Ptolemaic Kingdom: A Visual History

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded by Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander's generals, who took Egypt in 323 BC and became king in 305. Ruling from Alexandria, the dynasty built the Library and Museum, the Pharos lighthouse and a Greek-Egyptian state that was the richest of the Hellenistic kingdoms and at its peak controlled Cyrenaica, Cyprus, Palestine and the Aegean coasts. Sibling marriage, murders and revolts weakened it; Rome became its protector after 168 BC. Cleopatra VII's alliance with Antony ended with defeat at Actium and her suicide in 30 BC, when Egypt became a Roman province.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Ptolemaic Kingdom. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Ptolemaic territory

Timeline of the Ptolemaic Kingdom

1. 323 BC
   Ptolemy takes Egypt
2. 305 BC
   Ptolemy I proclaims himself king
3. 283 BC
   Ptolemy II PhiladelphusLibrary and Pharos.
4. 246 BC
   Ptolemy III's Syrian conquestsPeak extent.
5. 217 BC
   RaphiaAntiochus III defeated.
6. 196 BC
   Rosetta Stone decree
7. 168 BC
   Rome turns back Antiochus IV
8. 48 BC
   Caesar in Alexandria
9. 31 BC
   Actium
10. 30 BC
    Cleopatra dies; Egypt annexed

Ptolemy I and II

Ptolemy took Egypt in the division of Alexander's empire, hijacked Alexander's body to Memphis and later Alexandria, and made himself king in 305. He founded the Museum and Library. Ptolemy II Philadelphus married his sister Arsinoe II, sponsored the Septuagint translation, built the Pharos and a canal to the Red Sea, and held the Ptolemaic empire at its greatest extent, contesting Syria and the Aegean with the Seleucids and Antigonids.

A Greek-Egyptian state

The Ptolemies ruled as pharaohs to the Egyptians and as Greek kings to the Greeks, building temples at Edfu, Dendera and Philae while Alexandria became the greatest Greek city, home to Euclid, Eratosthenes and Archimedes' teachers. Native revolts from 205 BC broke away Upper Egypt for 20 years, and the Rosetta Stone (196 BC) records a settlement with the priests.

Rome and Cleopatra

Ptolemy VIII's dynastic wars, a Roman envoy's line in the sand that turned back Antiochus IV in 168, and later kings' bequests and bribes made Egypt a Roman client. Cleopatra VII (51-30 BC), the only Ptolemy to learn Egyptian, allied with Julius Caesar and then Mark Antony to preserve independence. Octavian defeated them at Actium in 31 BC; Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves in Alexandria and Egypt became the emperor's personal province.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Macedonian Empire (359 BC to 323 BC)
• Seleucid Empire (312 BC to 63 BC)
• Roman Empire (27 BC to 476)
• Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (Saite period) (664 BC to 525 BC)
• Ancient Carthage (814 BC to 146 BC)
• Kingdom of Armenia (ancient) (331 BC to 428)

Wars of the same era and region

• Wars of Alexander the Great (335 BC to 323 BC)
• Roman-Greek wars (214 BC to 148 BC)
• Third Punic War (149 BC to 146 BC)
• First Punic War (264 BC to 241 BC)
• Second Punic War (218 BC to 201 BC)
• Social War (91-87 BC) (91 BC to 87 BC)

8 surprising things about the Ptolemaic Kingdom

1. Cleopatra VII lived closer in time to the moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid.
2. The Library of Alexandria may have held 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls; ships entering the harbour had their books seized and copied.
3. The Pharos lighthouse, over 100 metres tall, stood for 1,600 years until earthquakes brought it down.
4. The Ptolemies practised sibling marriage; Ptolemy II married his full sister and was nicknamed Philadelphus, 'sister-lover'.
5. Eratosthenes, librarian of Alexandria, calculated the earth's circumference to within a few percent.
6. The Rosetta Stone is a Ptolemaic tax decree in Greek, demotic and hieroglyphs, the key to deciphering Egyptian.
7. Ptolemy VIII was nicknamed Physkon, 'Fatty', by the Alexandrians and once killed his own son and sent the parts to the boy's mother.
8. Cleopatra was Macedonian Greek; the dynasty ruled Egypt for 275 years without a single Egyptian pharaoh.

Sources

• Ptolemaic dynasty Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Ptolemaic Kingdom Wikipedia
• Ptolemaic Dynasty World History Encyclopedia
• Gunther Holbl, A History of the Ptolemaic Empire (2001) Routledge

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