Background

The conquests of Alexander the Great changed the lands they touched. In Egypt, Alexander was welcomed as a liberator when he conquered the country and pushed out its Persian rulers. When Alexander died in 323 BCE, the Greeks stayed in Egypt. They were then led by one of Alexander’s favorite generals, Ptolemy. He and his successors capitalized on Egypt’s key position along trade networks to build a rich and powerful empire that controlled the eastern Mediterranean for two centuries.

Formation

After Alexander’s death, his empire quickly fell apart. While wars of succession and power struggles raged across the crumbling empire, Ptolemy continued to rule in Egypt. In 305 BCE, he declared himself Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter and established the Ptolemaic dynasty. Under the Ptolemies,¹ Egypt became the center of an empire that stretched from Libya to the Arabian Peninsula and included the island of Cyprus in the Aegean Sea. But the empire’s influence was even broader. It extended over most of the Greek world throughout the Mediterranean region.

The city of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast was founded by Alexander in 332 BCE. As the capital city, it was the cultural, administrative, and economic heart of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Home to more than half a million people, it was the largest of the many cities Alexander founded from the Mediterranean to India. Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Syrians, Jews, and others mixed together in the city’s huge harbor and busy markets.

Administration

The architecture built by the Ptolemies was splendid. However, to common Egyptians, it was a constant reminder that they were ruled by foreigners. Throughout Egypt, only those of Greek ancestry held powerful positions in government and society, while actual Egyptians held lower roles. The Ptolemies built upon existing Egyptian systems when possible. But, as a minority in the lands they ruled, the descendants of Alexander’s soldiers held themselves apart from Egyptians. Greek citizens were governed by a different set of laws, and the Ptolemies avoided marrying Egyptians, opting instead to marry within their own family.

The Ptolemies faced threats from other empires, particularly the Seleucid Empire to the east. The two empires battled repeatedly over their borders. These wars were expensive and required the Ptolemies to draft Egyptians into their army. Repeated wars and higher taxes caused unrest that sometimes erupted into revolts against Greek rule.

Religion

The Ptolemies did not try to make Egyptians change their own culture. On the contrary, they sponsored temples to Egyptian gods and supported Egyptian priests. They did, however, introduce new forms of worship to Egypt. Ptolemy I created a new god, Serapis, to blend elements of Greek and Egyptian religion. The Ptolemies’ blending of different religious practices and beliefs helped to make Greek rule more accepted.

Egyptians believed the pharaohs who had ruled Egypt were living gods. The Ptolemies adopted this tradition when Ptolemy I’s son, Ptolemy II, declared himself a living god. Again, this helped to make Greek rule more acceptable.

Trade

Alexandria sat at the crossroads of trade routes linking the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, Africa, and Asia. Its enormous harbor was capable of holding more than 1,000 ships. The Ptolemies introduced the use of coins and oversaw the growth of Egyptian influence in regional trade networks. Much of this trade centered around agricultural goods. The Ptolemies directly owned almost half of Egypt’s rich farmland. Egyptian exports of grain, linen, and other goods helped to fund the empire’s growth. The income from trade, along with tax revenues, made the royal family and the ruling class very, very rich.

Greek elites used their new wealth to purchase luxuries from abroad. Alexandria’s place in networks of trade meant that luxury goods were funneled through Egypt as they made their way to the Mediterranean. Frankincense and myrrh² arrived in Egypt aboard caravans from Arabia. Chinese silk, cotton from India, and Indian Ocean spices from the east arrived aboard ships sailing the Red Sea. Ivory and gold traveled down the Nile River from inland parts of Africa. But the Greek elites in Egypt also wanted a taste of home. They imported Greek grapevines and olive trees, as well as sheep, for their wool.

Women in society

Like women in other ancient societies, Ptolemaic women were active participants in religious ceremonies and cults.³ In general, only elite women received an education. Wealthy women in Alexandria often contributed time and money to support the arts and sciences.

As with men, women at the upper levels of society generally had the most power in Ptolemaic Egypt. The queens of the empire exercised almost equal power with the kings. The Ptolemaic kings of Egypt often wed numerous women. In some cases they even married their full sisters, just to preserve the bloodline. For example, Ptolemy II married his sister, Arsinoë II. Both were declared pharaohs of the region, meaning they both had power over the empire. Future pharaohs and queens would also share power on the throne, an arrangement that would have seemed pretty strange in Greece.

Perhaps the most famous pharaoh of this period, male or female, was Cleopatra VII. Her reign marked the transition from Ptolemaic Egypt to Roman Egypt. Cleopatra exercised a great deal of power. Her downfall came after she got involved in a struggle between two powerful Romans.

Decline and fall

Grain ended the Ptolemaic dynasty. By the time Julius Caesar rose to power, Egypt had become one of the main grain suppliers for Rome. The Ptolemies allied themselves with the growing power of the Roman Republic. They handed over large amounts of grain tribute in return for Roman military support against Egypt’s rivals in the east. However, a quarrel between two of the last Ptolemies, Cleopatra VII and her brother, Ptolemy XIII, endangered Rome’s supply of wheat. This provided an excuse for the Romans to become directly involved in Egypt.

Because Egypt produced so much of the food that Rome needed to supply its growing empire, Julius Caesar stepped in to help Cleopatra secure her throne—and Rome’s breadbasket. After a period of increasing Roman involvement in Egyptian politics, the Ptolemy dynasty came to an end and Egypt became a Roman province. Egypt remained the breadbasket of the Roman Empire. Its importance to long-distance trade networks only increased as it was integrated into the Roman Empire.

1 Male Egyptian rulers in this time were always named Ptolemy, so the plural is Ptolemies. Also, don’t confuse them with another famous Ptolemy from the second century CE. He was an astronomer and geographer whose ideas were widely accepted for many centuries. Eventually, Copernicus and Galileo proved him wrong.
2 Both frankincense and myrrh are resins from trees. They are used to make perfumes and incense.
3 The word “cult” sometimes has a negative meaning today. Here, it means a smaller religion or belief system in which a specific person, object, or place is the focus of worship.