Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos Theos Philopator Theos Philadelphos (
117 BCE -
51 BCE) was son of
Ptolemy IX[?] Soter II. His mother is unknown. He was king of
Egypt from
80 BCE until his death. He followed
Ptolemy XI[?] Alexandros II who had been killed by an angry crowd, after having killed his popular coregent
Cleopatra V of Egypt[?] Berenice III, who was incidentally also a daughter of Ptolemy IX Soter II. At first, he was coregent with
Cleopatra VI[?] Tryphania, but she mysteriously disappears from the records in
69 BCE. His personal cult name (Neos Dionysos) earned him the ridiculing sobriquet
Auletes (flute player) - which he was by the way, as we learn from
Strabos writing (Strab. XVII, 1, 11). During his reign he tried to secure his own fate and the fate of his dynasty by means of a pro Roman policy. At the height of his success in 59, after paying substantial bribes to
Ceasar and
Pompey, a formal alliance was formed (
foedera) and his name was inscribed into the list of friends and allies of the people of Rome (
amici et socii populi Romani). However in 58 after he failed to comment on the Roman conquest of
Cyprus, a territory ruled by his brother, he was forced to flee to Rome. His daughter
Berenice IV[?] became his successor. From Rome he prosecuted his restitution. He was finally brought back into office with help of the Romans in 55. From then on he reigned until he fell ill in 51. Soon before his death he chose his daughter
Cleopatra VII as his coregent. In his will he declared that she and her brother
Ptolemy XIII should rule the kingdom together. To safeguard his interests, he made the people of Rome executors of his will.