Duane W. Roller

consul at an early age in 70 b.c. (with Crassus as his colleague); in 66
b.c. he had been sent to settle Rome’s festering war with Mithradates
the Great of Pontos in northern Asia Minor, who had been causing diffi -
culty for many years. Early in this campaign, or just before it, he may
have visited Egypt and been entertained lavishly by Ptolemy. 23 Aft er
succeeding in neutralizing Mithradates, Pompeius moved into Syria,
where he dissolved the Seleukid kingdom and annexed its remnants. He
was in Damascus, conveniently close to Egypt, in 63 b.c. when envoys
arrived from Ptolemy bearing a valuable gold crown, a symbol indicating
that he recognized Pompeius’s authority. Th ere was also an off er
to fi nance his next endeavor, an operation in Judaea. 24 Pompeius was
further invited to continue on to Egypt to put down local agitation, but
he declined.
Yet Ptolemy’s lavishness cost him dearly, with both internal instability
and Roman concern increasing. Th ere are scattered notices of
disturbances in Egypt all through the 60s b.c. 25 Th e historian Diodoros,
who visited Egypt about this time, witnessed a riot and lynching that
occurred when someone accidentally committed the sacrilege of killing
a cat, an incident that was notable for the failure of government offi -
cials sent to the scene to intervene. 26 Taxes were increased, resulting
in strikes by farmers in the villages: as was usual in times of fi nancial
excess and overseas adventures, the poor suff ered the most. It was said
that money to pay the king’s debts was exacted by force. Even the gold
sarcophagus of Alexander the Great was melted down. 27 Civil disturbances
reached such a point that in 63 b.c. Ptolemy had to issue an order
that unauthorized persons could not enter temple treasuries. His expenditures
soon reached a point that he went into debt, borrowing from the
famous Roman banker C. Rabirius Postumus. 28
Despite his fi nancial straits, the king continued to spread money
around Rome. Aft er Pompeius, his next target was Julius Caesar, consul
for 59 b.c., which eased the way for Ptolemy to be legally confi rmed
as a friend and ally of the Romans. As customary, the agreement was
registered on the Capitol as an offi cial treaty. 29 Roman citizenship, if
not already held by the Ptolemies, may also have been conferred. Th is
was an important benefi t that gave its holders certain privileges, such as
access to the Roman legal system, and created a useful bond between
those in power on the fringes of Roman territory and the government in
Rome. Ptolemy may have believed that his problems were now solved,
but he underestimated the complexities of the political world in which
Cleopatra’s Ancestry 21