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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sallent, post: 2865234, member: 76194&quot;]You&#039;ve all heard the phrase &quot;Keeping it in the family.&quot; When it came to that, the Ptolemies of Egypt were experts. But just because you keep it in the family doesn&#039;t mean things are going to go smoothly and drama free. Far from it, this is a cautionary tale of why it is best not to mix business and incest.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683403[/ATTACH] </p><p>Ptolemy IX</p><p><br /></p><p>The protagonist of this story, Ptolemy IX, started his reign by jointly ruling with his mother Cleopatra III. Whether this made his mother his &quot;wife&quot; I won&#039;t even bother asking...some things are better not asked.</p><p><br /></p><p>At some point Prolemy IX married his sister, Cleopatra IV, but their mother appears to have gotten jealous of the brother-sister love (yuck <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie96" alt=":vomit:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> )and kicked her out. And like any sensible Egyptian queen, she then married her son to his younger sister, Cleopatra Selene, whom no doubt being younger was easier to control. However, mom soon got tired of them and deposed them in favor of her youngest son, Ptolemy X. But I guess incest with Ptolemy X was not it was all cracked out to be, so mother did away with him and reinstated Ptolemy IX back as her co-ruler.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683405[/ATTACH] </p><p>PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Cleopatra III &amp; Ptolemy IX Soter II (Lathyros). 116-107 BC.AR Tetradrachm, 25mm, 13.7g, 12h; Alexandreia mint. Dated RY 8 (110/9 BC). </p><p>Obv.: Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, wearing aegis.</p><p>Rev.: ΠΤΟΛEMAIOY- BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ; Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, with wings closed; LH (date) to left, ΠA to right. </p><p>Reference: Svoronos 1669; SNG Copenhagen 352.</p><p><i>From the Aethelred Collection.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Ptolemy X didn&#039;t like being unceremoniously dismissed, so he killed his mother and tried to kill his brother Ptolemy IX. But Ptolemy IX managed to kill him first.</p><p><br /></p><p>If this is all sounding like a 19th Century family feud deep in the remote corners of the Appalachian mountains, well...think again. The Ptolemies could do drama like no other family.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683409[/ATTACH]</p><p>Fragment of a stela of Ptolemy IX.</p><p><br /></p><p>After Ptolemy IX&#039;s death, his daughter, Berenice III, became Pharaoh and married her her stepson, Ptolemy XI. But here again we learn that incestual love doesn&#039;t last forever. He killed her only a few days after the wedding and was himself in turn killed by an angry mob. </p><p><br /></p><p><i>Distant Ptolemy relatives were brought to rule Egypt, and another 6 decades later they were still at it...heavily engaged in incest while simultaneously fighting each other. Finally, the Romans put an end to the Ptolemy dynasty and brought much&nbsp; needed stability to Egypt as a Roman province. As for the Prolemy clan, m</i>aybe a little fresh blood might have seen their dynasty last a little longer, because marrying their own sons and sisters sure didn&#039;t do anything to bring peace and stability to their family or to Egypt.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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