleucid province? If Ptolemy son of Dorymenes really is the same person as Ptolemy Macron, it suggests he changed his stance toward the Jews later in his life, given the positive tone 2 Maccabees adopts toward his conciliatory policies. There are objections to this identification on both chronological and psychological grounds.

Terence Mitford Terence Bruce Mitford FBA FSA (sometimes known as Terence Bruce-Mitford) (11 May 1905 – 8 November 1978) was a Scottish archaeologist and classicist. He spent his whole career at the University of St Andrews, and had a special interest in t ...

cites a story in 2 Maccabees. In it, Menelaus is accused of crimes and then bribes Ptolemy son of Dorymenes. The incident seems to take place around 170 BCE, which is a bit too soon for Ptolemy Macron to have defected and for Cyprus to have been conquered. The sudden switch in stances can also be taken as reason to see them as separate people.

Bezalel Bar-Kochva Bezalel Bar-Kochva (Hebrew: בצלאל בר-כוכבא; born January 1, 1941) is a professor emeritus in the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. He is a historian of the Hellenistic period, the three centuries after the conquest ...

writes that "after the defeat at Ammaus, Ptolemy son of Dorymenes was dismissed and replaced by Ptolemy Macron". After the humiliating defeat at Emmaus in 165 BCE, the name "son of Dorymenes" is not seen again, and dismissing this commander for his failure would have been a reasonable step to take. Ptolemy Macron, conversely, was a respected administrator who likely would have had many opportunities to know and meet Jews through his family in Alexandria. He may also have brought defecting troops with him to Syria; 2 Maccabees 4:29 mentions "Cypriot troops" in the region. Having a three year "cooling off" period while the Seleucids made sure he was not going to defect back to the Ptolemies would be a reasonable move to make before placing him in a high position worthy of his experience.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last=Mitford , first=Terence B. , author-link=Terence Mitford , date=1957 , title=Studi in Onore di Aristide Calderini e Roberto Paribeni , publisher=Casa Editrice Ceschina , location=Milan , pages=163–187 , chapter=Ptolemy Macron , volume=2: Studi di Papirologia e Antichità Orientali , oclc=7117844 Seleucid generals 2nd-century BC deaths People in the books of the Maccabees