Editing Ptolemy V Epiphanes (section)

===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/>