L’épithète de culte Philopator et les activités architecturales de Ptolémée IV

Succeeding his father on the throne of Egypt, Ptolemy IV takes the cultic epithet of “Philopator”. Even if he is included in the royal Alexandrian cult only from 216 on, the epithet ntr mrj jt=f appears in the singular form from the beginning of the reign on the walls of the Egyptian temples, in particular in Dakka and Deir el-Medina. After the king’s marriage to his sister Arsinoe III, the epithet turns into a duel form ntr.wj mrj.wj jt=w, thus taking up a fundamental idea of Ptolemaic royal ideology, namely the concept of royal couple. The same temples bear witness to this passage, but the epithet in dual form is used across Egypt. Edfu seems to be the only place where the form ntr.w mrj.w jt=w is used at the same time. A last form is revealed towards the end of the reign, the spelling of which imitates that of the epithets of his predecessors Philadelphus and Euergetes. This spelling will be taken up by the son Epiphanes, when, according to tradition, he inserts the epithet “heir to the theoi Philopatores” in his throne name.