Ptolemy III (246 - 222) BC
He is the son of King Ptolemy the Great from his first wife (Arsinoe I), the daughter of Luciachus, one of the leaders of Alexander. Ptolemy the Third inherited from his father a stable and relatively prosperous kingdom.
The foreign policy of King Ptolemy III
The interior of Syria and the Third Syrian War (246-241 BC)
And at the beginning of the war, the death of King Antiochus II during his visit to his wife Laodicea in Asia Minor (Ephesus) and from here began the struggle between the first wife of Odiki to take the right to the throne for her son Seleucus II also demanded (Piperilinki), who is called the owner of the dowry, the throne for her young son and therefore asked for help from her brother King of Egypt Ptolemy the third.
So Wahab agreed to help her, but upon her arrival, he found her and her son had been killed in Antioch, so Ptolemy declared war on Laodicea and her son Seleucus II according to this war and took control of Syria and Antioch and arrived in Babylon, but he was forced to return in 245 BC due to an economic crisis in his kingdom that resulted in a drought. The Nile River and the occurrence of famine, so he quickly returned and relieved the crisis of his kingdom, and for this, he bore the title (Goodness) Eurgetes.
Likewise, Seleucus took advantage of this situation and recovered many of the possessions seized by Ptolemy III, but Seleucus was not lucky in completing his career, due to the fraternal conflict between the sons of the Seleucid state, namely (Seleucus II), his brother (Antiochus Hiraki), where the mother of Laodicea helped her second son to join his brother In ruling to get Asia Minor, this is what was known as the War of the Two Brothers.
That is why Al-Hur in Third Syria ended with a peace contract, according to Ptolemy the Third's retention of the interior of Syria and some areas of the coast of Asia Minor in 241 BC.
Corinh
Ptolemy III was able to annex Corinh to his kingdom of Egypt after his marriage to his cousin (Magas Bernicke II) according to the sermon and agreement in 250 BC, and all this despite her mother's attempt (Abama II) not to complete this marriage, as she wanted after the death of (Magas) to dissolve The engagement and if her daughter marries to (Demetrius) the handsome, half-brother of the King of Macedonia (Antigonus Jonatas), but when he came to Corinna to complete the marriage, the Queen Mother fell in love with him and wanted him to herself, so when Abama learned of this, she ordered Bernicke to kill Demetrius in her mother's bed and then returned to Egypt She completed her marriage to Ptolemy the Third and became Queen of Egypt and Cornea.
Country Greece
Ptolemy III did not have much influence in Greece during his reign, as he wanted to stand on neutrality without entering into disputes, as he helped the King of Sparta (Cleometus) against (Antigonus Dosson III) the king of Macedonia in the Battle of Selasia in 222 BC, which ended in the defeat of the King of Sparta and his escape.
Important note
Egypt lived in stability and peace for 20 years under the rule of Ptolemy the Third and this was due to the preoccupation of his enemies with their struggle were the Seleucids and the war of the two brothers, as we mentioned before, and in the Macedonian Kingdom Antigonus Jonatas died and took the daughter of Antigonus Duson in 229-221 BC, who began to face conflicts between alliances Greek Achaean and Aetolian League.
Rome
During his reign, Rome was busy in its struggle in the west of the Mediterranean, which was known as the Punic wars with Carthage.
Ptolemy IV (222-205) BC
Huh, the son of Ptolemy the Third, from his second wife Bernice, and he had a sister called Arsinoe III, who was weak in character, and he assumed the throne at the age of 22A, 24 and held the title Philopator, which means loving to his son.
During his reign, Egypt began to lose its position gradually, as Ptolemy IV devoted himself to satisfying his desires and whims and left the minister (Sosibius) in managing the affairs of the kingdom. The sources mention that this minister made Ptolemy the Fourth commit atrocities and crimes that no one had committed before.
Ptolemy IV's foreign policy began with the Fourth Syrian War (221 -217) BC
At the time of Ptolemy IV's accession to the throne, he ascended to the throne of the Seleucid state (Antiochus III) 222-187 BC. Among the most important things mentioned about the Seleucid state is that 6 Seleucid rulers assumed power at the age of 18 years.
He seized the opportunity of the death of Ptolemy the Third and made several attempts to take over the interior of Syria once in 221 BC and again in 219 BC, for the first time it was a failure because the Ptolemaic leader Theodotus confronted him and the second time the Ptolemaic commander delivered it to him because of the ill-treatment of him by the minister (Susebius).
From there, the Syrian King Antiochus III continued his journey to Egypt, but the minister persuaded him to truce him for a period of 4 months so that the Ptolemaic king and the minister could prepare the war forces to fight him, so he used the Greek mercenary soldiers in addition to recruiting the Egyptians for the first time in Ptolemaic history, where about 20 thousand Egyptian fighters participated in the infantry division and worked On their training, he was procrastinating with the Seleucid king in supplying a truce, and when the Seleucid king Antiochus III despaired, he decided to attack Egypt in the year 217 BC.
And there, near Rafah, the battle took place, where Ptolemy IV led the left-wing, the minister of heart, and the Egyptian infantry.
As for Antiochus, he led the right-wing, where the attack began on the wing of the Egyptian king, who retreated behind and behind him the Seleucid king, but the infantry and the heart of the Egyptian forces fixed and flew over the Syrian forces.
This resulted in the Seleucid king’s request for reconciliation and recognition of the interior of Syria to the Ptolemaic king. After that, Ptolemy IV returned to a life of amusement and madness and neglected state affairs. Therefore, the external possessions of the Ptolemaic state weakened but rather said.
Rome
Rome was in her war with Hannibal, so he had a relationship with her assistant, and he was to provide her with aid through Egyptian wheat. Therefore, Egypt was known as a basket of grain, and Ptolemy IV died in 205 BC.