Bronze Coin - AE 30 (Bronze Hemidrachm).
Ptolemaic Egypt, c. 180-145 BC.
Ruler: Ptolemy VI, Philometor.
Obv: Diademed head of bearded Zeus, right.
Rev: Two Eagles, standing left on thunderbolt.
(Sear - 7900) Diameter: 30mm, Weight 28.82 gms. Attractive portrait.
Ptolemy VI Philometor (ca. 186-145 BC) was a king of Egypt from the Ptolemaic period. He reigned from 180 to 145 BC. Ptolemy succeeded in 180 BC at the age of about 6 and ruled jointly with his mother, Cleopatra I, until her death in 176 BC. The following year he married his sister, Cleopatra II. During his reign, Antiochus IV began the sixth Syrian War in 170 BC and invaded Egypt twice.
Ptolemy VI was forced to abandon his claim to the throne on the orders of the Roman Senate. From 169-164 Egypt was ruled by a triumvirate consisting of Ptolemy, his sister-queen and his younger brother known as Ptolemy VIII Physcon, but in 164 he was driven out by his brother and went to Rome to seek support, which he received from Cato.
He was restored the following year by the intervention of the Alexandrians and ruled uneasily, cruelly suppressing frequent rebellions. In 152 BC he briefly ruled jointly with one of his sons, known as Ptolemy Eupator, but it is thought that Ptolemy Eupator died that same year. In 145 BC, Ptolemy VI sucessfully invaded and defeated Syria, uniting Egypt and Syria for the first time since Alexander the Great. He died a few days later, under "unknown circumstances".
