Editing Ptolemy V Epiphanes (section)

==Regime==
===Ptolemaic dynastic cult===
[[File:Egitto tolemaico, tolomeo V, octodracma di alessandria, 204-203 ac ca.JPG|thumb|left|[[Octadrachm]] of Ptolemy V wearing the [[diadem]] and [[chlamys]] of a Hellenistic king, as well as a crown of wheat.]]
Ptolemaic Egypt had a dynastic cult, which centred on the Ptolemaia festival and the annual [[Ptolemaic cult of Alexander the Great|priest of Alexander the Great]], whose full title included the names of all the Ptolemaic monarchs and appeared in official documents as part of the date formula. Probably at the Ptolemaia festival in 199 BC, Ptolemy V was proclaimed to be the ''Theos Epiphanes Eucharistos'' (Manifest, Beneficent God) and his name was added to the title of the Priest of Alexander. When he married Cleopatra I in 194–3 BC, the royal couple were deified as the ''Theoi Epiphaneis'' (Manifest Gods) and the Priest of Alexander's full title was modified accordingly.<ref name=H171>{{harvnb|Hölbl|2001|p=171}}</ref>

Since the death of Ptolemy V's predecessor Arsinoe II, deceased Ptolemaic queens had been honoured with a separate dynastic cult of their own, including a separate priestess who marched in religious processions in Alexandria behind the priest of Alexander the Great and whose names also appeared in dating formulae. That trend continued under Ptolemy V with the establishment of a cult for his mother in 199 BC. Unlike the canephore of [[Arsinoe II]] and the athlophore of [[Berenice II]], Arsinoe III's priestess had no special title and served for life rather than a single year.<ref name=A3>{{cite web |last1=Bennett |first1=Chris |title=Arsinoe III|url=http://instonebrewer.com/TyndaleSites/Egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_iii_fr.htm|website=Egyptian Royal Genealogy |access-date=7 November 2019}}</ref><ref name=H171/>

With the loss of most of the Ptolemaic possessions outside Egypt in the Fifth Syrian War, [[Cyprus]] assumed a much more important role within the Ptolemaic empire and this was asserted by the establishment of a centralised religious structure on the island. The governor (''strategos'') of Cyprus was henceforth also the island's high priest (''archiereus''), responsible for maintaining a version of the dynastic cult on the island.<ref name=H171/>

===Pharaonic ideology and Egyptian religion===
Like his predecessors, Ptolemy V assumed the traditional Egyptian role of pharaoh and the concomitant support for the Egyptian priestly elite. As under the two previous rulers, the symbiotic relationship between the king and the priestly elite was affirmed and articulated by the decrees of priestly synods. Under Ptolemy V there were three of these, all of which were published on stelae in [[hieroglyphs]], [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic]], and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] were published throughout Egypt.<ref name=H1657>{{harvnb|Hölbl|2001|pp=165–167}}</ref>

The first of these decrees was the Memphis decree, passed on 27 March 196 BC, the day after Ptolemy V's coronation, in which the king is presented as the 'image of Horus, son of Isis and Osiris'. The decree's description of Ptolemy V's victory over the Lycopolis rebels and of his coronation draws heavily on traditional imagery that presented the pharaoh as a new [[Horus]], receiving the kingship from his dead father, whom he avenges by smiting the enemies of Egypt and restoring order. In honour of his benefactions, the priests awarded him religious honours modelled on those granted by the priestly synods to his father and grandfather: they agreed to erect a statue of Ptolemy V in the shrine of every temple in Egypt and to celebrate an annual festival on his birthday.<ref name=H1657/>

These honours were augmented in the Philensis II decree passed in September 186 BC on the suppression of Ankhmakis' revolt. The priests undertook to erect another statue of Ptolemy V in the guise of 'Lord of Victory' in the sanctuary of every temple in Egypt alongside a statue of the main deity of the temple, and to celebrate a festival in honour of Ptolemy V and Cleopatra I every year on the day of Ankhmakis' defeat.<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/docs/other/inscr_260.html Translated text] on attalus.org</ref><ref name=H1657/> This decree was revised in the [[Philensis I decree]], passed in autumn 185 BC on the enthronement of an [[Apis bull]]. This decree reinstated the honours for Arsinoe Philadelphus (Arsinoe II) and the Theoi Philopatores (Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III) in the temples of Upper Egypt, which had been abolished during Ankhmakis' revolt. It also granted Cleopatra I all the various honours that had been granted to Ptolemy V in the earlier decrees.<ref name=H1657/>

Ptolemy V's predecessors, since the time of [[Alexander the Great]], had pursued a wide-ranging policy of temple construction, designed to ensure the support of the priestly elite. Ptolemy V was not able to do this on the same scale as his predecessors. One reason for this was the more difficult financial circumstances of Egypt during his reign. Another was the loss of large sections of the country to the rebels - at the temple of [[Horus]] at [[Edfu]], for example, it had been planned that a large set of doors would be installed in 206 BC, but the rebellion meant that this did not actually take place until the late 180s. What construction was carried out under Ptolemy V was focussed in the northern part of the country, particularly the sanctuary of the Apis Bull and the temple of [[Anubis]] at [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]]. Hölbl interprets this work as part of an effort to build up Memphis as the centre of Egyptian religious authority, at the expense of Thebes, which had been a stronghold of the Egyptian revolt.<ref>{{harvnb|Hölbl|2001|p=162}}</ref>