Ptolemaic Dynasty

This dynasty in Egypt was made up of Ptolemy Soter and his descendants.

Date: 323-30 b. c.e.

Category: Cities and civilizations Locale: Egypt, Cyrenaica, and Palestine

Summary Following Alexander the Great’s death, his lieutenants divided his vast empire. Ptolemy I (called Ptolemy Soter), one of Alexander the Great’s ablest generals, chose Egypt as his share, becoming satrap in 323 b. c.e. and taking the title of king in 305 b. c.e. Ptolemy’s policies set precedents for his successors.

Ptolemy Soter created a large army and navy to maintain and expand his possessions. He granted land to Greek and Macedonian settlers willing to serve in his army and hired many mercenaries. By 321 b. c.e., Ptolemy dominated Cyprus and had turned Cyrenaic (modern Libya) into a protectorate. The Ptolemies fought five wars with the Seleucid Dynasty over possession of Palestine and Phoenicia before finally losing the territories in the second century b. c.e.

Having limited interest in Egyptian people or culture, Ptolemy Soter treated the inhabitants as inferior to Greeks and Macedonians. He supported Egyptian religion and rebuilt native temples in return for being recognized as pharaoh and worshiped as a god. He used a highly centralized bureaucracy to control all aspects ofthe country’s economic life, extracting enormous wealth from Egypt. Until Cleopatra VII, Egypt’s last monarch, no Ptolemaic (tah-leh-MAY-ihk) ruler bothered to learn the Egyptian language.

Ptolemy Soter esteemed Greek civilization and wanted his capital, Alexandria, to replace Athens as the dominant center of Hellenic culture. He established a great library and museum, assembling a huge collection of written works and attracting outstanding artists, poets, scholars, and scientists from the entire Greek world. During his reign, he began construction

Of the great Pharos lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Ptolemy Philadelphus (r. 288-246 b. c.e.), an even more voracious collector than his father; sought to obtain copies of every known work, expanding his father’s library to some half million papyrus rolls, many containing more than one book. By wedding his sister Arsinoe, he began the Ptolemaic practice of sister-brother marriage. Under Ptolemy Euergetes (r. 246-221 b. c.e.), the Ptolemaic Empire expanded to its maximum size, dominating many Aegean islands and coastal areas of Asia Minor.

The decline of Ptolemaic power began under Ptolemy Philopator (r. 221205 b. c.e.). To defeat the Seleucids at the Battle ofRaphia (217 b. c.e.), he enlisted Egyptians into his army. The resulting surge in Egyptian nationalism set off thirty years of native rebellions. In 164 b. c.e., the Syrian king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, defeated the Egyptian army and captured Ptolemy Philometor (r. 180-145 b. c.e.). Only the intervention of Rome forced Antiochus to withdraw; Rome then treated Egypt as a protectorate. After choosing to ally with what proved to be the losing side in the Roman civil wars, Cleopatra VII committed suicide in 30 b. c.e. Her death ended the Ptolemaic Dynasty and Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.

Significance The Ptolemiac Dynasty ruled Egypt for nearly three hundred years and established Alexandria as the major center of Greek culture.

Further Reading

Bowman, A. K. Egypt After the Pharaohs, 332 B. C.-A. D. 642: From Alexander to the Arab Conquest. Berkeley: University of California Press,

1986.

Chauveau, Michel. Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies. Translated from the French by David Lorton. Ithaca, NY.: Cornell University Press, 2000.

Ellis, Walter M. Ptolemy of Egypt. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Foss, Michael. The Search for Cleopatra. New York: Arcade, 1997. Hazzard, R. A. Imagination of a Monarchy: Studies in Ptolemaic Propaganda. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.

Holbl, Gunther. History of the Ptolemaic Empire. New York: Routledge,

2001.

Milton Berman

See also: Alexander the Great; Alexander the Great’s Empire; Cleopatra VII; Diadochi, Wars of the; Hellenistic Greece; Pharos of Alexandria; Ptolemaic Egypt; Ptolemy Soter; Seleucid Dynasty.