After Alexander: The Rise Of The House Of Ptolemy

In the first of a new series covering the rise and fall of Egypt’s last Pharaonic Dynasty, Sarah Griffiths explores the beginnings of Ptolemaic Egypt, one of the most remarkable and complex periods in Egyptian history.

- Sarah Griffiths

Egypt 332 BC. For just over a decade, the country had suffered under a second period of Persian rule. Unlike the previous Persian Period (during which time Herodotus paid a visit c. 450 BC), the Persians were not content to allow ‘business as usual’ and risk another native revolt. Having briefly lost control of the wealthy but troublesome country to a resurgence of native Egyptian power (ending with the Thirtieth Dynasty king Nectanebo II), the Persians, now under Darius III, began a far more repressive regime. So when Alexander III ‘The Great’ arrived in Egypt in 332 BC, having defeated Darius the previous year, he appears to have been welcomed by the native Egyptians. 

To the Macedonians, the right to rule any territory was based on conquest – a ‘spear-won’ right (although in this instance, the Persian satrap in Egypt had offered no resistance). However, to be acceptable to the Egyptians, Alexander made a trip to the Siwa Oasis oracle to be declared the son of Amun, and ordered a much needed temple restoration programme. He was crowned at Memphis and had himself depicted at Luxor Temple as a traditional pharaoh offering to the gods, taking the standard royal titles.

A new capital city was required (named of course after Alexander), one facing out to the Hellenistic world around the Mediterranean, at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Alexander himself chose the site – close to the Nile but protected from the inundation, with a natural double harbour and deep anchorage, and a site already familiar to the Greeks from Homer’s Odyssey.