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Nevertheless, the victory that the Egyptians have accomplished in the battlefield inspired feelings of patriotic dignity in them and gave them confidence in themselves, specially when we know that all the power and control had been in the hands of foreigners and that the Egyptians had no say or control. They were hard workers working hard in order for the fruits of their hard labor to be reaped by foreigners who have proved to be cowards in the battlefield. Due to all this, Egyptians started rebelling against the Ptolemaic rule and declaring their disobedience. This first started at the Delta were there were still some decedents of past pharaohs whom circumstances have forced to stay in the shades. Those are the ones that led the disobedience and established a government for themselves in the heart of the Delta. The war of rebellion continued between the Egyptians and the Ptolemies with unfading flames. The rebellion then spread to Upper Egypt. We will see later on how the Egyptians have made kings for themselves who were Egyptians and how they held titles of kings and wore the clothes of pharaohs. During that time, Ptolemy IV and his close circle were powerless before such rebellion. Nevertheless, he did not cease to indulge in his sensual pleasures in an unprecedented manner as we have mentioned earlier. He continued wasting himself on such forbidden sensual pleasures until his death in the arms of his concubines. What made matters worse was that his wife Arsinoe III who lived all her life distanced from him and from the throne was assassinated as a result of conspiracy by Agathoclea the first concubine of the king. Her assassination left bitterness and sorrow in the hearts of the people of Alexandria whom avenged her death as we shall see later on.

In any case, Ptolemy IV died leaving the throne to his young child whom Arsinoe had gave birth to not long before her death.

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Indeed, it appears that peace negotiations between the two parties had failed because Egypt had rejected all the demands of Antiochus and hence he kept preparing for invading Egypt which in turn secretly prepared for fighting its enemy. Egypt was training an Egyptian army in Alexandria at that time.

Antiochus actually did go forward with his troops till the Egyptian border camping near Rafah where the Egyptian army was on high alert ready to fight a decisive battle. it was of good fortune for Ptolemy IV that his minister had made soldiers of a group of brave Egyptians training them on the best systems available to fight in this war. He did so after realizing that the mercenary soldiers cannot be depended upon in a war such as this one. He did so while it had been forbidden that Egyptian soldiers be joining the army because the Polemics did not trust them nor did the Egyptians trust them. Despite of that, they were recruited and trained out of necessity in order to defend their homeland regardless of any concerns. The Egyptian soldiers showed great bravery and courage in the battlefield during the battle of Rafah which took place between the two parties bringing victory to the Polemic army in 217 BC. This decisive battle resulted in the recapture of Ptolemy IV for Empty Syria and other lands on the Syrian shores. After his victory, Ptolemy occupied Syria itself and was welcomed by its people. He then returned back to Egypt brining back with him all the statues of gods which the enemies had put their hand on in the past during their wars, by this he pleased the group of clergy.

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Unfortunately, the king that came after Ptolemy III was not capable of taking charge of this great empire that was at the top of its power and welfare. Ptolemy IV (221 - 205 BC) who became king after his father Ptolemy III was from the beginning of his rule a weak king. He was a clear example in leading a corrupt lifestyle full of unethical behavior. At the first years of his rule, the bad circle of people around him were those who encouraged him on such corrupt lifestyle. By doing so, they managed to get him on their side and dominate him and they led him and the country into chaos at the end. The first of his ill deeds was came as his minister Sosibius advised him to kill his uncle, his brother and his mother. He also advised him to kill king of Asberta whom his father had let stay in Alexandria together with his mercenary soldiers. What made matters worse was that Agathocles, his minister and adviser, and his sister Agathoclea, his concubine, led by their mother have taken charge of the country. Corruption started spreading in all sectors of the country till its neighbours wanted to take its territories specially Antiochus III king of Syria and Babylon. He laid his hands on Egypt's territory in Syria then marched with his army till he reached the gates of the Egyptian border and was about to conquer it as well but the Egyptians defended it and it ended up by signing a truce in preparation for a full peace treaty. Yet Egypt did not agree on the terms of the peace treaty and prepared for war once again in order to regain Empty Syria which had been a constant cause of fight between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids since the start of the Ptolemaic rule.

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Last, but not least, on the walls of the Edfu temple were engraved details of great feasts celebrated yearly namely: the feast of crowning the holy eagle; the feast of victory and finally the feast of marriage which is the feast of the marriage of the god Horus, god of Edfu, with the goddess Hathor, goddess of the Dendera temple. These feasts were celebrated yearly. It is astonishing that the public did not participate in such prayers and feasts which were done exclusively by a special type of clergy.

Activity of Ptolemy III extended to the Fayoum area where he reclaimed its land and introduced new crops for cultivation. He also made it home for the mercenary soldiers who had fought with him in Asia. He established a new system on the lands of Fayoum by giving each soldier a piece of land to own himself and for his children after him as long as they worked in the army. By doing so, he guaranteed their remaining in Egypt under his command in case any war takes place. At that period of time, Greeks and Macedonians started marring from among the Egyptian women but on a limited scale. Their siblings sometimes had both Egyptian and Greek names at the same time.

In any case, the period of reign of Ptolemy III is considered to be the best period in the history of Ptolemaic rule in general, specially when we know that his empire had expanded deep into Asia and the Greek islands. He also became powerful and feared among the Hellenic kingdoms present at his time. The reason behind this was that the Ptolemaic kings in general preferred peace over war in many occasions.

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Ptolemy III then made internal reforms that established his name eternally in international history. He was in complete agreement with the clergy regarding such reforms, specially in the case of the calender year. Credit goes to the Ancient Egyptian clergy for correcting the calendar year making it 365 1/4 days instead of 365 days which is the calendar that Julius Caesar followed later on.

What was dearest to Ptolemy III's heart was establishing large Egyptian temples in order to please the clergy and the Egyptian people and attract them to his side. No wonder we find him starting to establish a temple for the god Horus in Edfu. This temple is considered among the most pleasant, glamorous and largest Egyptian temples. Fortunately, it has survived till this day and kept its glamour. The engravings and images in this temple still provide us with a window into Ancient Egypt enabling us to uncover many of the Ancient Egyptian worship practices that date deep back into history. In fact, all credit goes to such engravings for getting to know each and every part of the temple and the nature of each part of its rooms in an unambiguous and completely clear manner. More importantly, egyptologists were able to know the types of worship and daily prayers that used to take place in this temple after deciphering all symbols engraved on its walls. Of special note are the three daily prayers that used to take place at the temple as well as the procedures followed for such prayers. The three prayers were: the morning prayer; the afternoon prayer and the sunset prayer.