The Obituary
When Alexander the Great died, his general Ptolemy took Egypt and founded a Greek-speaking dynasty that ruled from Alexandria for nearly three centuries. The Ptolemies styled themselves as pharaohs, funded the Library and Museum that made Alexandria the intellectual hub of the Mediterranean, and married within their own family to keep power. Caught in Rome’s civil wars, Cleopatra VII backed Mark Antony against Octavian. After their defeat at Actium and Octavian’s advance on Alexandria, Cleopatra killed herself in 30 BCE. Egypt became a personal province of the Roman emperor.
Worth remembering
- Its capital Alexandria held the ancient world's greatest library and the Pharos lighthouse.
- Cleopatra VII allied with Julius Caesar and then Mark Antony in a doomed bid to keep Egypt free of Rome.
Sources
- Ptolemaic Kingdom founded by Ptolemy I, a general of Alexander, in 305 BCE Wikipedia
- Egypt annexed by Rome in 30 BCE after the death of Cleopatra VII Encyclopaedia Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.