Bending the Arc: A Glance at the Historiography Surrounding Ptolemaios XII Neos Dionysos

Although he was certainly not a figure on the level of Ptolemaios I Sōtēr, visionary founder of the Dynasty, nor on that of Ptolemaios III Euergetēs I, arguably the Dynasty’s most genuinely successful expansionist, the reign of Ptolemaios XII Neos Dionysos —nevertheless— deserves a far more thoughtful assessment than it has generally received over the course of prior centuries, particularly given the quite perilous circumstances under which he ruled Egypt between 80-51 BC. Unrelenting Roman pressures, political, military and finan­cial, were consistently brought to bear upon his kingdom, upon his family, and almost certainly, upon his own royal person. Naturally, this wide range of foreign pressures was to be responsible for shaping the con­duct and tenor of his reign, but he nevertheless consistently maintained his desire to ensure the perpetuation of his Dynasty’s continued sovereignty over the Ptolemaic State. The aim of this paper is to briefly consider the evolution of the historical reputation of Ptolemaios XII among writers and scholars, beginning from the period of his own lifetime, down to the early 21st Century; and to further highlight this evolution following the publication of the pivotal work of Auguste Bouché–Leclercq on Ptolemaic royal history at the start of the 20th Century.