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21-05-2015, 14:09

Ptolemy Soter

Military leader and king of Egypt (r. 305-285 b, c.e,)

Born: 367 or 366 b. c.e.; The canton of Eordaea, Macedonia (now in Greece)

Died: 283 or 282 b. c.e.; Alexandria, Egypt

Also known as: Ptolemy I

Category: Military; government and politics

Life The origins of Ptolemy Soter (TOL-uh-mee SOH-tuhr) are obscure. In order to enhance Ptolemy’s legitimacy among the Macedonians whom he later ruled in Egypt, rumor maintained that his father, Lagus, was an illegitimate son of Philip II of Macedonia (382-336 b. c.e.) and thus that he was the half brother of Alexander the Great (356-323 b. c.e.). Ptolemy’s mother, Arsinoe, may have been distantly related to the Argead house, the royal line of Macedonian kings. Ptolemy was born in Eordaea, a region in western Macedonia firmly brought within the political orbit of the Argead royal house only during Philip’s reign.

Ptolemy probably came to live at the Argead court in the 350’s b. c.e. By the 330’s b. c.e. Philip seemed to have appointed him as a counselor to Alexander. Ptolemy is first mentioned in ancient sources with respect to the so-called Pixodarus affair. In 337 b. c.e., Philip made diplomatic contact with the satrap of Caria, Pixodarus, to whose daughter he betrothed his mentally handicapped son, Philip III. Alexander, alienated from his father and in self-imposed exile, was afraid that Philip’s plan would jeopardize his status as heir to the throne and offered himselfto Pixodarus instead. An angry Philip broke off diplomatic contact with Pixodarus and drove out of Macedonia those who had failed him, including Ptolemy. Philip was assassinated in 336 b. c.e. When Alexander became king, he brought home those who had suffered exile.

Although Ptolemy accompanied Alexander into Asia, he did so initially in a minor capacity. Ptolemy’s first command came in 330 b. c.e., when he led one of several units at the battle that gave the Macedonians access to Persia proper. Ptolemy became a figure of the first rank shortly afterward when he became one of Alexander’s seven eminent bodyguards. Ptolemy further distinguished himself in 329 b. c.e., when he personally captured Bessus, Alexander’s last rival for the Persian throne. Having attained Alexander’s confidence, Ptolemy alternated his service at the side of the king with independent assignments. In 328 he commanded one of five columns as Alexander drove into Sogdiana, in 327 he was instrumental in the capture of the fortress of Chorienes, and, while the Macedonians campaigned along the Indus River (327-325 b. c.e.), Ptolemy often led both Macedonian and mercenary troops. Alexander’s return to Susa in 324 brought Ptolemy military honors, his first wife (the Persian Artacama), and additional commands in coordination with Alexander.

The death of Alexander at Babylon in 323 b. c.e. precipitated a constitutional crisis, since the only male Argead living was the mentally deficient Arrhidaeus. Perdiccas (365-321 b. c.e.), the officer to whom the dying Al-

Ptolemy Soter. (Library of Congress)

Exander had given his signet ring, dominated the discussions concerning succession and advised the Macedonians to accept an interregnum until Alexander’s pregnant Roxana gave birth. The throne went to Arrhidaeus, who was given the name Philip III (r. 323-317 b. c.e.). Roxana gave birth to a son, Alexander IV (r. 323-311 b. c.e.), and a dual monarchy was established. Since neither king was competent, both were put under the protection of Perdiccas. There followed a general distribution of satrapies in which Ptolemy received Egypt.

Once in Egypt, Ptolemy asserted control over the satrapy and extended his authority to incorporate the region around Cyrene. He then challenged the authority of Perdiccas. His first open act of defiance concerned the body of Alexander the Great. When Alexander’s funeral procession reached Syria, Ptolemy diverted the remains to Memphis, where they were enshrined until the late 280’s b. c.e., when they were transferred to a complex in Alexandria. Perdiccas saw the appropriation of Alexander’s corpse as a rejection of his own authority and in 321 b. c.e. led an expedition to Egypt against Ptolemy.

By this time, others had begun to question the ambitions of Perdiccas, and a coalition including especially Ptolemy, Antipater (397-319 b. c.e.), and Antigonus (382-301 b. c.e.) formed to strip Perdiccas of his office. In the resulting war, Perdiccas failed to force his way into Egypt and was assassinated by his own men. Ptolemy successfully appealed to the Macedonians of Perdiccas’s army and persuaded many to settle in Egypt. Ptolemy refused the option of replacing Perdiccas as the guardian of the kings, preferring to stay in Egypt. A redistribution of satrapies occurred. Ptolemy again received Egypt, while Antipater returned to Macedonia with the kings and Antigonus waged war against Eumenes, Perdiccas’s ally. Ptolemy took Antipater’s daughter, Eurydice, as a second wife. A third, Berenice I, was culled from Eurydice’s retinue.

