Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (305 BC–30 BC)

The Ptolemaic Dynasty was the longest of all who reigned over the geographic space of ancient Egypt: 275 years (considering only the years between the basileia of Ptolemy I Soter and the death of Cleopatra VII).

The Diadoch Ptolemy, son of a Macedonian nobleman Lagos, had been one of Alexander’s most trusted generals, the man who captured Bessos, murderer of the Persian king Darius III.

In 323 BC he went to Egypt and ruled as satrap (governor) for almost 20 years before he was acclaimed king by his army in 306 BC and crowned on January 12, 304 BC, the anniversary of Alexander’s death according to the Macedonian calendar. A new dynasty was founded, that of the Ptolemies, also called the Lagids after Ptolemy’s father.

The Ptolemys coexisted as both Egyptian pharaohs as well as Greek monarchs. In every appearance they remained completely Greek, both in their language and traditions. This unique characteristic was maintained through intermarriage; most often these marriages were either between brother and sister or even uncle and niece.

The Ptolemies and parts of the Egyptian priestly elite formed alliances, as can be seen on the Memphis decree engraved on the Rosetta stone.

During the Ptolemaic period, there was a significant shift to wheat (triticum durum) and wine production and consumption. The shift from emmer to durum wheat, the latter being the preferred grain of the Greek immigrants, was more the result of a natural shift in crops caused by forced demand for wheat andnot the result of Ptolemaic state direction, although there was a connection between wheat production and royal land.

Octavian, the future Augustus, defeated Cleopatra VII and her ally Mark Antony at Actium in 31 BC and included Egypt as a province of the Roman Empire the following year. The Egypt of the Ptolomies was the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms to lose its independence.
Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (305 BC–30 BC)

Rosetta Stone

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a great interest in antiquities and a desire for more knowledge about ancient Egyptian history. The Rosetta Stone, one of the most famous monuments from ancient Egypt, is a slab of black basalt containing a single text in Greek and Egyptian versions.

Rosetta is a small modern Egyptian town, founded in the second half of the ninth century AD.

This broken stele was found accidentally in August 1799, by French soldiers from Napoleon’s army who were strengthening the foundations of Fort St. Julien near the town of Rosetta in the western delta of Egypt.  It was approximately 3.5 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide and bore hieroglyphics in three different types of characters, one of which was the ancient Greek alphabet.

In 1822, after many years of labor on the tablet, Jean-Francois Champollion succeeded in fully translating it when he made his break-through discovery that hieroglyphs constitute a phonetic, syllabic and alphabetic writing system and he correctly determined the phonetic values of the sings.

The text commemorates the accession to the throne of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and was composed on the ninth year of his reign. Ptolemy V promises various benefits such as gifts and reduction of texts to the temple domains of Egypt. The text was written by the priests of Egypt in 196 BC.

Champollion began to write the first Egyptian grammar, a work that unlock a treasure trove of Egyptian texts, which could at last be read after thousands of years of darkness.
Rosetta Stone

King Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I Nicator (c. 358 BC – 281 BC) was an army officer, founder of the Seleucid Dynasty.

Although made the governor of Babylon in 312, Seleucus was forced to flee to Ptolemy in Egypt in 316 to escape defeat by Antigonus, who was trying to reunite Alexander’s empire.

When Ptolemy defeated Antigonu’s son Demetrius in 312, Seleucus returned to reconquer Babylon. He declared himself king in 305. Subsequently Seleucus I extended his dominion to include the eastern Satrapies, save Indian territories, which he ceded to Chandragupta Maurya for five hundred war elephants and an alliance of peace.

In 312 BC Seleucus Nicator founded the city of Seleucia on the right bank of t Tigris, about 32 km southeast Baghdad at the south of the Royal Canal that connected the Tigris with the Euphrates to be his eastern capital.

By 301 he helped defeat Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus.  The distribution of spoils after the battle of Ipsus shattered Alexander’s old empire beyond recovery, Seleucus took Syria founding the Seleucus dynasty of western Asia that was endure until brought down by the Romans in 64 BC.

Hoping to reestablish Alexander’s empire, Seleucus capture Demetrius and defeated Lysimachus in 281, another of Alexander’s former generals who had become satrap in Asia Minor. Later while attempting to enter Macedonia, he was murdered.
King Seleucus I Nicator