Ptolemaic Egypt

A Greek dynasty running a pharaonic state for three centuries, which ended when its last ruler backed the wrong Roman. Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, took Egypt at the division of the empire in 323 BCE and hijacked Alexander's funeral cortege to bury him in Alexandria, acquiring enormous prestige. The dynasty governed as pharaohs to Egyptians and as Hellenistic kings to Greeks, maintaining temple building and the old religion while running the administration in Greek - the Rosetta Stone is a routine priestly decree issued in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek, which is why it later unlocked the script. Alexandria became the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean, with the Library attempting to collect every book in existence and the Museum supporting Euclid, Eratosthenes, who measured the earth's circumference, and Archimedes as a visitor. The Pharos lighthouse was among the tallest structures in the world. Rule was extractive, with a state monopoly on grain and oil, and the dynasty was violently incestuous and fratricidal. Cleopatra VII was the first of the line to learn Egyptian. Her defeat at Actium in 31 BCE ended it. The dynasty ruled from 305 to 30 BCE from Alexandria. Every male ruler was called Ptolemy and most of the women Cleopatra, Berenice or Arsinoe. Greek settlers were concentrated in Alexandria and the Fayum. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, was made in Alexandria under their rule. Egypt became Rome's personal grain estate after the conquest, governed by a prefect senators were forbidden to visit.

• Existed: 305 BCE – 30 BCE
• Type: Entity
• Government: Hellenistic absolute monarchy: Greek-Macedonian administrative elite ruling Egyptian peasant majority
• Capital: Alexandria