military leader
son of Pyrrus I and prince of Epirus
Not who you're looking for? Others named Ptolemy: 2nd-century Roman mathematician, astronomer, geographer · 4th-century BC Macedonian military general · male given name · 2nd century Christian gnostic
Ptolemy was the oldest son of king Pyrrhus of Epirus and his first wife Antigone, who probably died in childbirth. He was named in honour of his mother's stepfather, king Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt, who was a benefactor to Pyrrhus in his youth.
“I know that I am mortal by nature and ephemeral, but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies, I no longer touch earth with my feet. I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia.”
“We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible.”
“πᾶν μὲν τὸ δυσέφικτον παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς εὐδιάβλητον ἔχει φύσιν”
“The length of lifetakes the leading place among inquiries about events following birth.”
“As material fortune is associated with the properties of the body, so honor belongs to those of the soul.”
“There are three classes of friendship and enmity, since men are so disposed to one another either by preference or by need or through pleasure and pain.”
Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.
In the Arcade
Studio characters
On-theme arcade editions starring the Ptolemy parody.
Ptolemy (295–272 BC) was the oldest son of king Pyrrhus of Epirus and his first wife Antigone, who probably died in childbirth. He was named in honour of his mother's stepfather, king Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt, who was a benefactor to Pyrrhus in his youth.
When Pyrrhus returned from Italy in 274 BC Ptolemy captured the island of Corcyra for his father in an audacious attack with only 60 men. He also distinguished himself in a naval battle, and during the following invasion of Macedonia he dislodged king Antigonus II Gonatas from Thessalonike.
In 272 BC Ptolemy accompanied his father on a military campaign in the Peloponnese, where he commanded his personal guard. During the retreat from Sparta he was attacked by a Lacedaemonian force under Eualcus and slain by the Cretan Oroissus of Aptera. His father avenged his death killing Eualcus, but fell a few days later in the streets of Argos.
Ptolemy had an older sister called Olympias and two younger half-brothers, Alexander and Helenus.