Ptolemaic Kingdom: Did you mean...?

The Faiyum (also given as Fayoum, Fayum, and Faiyum Oasis) was a region of ancient Egypt known for its fertility and the abundance of plant and animal life. Located 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of Memphis (modern Cairo), the Faiyum was...

Ptolemy of Mauretania (r. 23-40 CE) was king of Mauretania and one of the last surviving members of the Ptolemaic dynasty. His father Juba II (c. 48 BCE to 23 CE) was a Numidian royal and his mother Cleopatra Selene II (40 to c. 5 BCE) was...

Drawn by the prospects of providing service to the Ptolemaic government in either the bureaucracy or the army, or perhaps seeking to settle and farm some of the most productive land in the world, tens of thousands of Greeks would immigrate...

Wreaths like this one formed to resemble flowers and leaves were used to crown athletic victors throughout the ancient Greek world. The Egyptian-born Greek writer Athenaeus of Nitocric (c. late 2nd-3rd century CE) tells of guests wearing...

Different cultural traditions met in Hellenistic Egypt, as this small silver wine vase illustrates (11 cm in height; ca. 200-150 BCE; APM inv. no. 3397). It is decorated with acanthus and lotus leaves, floral motifs from respectively Greece...

This marble statue of a dwarf was sculpted around 332-150 BCE and is believed to have originated in Alexandria, Egypt. The dancing figure may have held cultic associations as dwarves were linked to Greek religious practice and were often...

Memphis was one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Egypt, located at the entrance to the Nile River Valley near the Giza plateau. It served as the capital of ancient Egypt and an important religious cult center. The original...

Karnak is the modern-day name for the ancient site of the Temple of Amun at Thebes, Egypt. The Egyptians called the site Nesut-Towi, "Throne of the Two Lands", Ipet-Iset, "The Finest of Seats" as well as Ipt-Swt, "Selected Spot" also given...

Kush was a kingdom in North Africa in the region corresponding to modern-day Sudan. The larger region around Kush (later referred to as Nubia) had been inhabited since c. 8,000 BCE, but the Kingdom of Kush rose much later, flourishing between...

Art is an essential aspect of any civilization. Once the basic human needs have been taken care of such as food, shelter, some form of community law, and a religious belief, cultures begin producing artwork, and often all of these developments...