Ptolemy VI - What I Have Learnt

Recently there was a post on early Egyptian coins. This is one of mine.





A bronze diobol of PTOLEMY VI Philometor OF Ancient Egypt from 180 - 145 BC .
Minted during his first reign from 170 - 164 BC
son of Cleopatra I, he married his sister, Cleopatra II

The size is 19.4 MM and the weight is 8.00 GRAMS.
SNG Copenhagen 311-20

OBVERSE â€" Head of Zeus-Ammon right, wearing tainia
REVERSE â€" PTOLEMAIOU BASILEWS Two eagles standing left on thunderbolt

FYI
Like many of the rulers of Egypt during the Ptolemaic period, Ptolemy VI Philometer came to the throne as a young child, with his mother, Cleopatra I as regent. She died only a few years after he took the throne, and the young king was under the control of his guardians and advisors, Eulaeus and Lenaeus.
Ptolemy VI married his sister, Cleopatra II. He was forced to share the rule of Egypt with his wife and his younger brother, Ptolemy VIII Physcon, and in fact, he technically abdicated the throne to his younger brother and ran off to Rome where he pretended to be a working class peasant, leaving Physcon to rule in his stead in Egypt. He remained in Rome until they came to fetch him in May of 163. He reached an agreement with his brother to split the rule of Egypt, with Physcon ruling the western province of Cyrenaica and Philometor retaining the rule of Egypt until his death in 145 BC.
Ptolemy VI was killed in battle after aiding Demetrius II to gain the throne of Syria, along with the rival claimant Alexander Balas. His young son, Ptolemy VII Neos Philopater, took the throne for only a few years, but he was killed as soon as Physcon (Ptolemy VIII) was able to return to Egypt to claim the throne he had once held. Not that the Alexandrian people wanted him, they had begged for Ptolemy VII to return from Rome.

(Seller's comments)