Ptolemy IX, Soter II, called Lathyros, was coregent with Cleopatra III. Cleopatra III was the niece of Physcon (Ptolemy VIII) and was married to him while her mother, CLeopatra II, was his official wife. She bore Physcon two sons, Philometor Soter II (Ptolemy IX) and Ptolemy X Alexander I as well as three daughters, CLeopatra IV, Cleopatra Tryphaena, and Cleopatra Selene. Physcon left the ruling of Egypt to Cleopatra III and whichever of her sons she chose.

Since she hated her first son, Ptolemy IX Lathyros and doted on her second son, Ptolemy X, she was quite put out when the Alexandrians demanded that he be brought back as co-regent. At the time, he was the governor of Cyprus. He was brought back and installed as pharaoh and Ptolemy X Alexander I was sent to Cyprus.

He was married to Cleopatra IV, his sister, but his (obviously meddling) mother pushed her out and had her replaced with her younger sister, Cleopatra Selene. Understandably upset and losing her position, Cleopatra IV ran off to Cypress, raising an army, and attempted to marry his brother, Ptolemy X Alexander. Alexander wouldn't have her, so she went to Syria -- where Antiochus IX Cyzenus accepted her large army as a dowry and married her.

Eventually, Cleopatra succeeded in deposing her older son by accusing him of trying to murder her -- a sitting queen. He left behind his wife and sons, and his brother returned from Cyprus and assumed the throne.

But it doesn't end there -- when Alexander died in a naval battle, Lathyros was called back to try to regain the power of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He was in his mid-fifties by now, and ruled for only a few years before his death at age 62. Both os his sons died when they were young, but his daughter, Cleopatra Berenice, ruled for a time after his death.

pharaohs

Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy III Euergeter
Ptolemy IV Philopater
Ptolemy V Epiphanes
Cleopatra I
Ptolemy Eupator
Ptolemy VI Philometor
Cleopatra II
Ptolemy VII Neos Philpator
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II
Cleopatra III & Ptolemy IX Soter II
Cleopatra III & Ptolemy X Alexander
Cleopatra Berenice
Ptolemy XI Alexander
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos
Berenice IV
Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XIII
Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XIV
Ptolemy XV Cesarion

monuments

Temple of Horus, Edfu