Ptolemaic Period
Ptolemy XI Alexander II
Ptolemaic kings · 305-30 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Ptolemy XI holds one of the shortest reigns of any ruler on this list: installed by Rome specifically to marry his stepmother and co-ruler, he had her murdered within weeks and was himself killed by an enraged Alexandrian mob before the month was out. Further detail: UCL Digital Egypt.
Dating: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
A marriage arranged by Rome
After Ptolemy IX died around 81/80 BCE, his daughter Berenice III ruled Egypt alone, but the Roman dictator Sulla sent Ptolemy X's son to Egypt to marry her and take the throne jointly, citing a will supposedly left by Ptolemy X naming Rome as an interested party in Egypt's succession. Ptolemy XI dutifully married Berenice III, who was simultaneously his stepmother, cousin, and possibly half-sister, and the two began to rule together.
Nineteen days, then a lynching
For reasons ancient sources never satisfactorily explain, Ptolemy XI had Berenice III murdered only nineteen days into the marriage. The killing was a catastrophic miscalculation: Berenice had been genuinely popular in Alexandria, and the outraged population rose up and lynched Ptolemy XI in turn, ending both his reign and his life within the same short span of days and leaving the throne open for his cousin, the future Ptolemy XII, to claim instead.
Sources for this profile
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
- University College London. Kings of Ptolemaic Egypt.
- UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Chronology. UCLA.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.