Ptolemy IV Philopator

The Fourth King of Egypt's Greek Period. Under the Ptolemies, there was no real national foundation established for their rule in Egypt as the successor and son ofPtolemy III Euergetes, Ptolemy IV Philopator took the throne. These kings had been viewed by the local Egyptians with nothing more positive than resentful acquiescence. Basically, the Ptolemies had run Egypt as a private estate for their own benefit and gratification, even though we can say that they produced some amazing results, at least in Alexandria. Thus, the Egyptians needed only a weakening of control at the top to produce a whole string of violent insurrections, intended to reestablish the old pharaonic tradition and shift the cultural center of gravity back to Memphis. Jimmy Dunn