Ptolemy (name)

Ptolemy (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖος, Ptolemaios) is a male given name, derived from Ancient Greek and meaning 'warlike'. It is formed from the Epic Greek πτόλεμος ptolemos meaning 'war'. The name was used throughout the Greek world, but was particularly popular in ancient Macedon and its nobility. During the Hellenistic period, Ptolemy I Soter, a general of Alexander the Great, founded the Ptolemaic dynasty which ruled their Kingdom in Ancient Egypt. All male rulers of the dynasty bore the name 'Ptolemy', the last being Ptolemy XII Auletes, father of Cleopatra. Common variants include Ptolemaeus (Latin), Tolomeo (Italian) and Talmai (Hebrew).

Etymology

Ptolemy is the English form of the Ancient Greek name Πτολεμαῖος (Ptolemaios), a derivative of πτόλεμος, an Epic form of πόλεμος 'war' and the suffix -αῖος -aios meaning 'pertaining' or 'belonging to'. A nephew of Antigonus I Monophthalmus was called Polemaeus, the normal form of the adjective. Ptolemaios is first attested in Homer's Iliad and is the name of an Achaean warrior, son of Piraeus, father of Eurymedon.

The name Ptolemaios varied over the years from its roots in ancient Greece, appearing in different languages in various forms and spellings:

• Latin: Ptolemaeus
• German: Ptolemäus, Ptolemaios
• Italian: Tolomeo
• English: Ptolemy
• Ancient Egyptian: ptwꜣrwmys
• Coptic: ⲡⲧⲟⲗⲉⲙⲁⲓⲟⲥ Ptolemaios
• Phoenician: 𐤐𐤕𐤋𐤌𐤉𐤎 (ptlmys) or 𐤐𐤕𐤋𐤌𐤉𐤔 (ptlmyš)
• Hebrew and Aramaic: תלמי (tlmy) Talmay
• Middle Persian 𐭯𐭲𐭫𐭬𐭥𐭱 (ptlmywš) Patlamyōš
• Persian: بَطلَمیوس، پتُلِمَیوس Baṭlamīūs/ Ptolemaios
• Arabic: بَطُلِيمُوس Baṭulīmūs

The name Ptolemy spread from its Greek origins to enter other languages in Western Asia during the Hellenisation that followed the conquest of the known world by Alexander the Great.

The Aramaic name "Bar-Talmai", "son of Talmai" (Greek Bartolomaios and English Bartholomew) may be related.

Ptolemais is formed from this name by the Greek feminine adjectival ending -i(d)s.

Claudius Ptolemaeus

Ptolemy commonly refers to Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca. 90 AD–ca. 168 AD), a writer, geographer, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer who lived in the Alexandrine Greek culture of Roman Egypt.

Ptolemaic dynasty

Ptolemy also refers to any of 16 pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty who ruled Hellenistic Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC. The Greco-Egyptian pharaonic dynasty of Macedonian origin was established by Ptolemy I Soter (303–282 BC), and the male dynastic successors were all also named Ptolemy, as were several other members of the dynasty.

Early Greek rulers and generals named Ptolemy

• Ptolemy (King of Thebes) (12th century BC) – mythical ruler of the ancient Greek city of Thebes
• Ptolemy of Aloros (ruled 368 to 365 BC) – Regent of Macedon
• Ptolemy (somatophylax) (died 334 BC) – Macedonian bodyguard and general of Alexander the Great
• Ptolemy (son of Seleucus) (died 333 BC) – Macedonian bodyguard and general of Alexander the Great
• Ptolemy (son of Philip) (4th century BC) – Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great
• Ptolemy (general) or Polemaios (died 309 BC) – Macedonian general and nephew of Antigonus I Monophthalmus
• Ptolemy (son of Pyrrhus) (295–272 BC) – a son of king Pyrrhus of Epirus
• Ptolemy of Epirus – King of the Greek frontier kingdom of Epirus c. 237 BC – 234 ВС

