The world in February 5th, 570 AUC
Eternal Egypt: 562-570
- The Reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, part I -
Even though Pharaoh Ptolemy V (Epiphanes) is remembered as a great pharaoh who returned Egypt to be a power to be reckoned, his time was full of trouble and concern. He was not a nice child, and this has to be blamed on the incomptent nannies who took care of him during the early years. Already as a baby he did like to slowly rip off limbs of anything he could catch. Later on, when his dear papa had died and he became the pharaoh at the age of five, he found it very interesting to order his soldiers to tear off limbs from living people. His old tutor, Hypesthis, finally tried to inform the young pharaoh this was not a good thing, but after the pharaoh had ordered the limbs of Hypesthis to be ripped off, nobody ever again mentioned about this to the pharaoh.
The population of Egypt was not too happy with their cruel and, as some claimed, incompetent pharaoh. At AUC 562, tensions began rising everywhere. Ptolemy was still only 16 years and his court was unruly. The various regents had named their own favourites to the court, and it was very hard to get any decisions accepted. Seleucids had a few years earlier conquered Judea and everything north of it, save Cyprus, from Egypt, and it was obvious Seleucids wanted to get Cyprus wrestled from Egypt too, and make Egypt a vassal state of the Seleucid kingdom.
By a divine intervention pharaoh Ptolemy finally understood something would have to be done, or else he would remain as pharaoh for a very short time indeed. On the advice of his loyal Chief Eunuch, Philocrates Ahmed, pharaoh Ptolemy forced new laws, intended to strengthen the stability of Egypt. The type of governement was changed to a Theocracy, Egypt was declared a Religious State, where the Pharaoh had Divine Right to rule the nation. Also, the old beliefs of Egypt were declared as the National Faith.
The last decission was hailed by the majority of the population. However, the areas where Greeks were in the majority this caused much distress. The people in Cyprus and Cyrenaica did rapidly lose their confidence in the "High Priest" pharaoh who thus had turned his back to his hellenistic roots.
Despite his best intentions, the population remained unruly. Ptolemy’s court was in shambles, his ministers fighting with each other daily. The garrisoning army in Sinai, watching the ever stronger Seleucid army across the border, began also show marks of restlessness. On the advice of the Chief Eunuch Ptolemy did name Nesisti, an Egyptian noble of the Penamid family, as the commander of the army. The narrow-minded Nesisti had absolutely no experience to be a general, but he was utterly loyal to Ptolemy after Ptolemy had declared the Egyptian faith as the national religion.
In June 562 AUC the Civil War broke out. Five of the eight ministers in Ptolemy’s court joined the rebelling faction. The rebels named Ptolemy’s former Civic Magistrate, a greek noble called Scopas, as the usurper pharaoh. Scopas was an old friend of Nesisti's father, and the rebels assumed Scopas would be able use this to pressure Nesisti to join the rebels. However Scopas failed to convince Nesisti, and Scopas barely escaped from Sinai (where Nesistis headquarter was) to Cyprus. In Cyprus the greek population hailed Scopas as the saviour.
Nesisti sent word to Alexandria, and the loyal fleet blockaded the port, checking all ships heading out. The other rebelling ministers thus couldn't leave to Cyprus, but did head westwards towards Cyrenaica. In Marmarica their escape was cut off, because Philocrates the Chief Eunuch was heading there from west at the head of a small loyalist army. Some of the rebels then turned southwards, scrambling towards Upper Egypt.
In the end no field-troops joined the rebels. The provinces, along with the garrisons there, of Marmarica, Ammon and Oasis Parva declared their support for Scopas, as did of course Cyprus. Soon however all rebelling towns were besieged by loyalist troops, in October loyalist troops landed in Cyprus and started to besiege Paphos, the capital of the usurper pharaoh.
In November the greek settlers in Cyrenaica were called together by the wealthy merchant Nikandros Theronid. Using liberal bribes, which drove himself practically broke, he convinced the greeks that their future was not with Egypt. The greeks agreed that Ptolemy had betrayed them all, and that the soldier-settlers would have it better if they would defend their own rights. A declaration of independence was formalised, Nikandros Theorind was named the Basileus (the king), and a letter was sent to Ptolemy. The greek settlers informed they do not wish to fight with Ptolemy and his egyptians, they just want to live in peace and continue their greek way of life in Cyrenaica.
Ptolemy was fuming with rage. In less than six months he had lost the control in over half of his lands. Being totally impotent to take any action against the greeks in Cyrenaica, he simply ignored them. For now.
In July next year Cyprus, the last stronghold of the usurper Scopas, fell to loyalist troops. The population suddenly felt much more confident with their cruel pharaoh, although he still was far from popular.
However, troops were not given much rest. They were immediately ordered to march towards the Cyrenaican border. Troops from Cyprus were loaded onto ships, and sent towards Barca. The formal declaration of war was sent to Basileus Theronid, and the Egyptian troops crossed the border and marines landed in Barca. The greek settlers fought hard, but a year later Theronid did surrender on the terms that Barca would remain independent. All other lands of the Cyrenaican kingdom were ceded back to Egypt.
