The Wisdom of Sirach, a collection of…
131 BCE
The Wisdom of Sirach, a collection of ethical teachings, is thought to have been written by Jesus ben Sirach, a Jewish scribe who had been living in Jerusalem and may have authored the work in Alexandria, Egypt in about 180–175 BCE, where he is thought to have established a school.
The Greek translator of the work states in his preface that he is the grandson of the author, and that he had come to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of "Euergetes".
This epithet was borne by only two of the Ptolemies.
Of these, Ptolemy III Euergetes reigned only twenty-five years (247-222 BCE) and thus Ptolemy VIII Euergetes must be intended; he ascended the throne in the year 170 BCE, together with his brother Philometor, but he soon became sole ruler of Cyrene, and from 146 to 117 held sway over all Egypt.
He dated his reign from the year in which he received the crown (i.e., from 170).
The translator must therefore have gone to Egypt in 132 BCE.
Ptolemy VIII Eugertes, called Physcon, had seduced and married Cleopatra III, who is his wife's daughter, without divorcing Cleopatra II, who is infuriated, and by 132 BCE or 131 BCE, the people of Alexandria riot and set fire to the royal palace.
Physcon, Cleopatra III, and their children escape to Cyprus, while Cleopatra II has their twelve-year-old son Ptolemy Memphitis acclaimed as king.
Physcon is however able to get hold of the boy and kills him, sending the dismembered pieces to Cleopatra.
The ensuing civil war pits Cleopatra's Alexandria against the countryside, which supports Physcon.
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