What is "ptolemy"

ancient masc. proper name, from Greek Ptolemaios, literally "warlike," from ptolemos, collateral form of polemos "war." Also see Ptolemaic.

Claudius Ptolemy (; , Klaúdios Ptolemaîos, ; ; ) was a Greco-Egyptian writer, known as a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in the city of Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt, wrote in Koine Greek, and held Roman citizenship. Beyond that, few reliable details of his life are known. His birthplace has been given as Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid in an uncorroborated statement by the 14th-century astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes. This is a very late attestation, however, and there is no other reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria, where he died around AD 168.

Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, three of which were of continuing importance to later Byzantine, Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest, although it was originally entitled the "Mathematical Treatise" (, Mathēmatikē Syntaxis) and then known as the "Great Treatise" (, Ē Megálē Syntaxis). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. This manuscript was used by Christopher Columbus as the map for his westward-bound path to Asia, in which he discovered the hitherto unknown lands of the Americas. The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the Apotelesmatika but more commonly known as the Tetrabiblos from the Greek meaning "Four Books" or by the Latin Quadripartitum.

The name Ptolemy or Ptolemaeus comes from the Greek Ptolemaios, which seems to mean warlike or son of war. There have been many people named Ptolemy or Ptolemaeus, the most famous of whom are the Greek-Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus, and the Macedonian founder and ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, Ptolemy I Soter. The following sections summarise the history of the name, some of the people named Ptolemy, and some of the other uses of this name.

In Greek mythology, Ptolemy was an ancestral ruler of Thebes, living in the 12th century BCE. His father was Damasichthon; his son, Xanthus. Since the Homeric root to Ptolemy includes no T the name is reconstructed as Polemy.

Category:Theban kings Category:Mythological kings

Ptolemy ; died 333 BC) son of Seleucus from Orestis or Tymphaia,Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great Page 234

By Waldemar Heckel ISBN 1-4051-1210-7 was one of the select officers called Somatophylaces, or guards of the king's person; he combined with that distinguished post the command of one of the divisions of the phalanx. Ptolemy was from an upper noble family. His brother was a distinguished general called Antiochus, hence was the paternal uncle to Seleucus I Nicator and his sister Didymeia. He was lately married when he accompanied Alexander on his expedition to Asia, 334 BC, on which account he was selected by the king to command the body of Macedonians, who were allowed to return home for the winter at the end of the first campaign. In the following spring he rejoined Alexander at Gordium, with the troops under his command, accompanied by fresh reinforcements. At the Battle of Issus (333 BC) his division of the phalanx was one of those opposed to the Greek mercenaries under Darius III, and upon which the real brunt of the action consequently devolved; and he himself fell in the conflict, after displaying the utmost valour.

Ptolemy was one of the selected officers of Alexander the Great, called Somatophylaces. He was killed at the siege of Halicarnassus, 334 BC, commanding two taxeis of Hypaspists, those of Adaeus and Timander.

Ptolemy, son of Philip was an officer who commanded the leading squadron of Macedonian cavalry (that of Socrates of Macedon) at the Battle of the Granicus, Both Gronovius and Droysen, suppose that he is the same man that Alexander left with a force of 3000 infantry and 200 cavalry to defend the province of Caria, and who subsequently, together with Asander the governor of Lydia, defeated the Persian general Orontobates, 332 BC.

Ptolemy was the son of Abubus.

Ptolemy the Gnostic, or Ptolemaeus Gnosticus, was a disciple of the Gnostic teacher Valentinius and is known for an epistle he wrote to a wealthy woman named Flora, herself not a gnostic.

Ptolemy was probably still alive c. 180. No other certain details are known about his life; Harnack's suggestion that he was identical with the Ptolemy spoken of by St. Justin is as yet unproved. It is not known when Ptolemy became a disciple of Valentinius, but Valentinius was active in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and in Rome. Ptolemy was, with Heracleon, the principal writer of the Italian or Western school of Valentinian Gnosticism, which was active in Rome, Italy, and Southern Gaul.

Ptolemy's works have reached us in an incomplete form as follows:

:* a fragment of an exegetical writing preserved by Irenæus; and

:* an epistle to Flora, a Christian lady not otherwise known to us.

The latter is found in the works of Epiphanius. It was written in response to Flora's inquiry concerning the origin of the Law of the Old Testament. The Decalogue, Ptolemy states, cannot be attributed to the Supreme God, nor to the devil; indeed, the set of laws does not even proceed from a single law-giver. A part of it is the work of an inferior god, analogous to the gnostic demiurge; the second part is attributable to Moses, and the third part to the elders of the Jewish people. In addition, Ptolemy subdivides the part of the Decalogue ascribed to the inferior god into three further sections:

1. the absolutely pure legislation of the Decalogue which was not destroyed but fulfilled by the Saviour;
2. the laws mixed with evil, including the right of retaliation, which were abolished by the Saviour because they were incompatible with His nature;
3. the section which is typical and symbolical of the higher world.

This part of the Decalogue includes such precepts as circumcision and fasting and was raised by the saviour from a sensible to a spiritual plane. The god who is the author of the law, insofar as it is not the product of human effort, is the demiurge who occupies a middle position between the Supreme God and the devil. He is the creator of the material universe, is neither perfect nor the author of evil, but ought to be called 'just' and benevolent to the extent of his abilities.

In his cosmogonic depiction of the universe, Ptolemy referred to an extensive system of aeons that emanated from a monadic spiritual source. Thirty of these, he believed, ruled the higher world, the pleroma. This system became the basis of an exegesis which expounds the first Ogdoad of the Pleroma based on the prologue of John's gospel.

