This article seeks to explore the roles assigned to the phrourarchoi and the military units known as phrourarchiai in Ptolemaic Egypt, based on the archive of the phrourarchos Dioskourides (154-145 B.C.) as a primary source. Despite the military role of the phrourarchiai, the archive documents reveal that the phrourarchoi also had civil functions alongside their military responsibilities.
The article also aims to answer the following questions: Why were these military units established? When were the phrourarchiai established in Heracleopolis and why? What were the ethnicities that formed the principal components of these military units?
The article reveals the role of external threats - primarily represented by Ptolemaic-Selucid hostility - as well as internal threats - represented by Egyptian rebellions following the victory at the Battle of Rafia - in the establishment of phrourarchiai by the Ptolemaic kings in strategically significant locations within their kingdom, including the region of Heracleopolis. The article further discloses that Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians served as soldiers in these phrourarchiai, based on both direct and indirect evidence.The primary objective of the present paper is to comprehend the role and responsibilities of the phrourarchos and the position of the phrourarchia in the military structure of the Ptolemies, based on the documentation of Dioskourides, the phrourarchos