The Ptolemies, 323–30 BC

Three centuries between Alexander’s death and the fall of Alexandria — the dynasty, the Library, the temples, the wars, and what Rome inherited.

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The Dynasty

FOUNDATION THE HEIGHT LOSS A ROMAN CLIENT THE LAST REIGN UNDER ROME 300 BC 200 BC 100 BC AD 1 AD 100 THE DYNASTY THE LIBRARY AND ITS WORK TEMPLES AND WORKS WARS AND REVOLT ROME 323 BC — Alexander dies at Babylon. The empire is divided among the generals. Ptolemy son of Lagus takes Egypt as satrap.1 321 BC — Ptolemy takes the body. He intercepts Alexander’s funeral cortege bound for Macedon and diverts it to Memphis, later to Alexandria. Possession of the body is a claim to the succession, and the o2 305 BC — Ptolemy I takes the title of king. Soter, the saviour. The satrapy becomes a kingdom.4 285 BC — Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The reign in which the Library, the translation programme and the ruler cult all take their mature form.8 145–116 BC — Ptolemy VIII. The reign in which the dynasty turns on itself. Josephus and the later sources record the murder of his own son and the dismemberment; scholars persecuted and expelled from Alexandria.23 116–80 BC — Dynastic civil war. Cleopatra III against her sons; Ptolemy IX and X alternate on the throne. The coinage is debased through the period.25 51 BC — Cleopatra VII accedes. With her brother Ptolemy XIII. The last of the line to rule as a Ptolemy in the old sense.27 47 BC — Ptolemy XV born. Caesarion. The last Ptolemy.29 c. 320 BC — Ptolemy writes his own history. A general who becomes a source. His account of the campaigns is lost but is the principal thing Arrian used four centuries later.3 c. 300 BC — The Mouseion founded. A research institution with salaried scholars, funded by the crown, attached to the palace. There is no earlier example of the arrangement.5 c. 300 BC — Euclid at Alexandria. The Elements is compiled here. It remains the standard geometry textbook of the West for more than two thousand years.6 c. 280 BC — Manetho writes Egypt in Greek. An Egyptian priest composes the Aegyptiaca for the new rulers. The division of Egyptian history into thirty dynasties is his, and it is still the one in use.9 c. 270 BC — Callimachus and the Pinakes. A catalogue of the Library in 120 books, arranged by subject and author. The first library catalogue in the world.10 c. 250 BC — The Septuagint. The Hebrew scriptures translated into Greek at Alexandria. It becomes the Bible of the early Church, and its chronology differs from the Masoretic by 1,386 years.11 c. 250 BC — Herophilus and Erasistratus. Human dissection is practised at Alexandria. It is the only period in antiquity when it was permitted, and the anatomical vocabulary from it is still in use.12 c. 240 BC — Eratosthenes measures the earth. Librarian of Alexandria. Using the sun’s angle at Syene and Alexandria he calculates the earth’s circumference to within a few per cent of the true figure.13 c. 240 BC — Aristarchus puts the sun at the centre. A heliocentric model, eighteen centuries before Copernicus. The work is lost and survives only because Archimedes describes it.14 c. 145 BC — The scholars scatter. The expulsions under Ptolemy VIII disperse Alexandrian scholarship across the Greek world. Some of what the Library held travels with them; what stays begins to be lost.24 AD 150 — The work continues under Rome. Claudius Ptolemaeus writes the Almagest and