PTOLEMY III., surnamed E LIERGETES, succeeded his father Philadelphus, and reigned from 247 to 222 B.C. He made war on the kingdom of Syria, to avenge the death of his sister Berenice, who had been murdered at the instigation of Laodice, for mer wife of Antiochus. lie overran all the provinces as far s. as Babylon and Susa; those on the u. and e. as far as Bactria and India offered him homage; and he might have extended the bounds of his empire much further, had not domestic troubles com pelled him to hasten back to Egypt. The treasures he brought with him were immense; and among the things most highly prized were the statues of the Egyptian gods which Cambyses had =lied off to Babylon in 525 B. C. It was the restoration of these to their proper temples which gained for Ptolemy III. the title of Euergetes (the benefactor). His fleets gained many possessions on the coast of the Mediterranean, such as Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Ionia, which remained for a long time subject to Egypt, though the eastern provinces recently conquered soon returned to their former sovereign. He pushed the
limits of the home-empire further s., by conquering part of Ethiopia, where he formed a colony and center of trade at Adule. Ptplemy III., like his predecessors, patronized learned men, and encouraged the study of the arts and sciences. He added so largely to the library of Alexandria that he has by some been called its founder. Among the cele brated men who adorned his court. and kept up the fame of the " museum." were Apol lonius Rhodius, Eratosthenes, and Aristophanes, the grammarian. In his reign, the Egyp tian kingdom reached the highest point of military glory, prosperity, and wealth.