PTOLEMY IV  . Philopator (reigned 221-204), son of the pre-ceding, was a wretched debauchee under whom the decline of the Ptolemaic kingdom began . His reign was inaugurated by the murder of his mother, and he was always under the dominion of favourites, male and female, who indulged his vices and con-ducted the government as they pleased . Self-interest led his ministers to make serious preparations to meet the attacks of Antiochus III . (the Great) on Palestine, and the great Egyptian victory of Raphia (217), at which Ptolemy himself was present, secured the province till the next reign . The arming of Egyptians in this campaign had a disturbing effect upon the native population of Egypt, so that rebellions were continuous for the next thirty years . Philopator was devoted to orgiastic forms of religion and literary dilettantism . He built a temple to Homer and composed a tragedy, to which his vile favourite Agathocles added a commentary . He married (about 215) his sister Arsinoe (III.), but continued.to be ruled by his mistress Agathoclea, sister of Agathocles .