Petosarapis

Abstract Petosarapis, also called Dionysios (Pros. Ptol . VI 14600), is attested in a single fragment of Diodorus 31.17b, as an Egyptian member of the Ptolemaic court, a man with great military experience, and a “friend of king Ptolemy.” The episode relating to him can be dated to the end of 168 or early 167 BCE . Despising the two young princes, who had fallen out during the Seleucid invasion the year before, he accused Ptolemy VI of trying to murder his younger brother. When a large crowd gathered in support of Ptolemy VIII, the princes, giving a public show of unity in the Alexandrian gymnasium, stopped Petosarapis' attempt to “appropriate for himself the affairs of the reign.” Petosarapis then assembled about 4,000 seditious soldiers but was defeated in battle by Ptolemy VI in the suburb of Eleusis and barely escaped alive. After this he withdrew among the Egyptians, whom he successfully incited to secession. It is unclear, however, how far this revolt spread in the countryside and whether the uprisings mentioned in documentary papyri of the 160s can be linked with the events mentioned in Diodorus.