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Ptolemaic Navy
Ptolemaic Egypt was a naval power that exerted influence throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from its foundation in 330 BCE until Cleopatra's defeat by Augustus at the Battle of Actium in 30 BCE. The Ptolemaic Kingdom produced some of the...
Definition
Perdiccas
Perdiccas (d. 321 BCE) was one of Alexander the Great's commanders, and after his death, custodian of the treasury, regent over Philip III and Alexander IV, and commander of the royal army. When Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont...
Definition
Roman Egypt
The rich lands of Egypt became the property of Rome after the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE, which spelled the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty that had ruled Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. After the murder of Gaius...
Definition
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an incomplete grey and pink granodiorite stela dating from 196 BCE which presents a priestly decree concerning King Ptolemy V of Egypt. The text is in three different versions: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek, a fact...
Article
The Economy of Ptolemaic Egypt
Ptolemaic Egypt rapidly established itself as an economic powerhouse of the ancient world at the end of the 4th century BCE. The wealth of Egypt was owed in large part to the unrivalled fertility of the Nile, which served as the breadbasket...
Article
The Hellenistic World: The World of Alexander the Great
The Hellenistic World (from the Greek word Hellas for Greece) is the known world after the conquests of Alexander the Great and corresponds roughly with the Hellenistic Period of ancient Greece, from 323 BCE (Alexander's death) to the annexation...
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Ptolemy II & Arsinoe II
The stela, from a chapel in the royal couple's honors, shows Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II in a deified form. Their staffs are attribnbutes of Egyptian gods, as is the emblem of life (ankh) held by the queen. Yet, unusually, the King wields a...
Image
Portrait of Ptolemy I or II of Egypt
This limestone portrait from the Early Ptolemaic Period (323-246 BCE) depicts either Ptolemy I or Ptolemy II of Egypt. Exact provenance is unknown. (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto)
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The Ptolemaic Dynasty of Ancient Egypt: From Ptolemy I to Cleopatra VII
The Ptolemaic dynasty in Ancient Egypt began under the rule of Ptolemy I Soter, whose goal was to make Egypt great again and he did that by putting the country back on solid economic and administrative footing, and it ended with Cleopatra...
Article
What happened to the Great Library at Alexandria?
Once the largest library in the ancient world, and containing works by the greatest thinkers and writers of antiquity, including Homer, Plato, Socrates and many more, the Library of Alexandria, northern Egypt, is popularly believed to have...