Contributed by: Vicki Gardner
Welcome back to Ancient Egypt! This chapter looks into the last great chapter of Ancient Egypt history – the Ptolemaic Period, 332 BC to 30 BC.
After Alexander the Great defeated the Persians he was quickly accepted as the son of Amun and ensconced as Egypt’s new King. He then constructed a new city, Alexandria, and began to rebuild and restore the rest of Egypt, which had suffered greatly under the Persians. However Alexander did not tarry in Egypt long, leaving control of the area to his agent, Ptolemy.
In 323 BC Alexander died suddenly and, following battles over control of the Empire, Ptolemy Lagus became the satrap of Egypt. In 305 BC, Ptolemy became the king of Egypt and succeeded in including Syria and Palestine under his control. Laws and other administrative duties became more akin to the Greek style of organization and Greek became the official language, supplanting Egyptian and bringing an end to hieroglyphs as the formal written language. Also affected were the arts and the structure of the military forces. Traditional Egyptian art with its stylized depictions became more realistic and the military was refocused to a Macedonian administrative structure to improve its efficiency.
While Ptolemaic Greeks introduced their gods into the existing religious structure they also built new temples to traditional Egyptian gods in order to maintain the Egyptian traditions and ensure the continuing support of the local people. During the Ptolemaic Period commerce was expanded and they built new ports and established contacts with Asia. The library of Alexandria was constructed and became the premier hub of learning.
During the reign of Ptolemy V (205-180 BC), there was political upheaval when an Egyptian Dynasty tried to seize power. The Ptolemy Dynasty regained control, however the ensuing pharaohs did not have long reigns and some monarchs had reigns that were interrupted by interim monarchs as control was jostled between disparate Ptolemaic groups. The dynastic rivalry of the later Ptolemies finally resulted in an intervention of the Romans to put Ptolemy XII back into power. From then on, the Romans began to play an important part in Egyptian history. They again intervened, this time in favor of the daughter of Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra. Cleopatra became involved in the power struggle of the Romans Octavius and Antony, ending with the defeat of her and Antony’ fleets at Actium and she committed suicide. Egypt became a Roman province.
So ends the long, proud, triumphant, and turbulent history of Ancient Egypt. There is probably more historical documentation about Ancient Egypt than any other ancient civilization and its impact on our current 21st century is seen around us every day. From stylized art, to movie scripts, to the archeological research which has been ongoing since the time of Napoleon. You can buy everything from copies of the bust of Nefertiri, to a trip down the Nile on a Cleopatra-type barge. The fascination with Ancient Egypt has gripped world explorers and history buffs since the death of Cleopatra. We hope you have enjoyed this brief snapshot in time into the true history of Ancient Egypt.