Ptolemy or Ptolemaeus , son of Mennaeus (Mennæus) was tetrarch of Iturea and Chalcis from about 85 BC to 40 BC, in which year he died. He tried to extend his kingdom by warlike expeditions ( Strabo, xvi. 2, § 10); and ruled the Lebanon, threatened Damascus, subjugated several districts on the Phoenician coast, and once had Paneas in his hands ( Josephus, Ant. xv. 10, §§ 1-3). In fact, the whole of Galilee had formerly been in the possession of the Itureans, and had been taken away from them in 103 BC by Aristobulus I. (ibid. xiii. 11, § 3).

The Jews thought themselves oppressed by Ptolemy, and hence Aristobulus II, at that time still prince and sent by his mother, Alexandra, undertook an expedition against Damascus to protect it against Ptolemy (ibid. 16, § 3; idem, B. J. i. 5, § 3). Pompey destroyed Ptolemy's strongholds in the Lebanon and doubtless took away from him the Hellenistic cities, as he did in Judaea. When Aristobulus II was murdered by Pompey's party in Judea (49 BC), his sons and daughters found protection with Ptolemy (Ant. xiv. 7, § 4; B. J. i. 9, § 2). It may be that the national Jewish party at that time depended for support on the Itureans in Chalcis, and perhaps the following statement has reference to that fact: "On the 17th of Adar danger threatened the rest of the Soferim in the city of Chalcis, and it was salvation for Israel" (Meg. Ta'an. xii.).

Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, was also supported by Ptolemy in his effort to establish himself as king in Judaea (Ant. xiv. 12, § 1). Josephus says that the Hasmonean king Antigonus was a "kinsman" of Ptolemy. He was married to Antigonus's sister Alexandra, who had previously married Ptolemy's son Philippion. However, Ptolemy slew his son and took his bride for himself. Ptolemy died just as the Parthians were invading Judaea (Jewish Wars. xiv. 13, § 3; B. J. i. 13, § 1). He was succeeded by his son Lysanias.

Ptolemy ; died 309 BC) was a nephew of Antigonus, and who served as a general to Alexander the Great (338–323 BC) who afterwards became king of Asia.

He is first mentioned as being present with his uncle at the siege of Nora in 320 BC, when he was given up to Eumenes as a hostage for the safety of the latter during a conference with Antigonus. At a later period we find him entrusted by his uncle with commands of importance. Thus in 315 BC, when Antigonus was preparing to oppose the formidable coalition organized against him, he placed Ptolemy at the head of the army which was destined to carry on operations in Anatolia against the generals of Cassander.

The young general successfully carried out his mission, thereby relieving Amisus, which was besieged by Asclepiodorus, and recovered the whole satrapy of Cappadocia; after which he advanced into Bithynia, compelling king Zipoites to join his alliance. Upon his approach and occupation of Ionia, Seleucus withdrew from that territory.

In the latter part of that year, Ptolemy next threatened Caria, which was defended for a time by Myrmidon, the Egyptian general; but in the following year (314 BC) Ptolemy was able to strike a decisive blow in that quarter against Eupolemus, the general of Cassander, whom he surprised and totally defeated.

In the summer of (313 BC), the arrival of Antigonus himself gave a decided preponderance to his arms in Anatolia, and Ptolemy, after rendering active assistance in the sieges of Caunus and Iasus, was sent with a considerable army to Greece to carry on the war there against Cassander. His successes were at first rapid: he drove out the garrisons of his adversary from Chalcis and Oropus, invaded Attica, where he compelled Athens' tyrant Demetrius Phalereus to make overtures of submission, and then carried his arms triumphantly through Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris. Wherever he went, he expelled the Macedonian garrisons, and proclaimed the liberty and independence of the cities.

He then directed his armies to the Peloponnese, where the authority of Antigonus had been endangered by the recent defection of his general Telesphorus. Here he appears to have remained till the peace of 311 suspended hostilities in that region.

He is thought to have considered that his services had not met with their due reward from Antigonus; and therefore, when in 310 BC the kings of Macedonia and Egypt were preparing to renew the war, Ptolemy suddenly abandoned the cause of his uncle and concluded a treaty with Cassander and Ptolemy I Soter. His ambition may have been to establish himself in the chief command in the Peloponnese: but the reconciliation of Polyperchon with Cassander must have frustrated this: and on the arrival of the Egyptian king with a fleet at Cos, Ptolemy repaired from Chalcis to join him. He was received at first with the utmost favour, but soon gave offence to his new patron by his intrigues and ambitious demonstrations, and was in consequence thrown into prison and compelled to put an end to his life by poison, 309 BC.

He appears in Harry Turtledove's novel The Gryphon's Skull, under the variant form of his name, "Polemaios." The two heroes carry him from Kos to Chalcis, and one of them later witnesses his execution. He is portrayed as a bullying, unpleasant man.

Ptolemy (295–272 BC) was the oldest son of king Pyrrhus of Epirus and his first wife Antigone, who probably died in childbirth. He was named in honour of his mother's stepfather, king Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt, who was a benefactor to Pyrrhus in his youth.

When Pyrrhus returned from Italy in 274 BC Ptolemy captured the island of Corcyra for his father in an audacious attack with only 60 men. He also distinguished himself in a naval battle, and during the following invasion of Macedonia he dislodged king Antigonus II Gonatas from Thessalonike.

In 272 BC Ptolemy accompanied his father on a military campaign in the Peloponnese, where he commanded his personal guard. During the retreat from Sparta he was attacked by a Lacedaemonian force under Eualcus and slain by the Cretan Oroissus of Aptera. His father avenged his death killing Eualcus, but fell a few days later in the streets of Argos.

Ptolemy had an older sister called Olympias and two younger half-brothers, Alexander and Helenus.