Duane W. Roller

Cleopatra I survived him by only four years, dying in 176 b.c. in her late
twenties. She had been named regent for her adolescent son Ptolemy VI:
had she lived longer, she might have been able to stabilize the kingdom.
As it was, Ptolemy VI became as manipulated by court factions as his
father had been. 53 Th ese events mark the beginning of the decline of the
Ptolemaic kingdom.
By the early second century b.c., Ptolemaic weakness and Roman
ascendancy meant that the political destinies of both would never again
be separated. A Roman embassy was received in Alexandria in 173 b.c.,
and a Ptolemaic one went to Rome a few years later. 54 Embassies would
shuttle regularly between the two capitals as long as the Ptolemaic state
lasted. In view of the continued hostilities among the Greek states it was
in Rome’s interest to keep its eye on the eastern Mediterranean and to
have allies wherever possible. In addition to the diplomatic contacts,
Roman offi cials began to play the role of tourists. In 112 b.c. L. Mummius,
perhaps the son or nephew of the conqueror of Corinth, sailed up the
Nile to see the antiquities. Offi cials along his route were told to receive
him with magnifi cence, provide lodging and gift s, and to ensure that the
sites be open for his visit. 55
In 175 b.c., when further diffi culties erupted between the Seleukids
and Ptolemies, Rome quickly responded. Th e new Seleukid king,
Antiochos IV, who came to the throne in that year, aggressively moved
into coastal Egypt and even attempted to repudiate the dowry of his
just-deceased sister Cleopatra I, demanding the return of interior Syria
to Seleukid control. 56 Since Antiochos was the uncle of Ptolemy VI,
he could claim that he was simply exercising his duties as the senior
member of the combined Seleukid-Ptolemaic families. Ptolemy appealed
to Rome, and the Senate compelled negotiations. In July 168 b.c. the
Roman ambassador, C. Popilius Laenas, met Antiochos at Eleusis
outside Alexandria and forced him to withdraw under humiliating
conditions. Closely following these events was the historian Polybios,
himself personally involved in the Roman relations with the Greek
states, and who expressed the situation succinctly: “Th us the Romans
saved the exhausted kingdom of Ptolemy.” 57
Th e Ptolemies were now totally beholden to Rome, and the two
states became even closer, for better or worse, over the next century.
Roman intervention at every level of dynastic operations was the rule.
Th e Romans would advise and expect consent on military and territorial
matters as well as the dynastic succession. Th e career of the brother
40 Cleopatra