The death of Antipater in 319 b. c.e. initiated a new era. The royal family split behind the claims of the two kings, and a civil war erupted. Eventually, both kings were murdered: Philip III by Olympias in 317, and Alexander IV by Antipater’s son Cassander (c. 358-297 b. c.e.) in 311. Through inscriptions and coins, it is known that Ptolemy remained loyal to the kings of the Argead house. Nevertheless, Ptolemy continued to secure Egypt at the expense of rivals. In particular, he seized the coast of Palestine in order to safeguard the only viable access to Egypt by land.

Antigonus’s ultimate victory over Eumenes in 316 b. c.e. destabilized the balance of power that had been established among the Macedonian officers. High-handed actions, such as Antigonus’s expulsion of Seleucus I Nicator (358/354-281 b. c.e.) from his Babylonian satrapy, created a fear of a second Perdiccas. An alliance consisting of Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysi-machus (c. 360-281 b. c.e.), and Seleucus demanded that Antigonus surrender his authority. When Antigonus refused, war erupted anew. Ptolemy saw action in Palestine, where he defeated Antigonus’s son Demetrius (336-283 b. c.e.) at a battle near Gaza in 312, and amid the confusion built the beginnings of a maritime empire in the eastern Mediterranean.

Although Ptolemy’s influence expanded, setbacks occurred. For example, in 306 b. c.e., Demetrius defeated the Ptolemaic navy off the island of Cyprus, and both he and his father subsequently claimed the title of “king.” Once they claimed the royal mantle from the defunct Argead house, others followed suit, including Ptolemy in 305. After Antigonus was killed at the Battle of Ipsus in 301, Ptolemy reestablished influence abroad, retaking Cyprus and actively engaging in Aegean affairs. His occupation of Palestine, however, precipitated a series of wars with the Seleucids in the third century. These civil wars established a rough, ever shifting balance among the emerging powers of Macedonia, Egypt, and Seleucid Asia.

Egypt also claimed Ptolemy’s attention. He inherited an efficient bureaucratic apparatus of great antiquity, capable of funneling great wealth to his coffers. Nevertheless, Ptolemy could not afford to rely on the loyalty of native Egyptians. Rather, he grafted a new Greco-Macedonian aristocracy onto the existing political structure. Recruitment was a major concern, and Ptolemy made every effort to attract Greek mercenaries, military colonists, and professionals accomplished in administration. The wealth of Egypt made possible these initiatives, and each recruit was guaranteed a respectable status as long as Ptolemy remained secure.

In part to unify these enlistees of varied background, Ptolemy combined elements of the Egyptian worship of Osiris and Apis to manufacture the cult of a new deity: Serapis. Traditionally, religion helped to define the parameters of Greek political communities, and the invented Serapis successfully drew Ptolemy’s immigrants together. In addition, in an age of emerging ruler cults, Ptolemy posthumously was worshiped as a god (indeed, to the Egyptians, who worshiped him as pharaoh, he was naturally considered divine), receiving the epithet “Soter” (savior) from the Rhodians for his naval protection.

Under Ptolemy, Alexandria became the foremost city of the Hellenistic world. Planned on a grand scale, it held architectural wonders and became the greatest literary and intellectual center of the age, with its focus being the great museum and library complex. In 288 b. c.e., after decades of molding Egypt to his liking, Ptolemy shared royal authority with a son by Berenice, Ptolemy II, better known as Ptolemy Philadelphus. Ptolemy Soter died in 283 or 282 b. c.e. at the age of eighty-four.

Influence Ptolemy Soter was the one great link between Greece’s Classical and Hellenistic Ages. He was instrumental in combining Hellenistic traditions with those of the Orient—a mixture that was a hallmark of the Hellenistic period. Ptolemy understood how long-term stability depended on the careful selection of a defendable base coupled with a steady consolidation of resources, and he alone of the officers who received assignments in Babylon in 323 b. c.e. passed his legacy on to his descendants. Because of his patronage, which brought so many fertile minds to Alexandria, he also was able to shape the cultural experience that would dominate the civilized Western world for hundreds of years.

Ptolemy was also a historian who wrote an account of Alexander’s conquests based not only on his own observations but also on important written sources (including Alexander’s daily journal). Although Ptolemy’s account was slanted in his own favor, no other eyewitness account of the Macedonian conquest can claim greater objectivity. No longer extant, Ptolemy’s work was one of the principal sources used in the second century c. e. by Arrian, whose history is the best extant account of Alexander’s life.

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