Ptolemy XII Auletes (117 BC-51 BC) was the Ptolemaic King of Egypt from 80 to 58 BC (succeeding Ptolemy XI and preceding Cleopatra VI and Berenice IV) and from 55 to 51 BC (succeeding Cleopatra VI and Berenice and preceding Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra).
Biography[]
Ptolemy was born in 117 BC, the son of Ptolemy IX. His predecessor Ptolemy XI was torn to pieces by a mob at a gymnasium in 80 BC, and official records pretended that his brief reign had not occurred, counting Ptolemy XII's rule as if it had begun immediately on the death of his father. He was one of two boys sent to Kos by Cleopatra III, who wanted him and his brother to be somewhere under her control as security against her son Ptolemy X. Ptolemy styled himself the "New Dionysus" and was also "father-loving" (Philopator) and "brother-loving" (Philadelphus), but some in Alexandria called him "Auletes", the oboe player, for his skill in playing the instrument. He was also called "Nothos" (bastard), as his mother was said to have been an unknown concubine of Ptolemy IX.
Auletes became king in 80 BC, and the Romans were not directly involved in his appointment as king; Sulla did not take any action in response to the murder of his nominee, Ptolemy XI. In 75 BC, two sons of Cleopatra Selene of Syria headed to Rome to appeal for Roman support, but Rome rejected them. However, this did not mean that Rome recognized Ptolemy as Pharaoh, and he worked hard to gain Roman recognition of his rule. He spent lavishly to cultivate influential senators, and he also put a lot of effort into pleasing his subjects with a grand building programme and being generous to the Egyptian cults and their temples. The costs were substantial at a time of very poor harvests, and royal officials needed to squeeze harder than ever to praise sufficient revenue.
Ptolemy befriended the Roman general Pompey the Great, who had expanded Roman territory and reorganized the eastern Roman provinces, abolishing the last rump of the Seleucid Empire and leaving the Ptolemies as the last of the three great successor kingdoms. Auletes provided aid to Pompey's army, including the supplies necessary to support 8,000 cavalrymen. In 65 BC, Marcus Licinius Crassus began agitating to have Egypt declared Roman public land, which could then be distributed, and Julius Caesar was also involved in the process. However, other powerful senators blocked all proposals about Egypt. The move to annex Egypt failed, and Crassus and Caesar focused on other schemes. Auletes cultivated Pompey for some time, and he gained formal recognition in 59 BC, being named as king and "a friend and ally of the Roman people" by Caesar. However, he had to pay 6,000 talents, somewhere between half and all the annual revenue of Egypt; the bulk went to Pompey and Caesar, and Ptolemy's representatives had to borrow on a huge scale from Roman bankers to make the initial down payment.
Auletes' younger brother in Cyprus was unable to afford the cost of similar recognition, and, in 58 BC, the Romans seized Cyprus in accordance with Ptolemy X's will, offering the king comfortable retirement; however, the king chose suicide when all of his protests were unavailing. The Alexandrians welcomed Rome's recognition of Auletes, but the Roman annexation of Cyprus provoked deep resentment, as Auletes had done nothing to save his brother nor resist the seizure of Cyprus. Romans became unpopular, and a member of a Roman delegation was lynched after accidentally killing a cat, a sacred animal for Egyptians.
Late in 58 BC, Auletes left Alexandria and travelled to Rome, where he claimed that he had been driven out; it was years before he returned to Egypt. His eldest daughter Berenice IV was proclaimed by queen in his absence, and clearly against his will. She was unmarried and decided to make Cleopatra VI her co-ruler. Ptolemy sought to win over enough influential senators to make the Romans commit to restoring him to the throne, annd he went first to his friend Pompey, who granted him hospitality at his villa in the Alban Hills near Rome. Ptolemy found Rome crude and squalid, but he came because he knew its power. Ptolemy borrowed more money from the Roman bankers and liberally employed this to win the sympathy of prominent men, and he used his borrowed money to bribe some of Berenice's emissaries in Rome to change their opinion on Ptolemy. A number of the embassy members, including the leader, were murdered by hired thugs. The violence caused a brief scandal, and Cicero helped to defend one young senator accused of involvement, but no one was condemned. Auletes then went to Ephesus in Asia Minor, where he waited at the Temple of Artemis; meanwhile, his agents remained in Rome and continued to spend and pleadon his behalf.
Ptolemy ultimately offered the Roman general Aulus Gabinius 10,000 silver talents if he would use his army to restore him to power, and Mark Antony advocated for Gabinius to accept the deal, as he would inevitably receive a share of the cash, with which he could repay his great debts. Gabinius was able to use his Judean allies to convince the Ptolemies' Jewish mercenaries to defect, and Antony captured Pelusium. After a short fight, the Romans succeeded in defeating the Ptolemies, capturing Berenice IV, and executing Berenice and her chief supporters. Ptolemy was then restored to the throne, having killed his own daughter. Ptolemy died in 51 BC, and he made the Romans executors of his will, which declared that his daughter Cleopatra and his son Ptolemy XIII would reign as co-rulers. However, Ptolemy would later dethrone Cleopatra, leading to the Alexandrine Civil War.