Other people named Ptolemy or Ptolemaeus

Born before 20th century

• Ptolemy Macron (fl. 2nd century BC), governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.
• Ptolemaeus of Commagene (201 BC - 130 BC), satrap and then first King of Commagene
• Ptolemy (son of Abubus), governor of Jericho (ca. 130 BC) in the First Book of the Maccabees; instigated the death of Simon Maccabees; and for whom Dante named the section of Hell reserved for traitors to guests ('Ptolemaea')
• Ptolemy (son of Mennaeus) (rule ended ca. 40 BC), governor of biblical Abilene, a district of the disputed region of Coele-Syria
• Ptolemy of Mauretania (d.40 AD)
• Ptolemaeus Chennus (2nd century AD), a grammarian who lived in the Alexandrine Greek culture of Roman Egypt
• Ptolemaeus and Lucius (d. c. 165 AD), Christian martyrs
• Ptolemy (gnostic) (c. 180 AD), a religious philosopher who was active in Roman Italy and Gaul
• Ptolemy-el-Garib (fl. c. 300 AD), a Peripatetic pinacographer whose Life of Aristotle
• Ptolemaeus Secundus ('Second Ptolemy'), a nickname for the Arab polymath Ibn al-Haytham (c. 965 – c. 1040)
• Ptolemy I of Tusculum (d.1126), a count of Tusculum who asserted his family's descent from the Roman Julii
• Ptolemy II of Tusculum (d.1153), a count of Tusculum who married Bertha, daughter of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
• Ptolemaios Sarigiannis (1882–1958), a Greek Army officer

Born in 20th century or later

• Ptolemy Tompkins (born 1962) – American author
• Ptolemy Dean (born 1968) – British architect, author, and TV presenter
• Ptolemy Slocum (born 1975) – American actor
• Barry Ptolemy (born 1969) – American film director and producer

People named Tolomeo or Tolomei

• Tolomeo da Lucca or Bartholomew of Lucca (Bartolomeo Fiadoni c. 1236 – c. 1327), a medieval Italian historian
• Bernard Tolomeo (1272–1348), founder of the Olivetan Roman
• Tolomeo Gallio (1527–1607), an Italian cardinal
• Tolomeo Faccendi (1905–1970), an Italian sculptor
• Tolomeo Mwansa (1941-2014), a Zambian football goalkeeper
• Giovanni Battista Tolomei (1653–1726), Italian Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal

Places

• Mount Ptolemy (Antarctica)
• Mount Ptolemy (Canada)

Uses in arts and entertainment

• The Ptolemy (1934) is a large reed organ built by the American composer Harry Partch, named in tribute to Claudius Ptolemaeus
• Tolomeo is an opera by Handel composed in 1728, a fictionalisation of some events in the life of Ptolemy IX Lathyros, king of Egypt
• Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise is a character in The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter
• Ptolemaios and Ptolemaios 2 are fictional spacecraft in the anime television series Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and film Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer
• Ptolemy's Gate, published 2005, is the third book in The Bartimaeus Trilogy, a fantasy series by the English author Jonathan Stroud. The series includes a character called Ptolemy, from 2nd century BC Ptolemaic Egypt, who is nephew to Ptolemy VIII and cousin to Ptolemy IX
• Ptolemaic Terrascope is a magazine founded in 1989. The name was inspired by "Ptolemy the turtle, who lives at Terrascope Towers". Various artworks and logos feature an astronomer peering through a 'terrascope', so Ptolemaic may here refer to Claudius Ptolemaeus
• The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey is a novel by Walter Mosley, later adapted into a miniseries of the same name, whose titular character is a lonely 93-year-old man with dementia.
• Ptolemy, a track by Aphex Twin from the 1992 album Selected Ambient Works 85–92
• Ptolemaea, a song by Ethel Cain from her debut album Preacher's Daughter

See also

• Ptolemy (disambiguation)
• Ptolemaeus (disambiguation)
• Tolomeo (disambiguation)

Footnotes