Ptolemy XII Auletes

Ptolemy XII Auletes

Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysus (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Νέος Διόνυσος, romanized: Ptolemaios Neos Dionysos, lit. 'Ptolemy the new Dionysus' c. 117 – 51 BC) was a king of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt who ruled from 80 to 58 BC and then again from 55 BC until his death in 51 BC. He was commonly known as Auletes (Αὐλητής, "the Flautist"), referring to his love of playing the flute in Dionysian festivals. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, he was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.Ptolemy XII was an illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX by an uncertain mother. In 116 BC, Ptolemy IX became co-regent with his mother, Cleopatra III. However, he was forced into a civil war against his mother and his brother, Ptolemy X, leading to his exile in 107 BC. Cleopatra III sent her grandsons to Kos in 103 BC. They were captured by Mithridates VI of Pontus probably in 88 BC, around the time Ptolemy IX returned to the Egyptian throne. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ptolemy XII Auletes has received more than 1,121,237 page views. His biography is available in 47 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 46 in 2019). Ptolemy XII Auletes is the 657th most popular politician (up from 942nd in 2019), the 2nd most popular biography from Cyprus (up from 3rd in 2019) and the most popular Cypriot Politician.

Ptolemy XII Auletes was most famous for being the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. He was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was founded by Ptolemy I Soter.