the Geographia at Alexandria, under Roman rule. They govern astronomy and geography until the sixteenth century. The institut31 c. 297 BC — The Pharos begun. Under Ptolemy I, completed under Ptolemy II. One of the seven wonders. Its foundation blocks lie underwater off Fort Qaitbay and have been surveyed.7 238 BC — The Canopus Decree. A priestly synod under Ptolemy III orders a sixth epagomenal day every fourth year. The priesthood does not adopt it. Two centuries later Caesar takes the same reform and makes it 15 237 BC — Edfu begun. The temple of Horus, built over 180 years. It is the best-preserved temple in Egypt, and it is Ptolemaic.16 196 BC — THE ROSETTA STONE. A priestly decree for Ptolemy V, cut in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek. It is the key that reopened the Egyptian record — the script had been unreadable for fourteen centurie20 246–241 BC — The Third Syrian War. Ptolemy III campaigns as far as Babylon. The dynasty is at its greatest extent.17 217 BC — Raphia. Ptolemy IV defeats Antiochus III. Egyptian troops are armed and trained in the Macedonian manner for the first time, and the decree recording the victory is trilingual.18 200–198 BC — Coele-Syria lost. Antiochus III takes the Levant at Panium. Judaea passes from Ptolemaic to Seleucid rule, and the events of the Maccabean books follow from it.21 206–186 BC — The revolt of Upper Egypt. Native pharaohs Horwennefer and Ankhwennefer hold Thebes and the south for twenty years. The dynasty loses half its country and takes two decades to recover it.19 168 BC — THE DAY OF ELEUSIS. Popillius Laenas draws a circle in the sand around Antiochus IV outside Alexandria and demands his answer before he steps out of it. Antiochus withdraws. Egypt is a Roman client fr22 80 BC — The will of Ptolemy Alexander. Rome claims Egypt was bequeathed to it. The claim is disputed then and now, but it is never withdrawn.26 48 BC — Caesar in Alexandria. Pompey is murdered at the landing. Caesar is besieged in the palace quarter through the winter. Whatever burned in the harbour that year, the Library’s losses are debated a28 30 BC — ALEXANDRIA FALLS. Cleopatra dies; Ptolemy XV is killed on Octavian’s order. Egypt becomes the personal property of the emperor, governed by a prefect, and no senator may enter without permission30
  1. 1323 BCAlexander dies at Babylon
  2. 2321 BCPtolemy takes the body
  3. 3c. 320 BCPtolemy writes his own history
  4. 4305 BCPtolemy I takes the title of king
  5. 5c. 300 BCThe Mouseion founded
  6. 6c. 300 BCEuclid at Alexandria
  7. 7c. 297 BCThe Pharos begun
  8. 8285 BCPtolemy II Philadelphus
  9. 9c. 280 BCManetho writes Egypt in Greek
  10. 10c. 270 BCCallimachus and the Pinakes
  11. 11c. 250 BCThe Septuagint
  12. 12c. 250 BCHerophilus and Erasistratus
  13. 13c. 240 BCEratosthenes measures the earth
  14. 14c. 240 BCAristarchus puts the sun at the centre
  15. 15238 BCThe Canopus Decree
  16. 16237 BCEdfu begun
  17. 17246–241 BCThe Third Syrian War
  18. 18217 BCRaphia
  19. 19206–186 BCThe revolt of Upper Egypt
  20. 20196 BCTHE ROSETTA STONE
  21. 21200–198 BCCoele-Syria lost
  22. 22168 BCTHE DAY OF ELEUSIS
  23. 23145–116 BCPtolemy VIII
  24. 24c. 145 BCThe scholars scatter
  25. 25116–80 BCDynastic civil war
  26. 2680 BCThe will of Ptolemy Alexander
  27. 2751 BCCleopatra VII accedes
  28. 2848 BCCaesar in Alexandria
  29. 2947 BCPtolemy XV born
  30. 3030 BCALEXANDRIA FALLS
  31. 31AD 150The work continues under Rome

