# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/ptolemy-viii-physcon
# Generated: 2026-09-01T02:21:40.472Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/ptolemy-viii-physcon"
name: "Ptolemy VIII Physcon"
slug: "ptolemy-viii-physcon"
description: "Ptolemy VIII got the nickname \"Physcon\" — \"Fatty\" — from subjects who loathed him. He spent decades clawing his way to Egypt's throne through sibling wars, forced marriages, and a civil war that split the kingdom, finally ruling by allying with native Egyptians against the Greek elite who despised him."
tagline: "An Egyptian king from the second century BC"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Silver_tetradrachm%2C_Ptolemy_VIII_Euergetes_II%2C_145-116_BC.jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Historical Figures"
  slug: "historical-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Historical Figure"
  slug: "historical-figure"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2798645"
birthDate: "-182"
deathDate: "-116"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           53.24
  momentum:             0
  historical:           22.006496
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_VIII_Physcon"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3350"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Ptolemy%20VIII%20Physcon"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B9_VIII_%D0%AD%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%82"
    title: "Пталамей VIII Эвергет"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B9_VIII"
    title: "Птолемей VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemeu_VIII_Ev%C3%A8rgeta_II"
    title: "Ptolemeu VIII Evèrgeta II"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaios_VIII._Euerget%C3%A9s_II."
    title: "Ptolemaios VIII. Euergetés II."
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaios_VIII."
    title: "Ptolemaios VIII."
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B5%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%97%CE%84_%CE%A6%CF%8D%CF%83%CE%BA%CF%89%CE%BD"
    title: "Πτολεμαίος Η΄ Φύσκων"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolomeo_VIII"
    title: "Ptolomeo VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaios_VIII"
    title: "Ptolemaios VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaios_VIII"
    title: "Ptolemaios VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptol%C3%A9m%C3%A9e_VIII"
    title: "Ptolémée VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%99_%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99"
    title: "תלמי השמיני"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemej_VIII._Euerget"
    title: "Ptolemej VIII. Euerget"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIII._Ptolemaiosz"
    title: "VIII. Ptolemaiosz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaios_VIII_Physkon"
    title: "Ptolemaios VIII Physkon"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolomeo_VIII"
    title: "Tolomeo VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%97%E3%83%88%E3%83%AC%E3%83%9E%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B98%E4%B8%96"
    title: "プトレマイオス8世"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%9E%E1%83%A2%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9A%E1%83%94%E1%83%9B%E1%83%94_VIII"
    title: "პტოლემე VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%94%84%ED%86%A8%EB%A0%88%EB%A7%88%EC%9D%B4%EC%98%A4%EC%8A%A4_8%EC%84%B8_%EC%97%90%EC%9A%B0%EC%97%90%EB%A5%B4%EA%B2%8C%ED%85%8C%EC%8A%A4"
    title: "프톨레마이오스 8세 에우에르게테스"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaeus_VIII_(rex_Aegypti)"
    title: "Ptolemaeus VIII (rex Aegypti)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolem%C4%97jas_VIII_Euergetas_II"
    title: "Ptolemėjas VIII Euergetas II"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pt%C3%B4lemai%C3%B4sy_VIII"
    title: "Ptôlemaiôsy VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaeus_VIII_Euergetes_II"
    title: "Ptolemaeus VIII Euergetes II"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86"
    title: "بطليموس الثامن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86_(%D9%82%D8%A8%D9%84_145_%D9%82.%D9%85)"
    title: "بطليموس التامن (قبل 145 ق.م)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born around 184 BC, the younger son of Ptolemy V and Cleopatra I, he was made co-ruler with his older brother Ptolemy VI and sister Cleopatra II in 170 BC as war loomed. When Ptolemy VI was captured, Ptolemy VIII arguably became sole king, but the brothers kept fighting after the war ended in 168 BC. In 164 BC he drove his brother out entirely, only to be expelled himself the next year and given Cyrene as consolation by Rome. After Ptolemy VI died in 145 BC, he returned to Egypt, married his sister Cleopatra II, then added his niece Cleopatra III as co-regent and second wife — sparking a civil war from 132/1 to 127/6 BC in which Cleopatra II held Alexandria with Greek support while he commanded the rest of Egypt by promoting native Egyptians to power for the first time in Ptolemaic history. He won, ruled alongside both Cleopatras until his death in 116 BC, and was remembered by Greek writers as brutal, shrewd, and grotesquely fat.