Theodotus of Chios (died 42 BC) was the tutor of Ptolemy XIII in history, philosophy, and rhetoric. He was one of Ptolemy's regents at the time of the Alexandrine Civil War, and Julius Caesar had him sent to near-certain death by having him placed among Achillas' army as it was surrounded at the Siege of Alexandria, reasoning that the philosophical Theodotus "spoke too many words". Theodotus escaped, only to be executed upon arriving in Asia Minor.
Biography[]
Theodotus of Chios was a trained rhetorician and the tutor of Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, leading the guardianship for the young king after the death of Ptolemy XII; Pothinus and Achillas served as co-regents. In 50 BC, he arranged for Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra to serve as co-rulers of Egypt, only to expel Cleopatra in 49 BC due to a power struggle between Ptolemy and his sister. When Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt in 48 BC, it was Theodotus who presented Pompey the Great's severed head to Caesar as a gift; Caesar was disgusted and wept at the sight of his respected rival's desecrated body. During the Siege of Alexandria, Caesar had Pothinus executed for attempting to kill Cleopatra, and he sent Ptolemy and Theodotus back to their army with Achillas; while Ptolemy saw this as a sign of mercy, Theodotus knew that it meant certain death, as the army was trapped between the Roman army and the army of Mithridates I of the Bosporus. Theodotus would escape from Egypt during battle between the two siblings, only to be brutally executed by Marcus Junius Brutus upon his arrival in Asia Minor.