General Notes

Name Prefix:<NPFX> Pharaoh
Dead

Dead

Note: Ptolemy I (367?-283 bc), called Ptolemy Soter ("preserver"),king of Egypt (323-285 bc), founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.The son of Lagus, a Macedonian of common birth, Ptolemy was ageneral in the army of Alexander the Great and took a leadingpart in Alexander's later campaigns in Asia. On the death ofAlexander in 323 bc, his empire was divided among the Diadochi(successors) by the imperial regent Perdiccas (365-321 bc) andPtolemy was appointed satrap of Egypt and Libya. He was from thefirst an independent ruler, engaging in long wars with otherMacedonian chiefs in order to secure and extend his rule.Ptolemy was prevented from holding Cyprus and parts of Greece,but he resisted invasions of Egypt and Rhodes and occupiedPalestine and Cyrenaica. In 305 bc he assumed the title of king.Alexandria was his capital, and he founded the famousAlexandrian library. He was the author of a lost history of thecampaigns of Alexander. In 285 bc Ptolemy I abdicated in favorof one of his younger sons.

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Ptolemy I SOTER

(Greek: Saviour) (b. 367/366 or 364 BC, Macedonia--d. 283/282,Egypt), Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, who becameruler of Egypt (323-285 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaicdynasty, which reigned longer than any other dynasty establishedon the soil of the Alexandrian empire and only succumbed to theRomans in 30 BC.

Early life and career.

Ptolemy was the son of the nobleman Lagus, a native of theMacedonian district of Eordaea whose family was undistinguisheduntil Ptolemy's time, and of Arsinoe, who was related to theMacedonian Argead dynasty. He was probably educated as a page atthe royal court of Macedonia, where he became closely associatedwith Alexander. He was exiled in 337, along with othercompanions of the crown prince. When he returned, afterAlexander's accession to the throne in 336, he joined the King'sbodyguard, took part in Alexander's European campaigns of336-335, and in the fall of 330 was appointed personal bodyguard(somatophylax) to Alexander; in this capacity he captured theassassin of Darius III, the Persian emperor, in 329. He wasclosely associated with Alexander during the advance through thePersian highland. As a result of Ptolemy's successful militaryperformance on the way from Bactria (in northeasternAfghanistan) to the Indus River (327-325), he became commander(trierarchos) of the Macedonian fleet on the Hydaspes (modernJhelum in India). Alexander decorated him several times for hisdeeds and married him to the Persian Artacama at the masswedding at Susa, the Persian capital, which was the crowningevent of Alexander's policy of merging the Macedonian andIranian populations.

Satrap of Egypt.

Ptolemy, who distinguished himself as a cautious and trustworthytroop commander under Alexander, also proved to be a politicianof unusual diplomatic and strategic ability in the long seriesof struggles over the throne that broke out after Alexander'sdeath in 323. Convinced from the outset that the generals couldnot maintain the unity of Alexander's empire, he proposed duringthe council at Babylon, which followed Alexander's death, thatthe satrapies (the provinces of the huge empire) be dividedamong the generals. He became satrap of Egypt, with the adjacentLibyan and Arabian regions, and methodically took advantage ofthe geographic isolation of the Nile territory to make it agreat Hellenistic power. He took steps to improve internaladministration and to acquire several external possessions inCyrenaica (the easternmost part of Libya), Cyprus, and Syria andon the coast of Asia Minor; these, he hoped, would guarantee himmilitary security. Although he pursued a friendly policy towardGreece that secured his political influence there, he alsosucceeded in winning over the native Egyptian population.

In 322 Ptolemy, taking advantage of internal disturbances,acquired the African Hellenic towns of Cyrenaica.