Ptolemy VI Philometor (186–145 bc). Sixth king of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt; son and successor of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I.

Ptolemy VI became king at the age of six (180 bc), but he ruled under his mother’s regency until her death (176 bc). He was coregent with his sister-wife, Cleopatra II, and his younger brother, Ptolemy VIII Physcon, from 170–164 bc, during the invasion of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (the Sixth Syrian War, 170–168 bc; see 1 Macc 1:17–19). When Antiochus withdrew in 168 bc, under the compulsion of the Roman Senate, a power struggle between Philometor and Physcon resulted in Philometor’s expulsion from Egypt in 164 bc. He was reinstated by Rome in 163 bc.

When Onias IV, a son of the last legitimate high priest (Onias III) of the Jerusalem temple, immigrated to Egypt during the 160s, he requested permission from Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra to build a temple to Israel’s God. They allotted him the site of a ruined temple in Leontopolis.

Ptolemy VI reasserted Egyptian interests in Syria-Palestine after 150 bc, when the Seleucids were fighting over successors to the throne. Ptolemy married his daughter, Cleopatra Thea, to Alexander Balas, a victorious rival for the Seleucid throne. When Balas later tried to assassinate Ptolemy, he took his daughter back and gave her to Balas’ rival, Demetrius II, instead. Ptolemy died in 145 bc fighting in Antioch for Demetrius against Balas.