The native Egyptians, sensing their power, rise against their Hellenistic rulers in a rebellion that Polybius describes as guerrilla warfare.

Court intrigue obscures the events surrounding the death of Ptolemy IV Philopator and the succession of the youthful Epiphanes (205-180 BCE).

According to Polybius, all prominent officials are banished from Egypt while Sosibius' clique announces the young king's accession and the death of his parents.

The rulers of Macedon and of the Syrian-based Seleucid kingdom, however, realizing Egypt's weakness, conspire to partition that Kingdom's Asiatic and Aegean possessions.