What this page is for. Egypt was already seven centuries past its peak when Ptolemy took it — the New Kingdom had ended in 1069 BC, and Nubian, Assyrian and Persian rule had followed. Its script was dying. What the dynasty then did — the Mouseion, the collection policy, Manetho, the Septuagint, the trilingual decrees — carried that knowledge forward three hundred years and, through the Rosetta Stone, gave it back to us in 1822.

And the institution outlived the dynasty. Alexandria kept working under Rome for four hundred more years. Claudius Ptolemaeus wrote the Almagest there in the second century AD, and it governed astronomy until Copernicus. The break is not 30 BC.

The Register

How the grading reads. one amber dot: a single channel carries it. two green: two independent sources cross. three green: a contemporary inscription, coin or other object. Twelve of the thirty-one entries carry material evidence — a far better rate than any other register on this site, because this dynasty inscribed its decrees in stone, in three scripts.

№DateLaneEventAtt.
1323 BCDYNASTY Alexander dies at Babylon. The empire is divided among the generals. Ptolemy son of Lagus takes Egypt as satrap.
2321 BCDYNASTY Ptolemy takes the body. He intercepts Alexander’s funeral cortege bound for Macedon and diverts it to Memphis, later to Alexandria. Possession of the body is a claim to the succession, and the other generals understood it as one.
3c. 320 BCKNOWLEDGE Ptolemy writes his own history. A general who becomes a source. His account of the campaigns is lost but is the principal thing Arrian used four centuries later.
4305 BCDYNASTY Ptolemy I takes the title of king. Soter, the saviour. The satrapy becomes a kingdom.
5c. 300 BCKNOWLEDGE The Mouseion founded. A research institution with salaried scholars, funded by the crown, attached to the palace. There is no earlier example of the arrangement.
6c. 300 BCKNOWLEDGE Euclid at Alexandria. The Elements is compiled here. It remains the standard geometry textbook of the West for more than two thousand years.
7c. 297 BCWORKS The Pharos begun. Under Ptolemy I, completed under Ptolemy II. One of the seven wonders. Its foundation blocks lie underwater off Fort Qaitbay and have been surveyed.
8285 BCDYNASTY Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The reign in which the Library, the translation programme and the ruler cult all take their mature form.
9c. 280 BCKNOWLEDGE Manetho writes Egypt in Greek. An Egyptian priest composes the Aegyptiaca for the new rulers. The division of Egyptian history into thirty dynasties is his, and it is still the one in use.
10c. 270 BCKNOWLEDGE Callimachus and the Pinakes. A catalogue of the Library in 120 books, arranged by subject and author. The first library catalogue in the world.
11c. 250 BCKNOWLEDGE The Septuagint. The Hebrew scriptures translated into Greek at Alexandria. It becomes the Bible of the early Church, and its chronology differs from the Masoretic by 1,386 years.
12c. 250 BCKNOWLEDGE Herophilus and Erasistratus. Human dissection is practised at Alexandria. It is the only period in antiquity when it was permitted, and the anatomical vocabulary from it is still in use.
13c. 240 BCKNOWLEDGE Eratosthenes measures the earth. Librarian of Alexandria. Using the sun’s angle at Syene and Alexandria he calculates the earth’s circumference to within a few per cent of the true figure.
14c. 240 BCKNOWLEDGE Aristarchus puts the sun at the centre. A heliocentric model, eighteen centuries before Copernicus. The work is lost and survives only because Archimedes describes it.
15238 BCWORKS The Canopus Decree. A priestly synod under Ptolemy III orders a sixth epagomenal day every fourth year. The priesthood does not adopt it. Two centuries later Caesar takes the same reform and makes it work. Trilingual, on stone.
16237 BCWORKS Edfu begun. The temple of Horus, built over 180 years. It is the best-preserved temple in Egypt, and it is Ptolemaic.
17246–241 BCWARS The Third Syrian War. Ptolemy III campaigns as far as Babylon. The dynasty is at its greatest extent.
18217 BCWARS Raphia. Ptolemy IV defeats Antiochus III. Egyptian troops are armed and trained in the Macedonian manner for the first time, and the decree recording the victory is trilingual.
19206–186 BCWARS The revolt of Upper Egypt. Native pharaohs Horwennefer and Ankhwennefer hold Thebes and the south for twenty years. The dynasty loses half its country and takes two decades to recover it.
20196 BCWORKS THE ROSETTA STONE. A priestly decree for Ptolemy V, cut in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek. It is the key that reopened the Egyptian record — the script had been unreadable for fourteen centuries when Champollion read it in 1822.
21200–198 BCWARS Coele-Syria lost. Antiochus III takes the Levant at Panium. Judaea passes from Ptolemaic to Seleucid rule, and the events of the Maccabean books follow from it.
22168 BCROME THE DAY OF ELEUSIS. Popillius Laenas draws a circle in the sand around Antiochus IV outside Alexandria and demands his answer before he steps out of it. Antiochus withdraws. Egypt is a Roman client from that day, a hundred and thirty-eight years before it is a province.
23145–116 BCDYNASTY Ptolemy VIII. The reign in which the dynasty turns on itself. Josephus and the later sources record the murder of his own son and the dismemberment; scholars persecuted and expelled from Alexandria.
24c. 145 BCKNOWLEDGE The scholars scatter. The expulsions under Ptolemy VIII disperse Alexandrian scholarship across the Greek world. Some of what the Library held travels with them; what stays begins to be lost.
25116–80 BCDYNASTY Dynastic civil war. Cleopatra III against her sons; Ptolemy IX and X alternate on the throne. The coinage is debased through the period.
2680 BCROME The will of Ptolemy Alexander. Rome claims Egypt was bequeathed to it. The claim is disputed then and now, but it is never withdrawn.
2751 BCDYNASTY Cleopatra VII accedes. With her brother Ptolemy XIII. The last of the line to rule as a Ptolemy in the old sense.
2848 BCROME Caesar in Alexandria. Pompey is murdered at the landing. Caesar is besieged in the palace quarter through the winter. Whatever burned in the harbour that year, the Library’s losses are debated and no source settles them.
2947 BCDYNASTY Ptolemy XV born. Caesarion. The last Ptolemy.
3030 BCROME ALEXANDRIA FALLS. Cleopatra dies; Ptolemy XV is killed on Octavian’s order. Egypt becomes the personal property of the emperor, governed by a prefect, and no senator may enter without permission.
31AD 150KNOWLEDGE The work continues under Rome. Claudius Ptolemaeus writes the Almagest and the Geographia at Alexandria, under Roman rule. They govern astronomy and geography until the sixteenth century. The institution outlives the dynasty by four hundred years.