During the civil war several egyptian nobles had stepped forwards when Ptolemy needed loyal faces in his court. Not only was the new court loyal, they also were much more competent than the former ministers. Some advisors still had a lot to be desired, but mostly they were doing a decent job. Ptolemy declared the Chief Eunuch as his heir "until a son is born to us". The new advisors were loyal to the heir apparent, and in fact any questions in that sense saw actions been taken immediately by the Chief Eunuch.
General Nesisti, whose loyalty had seen the civil war end so successfully for Ptolemy, was named the Royal Huntsman, and command of the army was given to one of his most able lieutenants Phila Senuid. As Strategos Phila Senuid proved to be invaluable to Egypt, for years he strengthened the defensive lines in Sinai, drilling his troops. During the tense period with Seleucids in 566 Phila Senuid did show his capabilities as army commander: The Seleucids ordered their army (according to some sources nearly 40 thousand men strong) towards the border, where Phila Senuid with his 30 thousand men were waiting. After two months of a very stressed situation the Seleucids pulled back, and things settled back to normal.
Ptolemy himself was still far from popular. The Trierarchos Nakhtoreb Ahmid (cousin of the chief eunuch) prepared for Ptolemy an elite fleet with only four ships. The fleet was in name commanded by Ptolemy himself, but the ship crews were veteran pirate hunters from years back. It was claimed Ptolemy spent his time in the fleet by slowly burning live sea-gulls while poking their eyes with his thin dagger, but never the less the agile fleet was successful in its anti-pirate campaign. A triumph was organised for Ptolemy, and he was gaining more and more popularity.
After the successful anti-pirate campaign Ptolemy wanted to also gain fame on land. In 567 an army was raised for him to lead (although it is claimed in fact the Polemarchos Callimachus was leading the army while Ptolemy focused on other interests), and the army set towards the barbarian held city of Petra. The barbarians did surprise Ptolemy’s force outside the town of Petra, and Ptolemy’s force was soundly beaten. It is said Ptolemy and Callimachus were questioning a prisoner when the barbarian attack began, and Ptolemy had specifically told nobody to interfere the questioning "Even if the gods themselves appeared". The disordered army broke soon, and Ptolemy and his army began a retreat towards Sinai. The barbarians had found the remains of the prisoner who Ptolemy had been questioning, and "A wave of rage went through their lines, Ptolemy had succeeded to goad the barbarians into a foolish attack by capturing their holy man." as the official communique said afterwards. The angry barbarians began a hot pursuit after Ptolemy’s troops. A messenger was sent to Strategos Senuid, who prepared his force and totally destroyed the barbarian force in the battle of East Sinai. The barbarians were sold to slavery, and egyptian colonists were ordered to Petra to set up an Egyptian town.
While the fracas with the barbarians in Petra was still underway, the Chief Eunuch, in late 567, sent spies to desecrate holy sites on Crete. He secretly told a trader from Crete about the plan, and the Egyptian insurgents were captured and promptly executed. The Chief Eunuch had already commanded the western army onboard the Egyptian fleet, and it was sailing towards Crete. News arrived of the execution, and the Chief Eunuch used this as an excuse to send a punitive force "to search for the criminals who murdered egyptian nobles". Effectively Crete was invaded, and after a few months annexed by Egypt.
Nichorates Pytheid, the former king of Crete, was first thrown into jail in Alexadria, but after a year he was released and placed in the court of Ptolemy. This move has been seen as an attempt to please Ptolemy’s greek subordinates, although Ptolemy simply may have wanted the very talented (and ambitious) former king to act as an advisor who is not affiliated with the Egyptian nobility in any way.
The Chief Eunuch Ahmed was very interested in sciences. He personally made sure enough papyrus was available to all nobles interested in researching new ideas. Pharaoh Ptolemy also made it known it is the divine will that new technologies shall be invented. New omens about the divine duty to research were invoked repeadetly, and a new golden age of Egyptian science began in earnest.
Foreign politics was not of much concern during this period. Egypt had enough of internal problems, but the danger of Seleucids was always imminent. Thus a defensive alliance was signed with Pontus against Seleucid aggression, and that may indeed have put a halt on offensive plans of the Seleucids. What it did allow though was to give Pontus an excellent opportunity to annex the smaller greek states in Asia Minor. The Chief Eunuch and Pharaoh also noted with concern how easily the barbarians of Numidia annexed most of Carthage; it was obvious a new super power had been born.
A son was finally born to Ptolemy and his wife Timo Galestid in 569. There was much rejoicing, and the court members, except the Cief Eunuch who still was in Crete commanding the patrollling army there, all proclaimed their loyalty to the new heir. Interestingly enough it seems the Chief Eunuch showed first time marks of disloyalty at this point. The Chief Eunuch had grown to the idea that he was the most important man in Egypt, and now everything had changed because of this new baby called Amyrteos Ptolemy.
Soon after the son had been born pharaoh Ptolemy took his army and marched west. He informed he shall "now finish off the rabble in Barca". Ptolemy declared war on the greeks in Barca, and this time his army did soundly beat the small greek force sent against him. After a siege that lasted six months the Greek kingdom of Cyrenaica ceased to exist. In December 569 Barca was annexed. Egypt was again complete.
The world in February 5th, 570 AUC