Ptolemy I: King and Pharaoh of Egypt

Cleopatra of Egypt is one of history's most famous rulers, but who was responsible for founding the Ptolemaic dynasty from which she came, how, and when? For the answers we go back 300 years before Cleopatra's time, to Ptolemy of Macedonia. He was a friend of Alexander the Great, fighting with him in the epic battles and sieges, which toppled the Persian Empire, and after Alexander's death taking over Egypt after the dead king's commanders carved up his vast empire among themselves. They were soon at war with each other, the co-called Wars of the Successors, as each man fought to increase his share of the spoils. They made and broke alliances with each other cynically and effortlessly, with Ptolemy showing himself no different from the others. But unlike them he had patience and cunning that arguably made him the greatest of the Successors. He built up his power base in Egypt, introduced administrative and economic reforms that made him fabulously wealthy, and as a conscious imperialist he boldly attempted to seize Greece and Macedonia and be a second Alexander. As well as his undoubted military prowess, Ptolemy was an intellectual. He founded the great Library and Museum at Alexandria, making that city the intellectual center of the entire Hellenistic age, and even patronized the mathematician Euclid. Ptolemy ruled Egypt first as satrap and then as its king and Pharaoh for forty years, until he died of natural causes in his early eighties. On his death, his son, Ptolemy II, succeeded him, and the Ptolemaic dynasty was thus established. It was the longest-lived of all the Hellenistic dynasties, falling with Cleopatra three centuries later. As a king, soldier, statesman, and intellectual, Ptolemy was one of a kind, but, unlike Alexander, he never forgot his Macedonian roots. Against all odds, Ptolemy fought off invasions, invaded opponents' territories, and established an Egyptian empire, making his adopted country a power with which to be reckoned. His achievements shaped both Egypt's history and that of the early Hellenistic world.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS List of Maps and Figures Ancient Works and Abbreviations Map 1. Alexander's Empire Map 2. Greece and Macedonia Map 3. The Hellenistic World Map 4. Egypt and Syria Introduction: From Cleopatra to Ptolemy 1. The Young Ptolemy 2. Invading Persia with Alexander 3. The Campaign in Afghanistan 4. To India and Back 5. Ptolemy and the Rise of the Successors 6. From Babylon to Egypt 7. Ptolemy under Attack 8. Alexander's Corpse 9. From Satrap to King 10. First Among Equals 11. Ptolemy and Egypt 12. The End - and Beyond Appendix 1: Ptolemy's History of Alexander Appendix 2: The Sources of Information Timeline V111 Bibliography Index Index

About the Author :
Ian Worthington is Curators' Distinguished Professor of History and Adjunct Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Missouri. He is the author of numerous books about ancient Greece, including, most recently, By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire and Demosthenes of Athens and the Fall of Classical Greece.

Review :
"This book ... can be read as an introduction to the narrative history of the period, from the rise of Philip of Macedonia to the solidification of the Hellenistic kingdoms, in which the main features and developments of the period are presented." --Charlotte Van Regenmortel, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Ptolemy I: King and Pharaoh of Egypt is a welcome addition to Ian Worthington's many distinguished contributions to the history of late fourth century BC Greece. Ptolemy I was the most successful of Alexander the Great's Successors, the founder of the longest lived Egyptian dynasty and the author of a history that is the ultimate source of most of our knowledge of Alexander's reign. Now, finally, readers have a vividly written biography of the king that is firmly based on current scholarship." -Stanley M. Burstein, author of The Reign of Cleopatra "This new biography of Ptolemy I is fitting tribute to a unique ruler it rightly describes as 'one of a kind.' Bringing him out of the shadows of his contemporaries and placing him center-stage in the dramatic events of the late fourth century BC, Ptolemy emerges as the ultimate survivor in a dangerous world, his life story combining daring adventure with consummate statecraft. As 'a sterling example of a king, soldier, statesman and intellectual,' Ptolemy laid solid foundations for the Ptolemaic dynasty named after him and whose three centuries' rule over Egypt and much of the ancient world would culminate in the great Cleopatra herself."-Joann Fletcher, author of The Story of Egypt and Cleopatra the Great "Ptolemy I is a much needed new biography of one of the most underrated figures of antiquity--polymath, historian, general, king, and nation builder--thanks to the accustomed erudition, scholarship, and engaging prose of Ian Worthington, who is becoming one of our most trusted and interesting biographers of the ancient Greek world." --Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Savior Generals