The Ptolemaic Period

The Ptolemaic Period, 305 to 30 BCE, began when Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, took control of Egypt after Alexander's death and declared himself pharaoh, founding a Greek-speaking dynasty that would rule Egypt for nearly three centuries as part of the wider Hellenistic world that emerged from Alexander's fractured empire. The Ptolemies ruled from the new city of Alexandria, which they built into the preeminent center of Greek learning and culture in the ancient Mediterranean, home to the Great Library of Alexandria and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, while presenting themselves to their Egyptian subjects in traditional pharaonic style, complete with Egyptian temple building and, controversially, sibling marriage among the ruling family. The dynasty's final and most famous ruler, Cleopatra VII, sought to preserve Egyptian independence through alliances first with Julius Caesar and then Mark Antony against the rising power of Rome. Her defeat, alongside Antony, by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and her death the following year ended the Ptolemaic dynasty and brought Egypt under direct Roman rule.