Letters from Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra II, and Cleopatra III Concerning the Gymnasium of Omboi

Abstract

In 135 BC, the gymnasium of Omboi (Upper Egypt) issued a decree immortalising on stone the correspondence concerning some philanthropa bestowed by Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra II, and Cleopatra III. Only a few years later, the dossier was defaced and the royal names were erased (damnatio memoriae) except for that of Cleopatra II. The inscription has thus been interpreted as an epigraphic evidence of the civil war between Ptolemy VIII, flanked by Cleopatra III, and Cleopatra II. In spite of its poor state of preservation, the Omboi dossier allows some useful considerations on its vicissitudes, along with some further restorations.