PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Kleopatra III & Ptolemy IX Soter II (Lathyros). 117/6-108/7 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 13.31 g, 12h). Alexandreia mint. Dated RY 2 (116/5 BC). Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, aegis around neck / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠTOΛEMAIOY, eagle standing left on thunderbolt; LB (date) to left, ΠA to right. Olivier 4808–915 (unlisted obv. die); Svoronos 1660; SNG Copenhagen 348; DCA 60. Iridescent tone, redeposited silver on obverse. Near EF.
As with many of the later Ptolemies, the many reigns of Kleopatra II and her sons Ptolemy IX Lathyros and Ptolemy X Alexander require an extensive flow chart and several pages of dense text to rationalize, and even then seem baffling to modern eyes. When the deeply decadent Ptolemy VIII Physcon died in 116 BC, his will left the kingdom to his wife Kleopatra and whichever of their sons she preferred, “a lethal parting shot,” notes historian Peter Green, for Kleopatra, “as he well knew, hated Lathyros and doted on her younger son, Alexander. The Alexandrians, on the other hand, were all for Lathyros, then governor of Cyprus...” Also in the mix were their three sisters, all named Kleopatra; which were integral the lethal family politics of both the Ptolemaic and Seleukid dynasties. The disputed inheritance set up three decades of constant conflict, frequent regime changes, usurpation, revolution and general chaos that fatally weakened both kingdoms. The coinage suffered along with everything else; this tetradrachm, struck early in the joint reign of Kleopatra and Lathyros, still displays a fair amount of the old artistry, purity and quality control. By the end of Ptolemy IX’s convoluted reign, in 81 BC, all had slipped appreciably.
