Egypt
Egypt(see map: The Hellenistic world)
Ptolemaic
In the period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC until the defeat of Cleopatra with Antony at Actium in 31 BC the Egyptian throne was held by Macedonians, and from 304 by the one family, the Prolemies (who were descended from Alexander's general Ptolemy I son of Lagus). Externally the main problem remained the extent of the kingdom, while internally the nature of administrative control and relations with the native Egyptians formed the major concerns of this new resident dynasty of foreign pharaohs. For the modern observer it is the incomplete nature of the historical record which presents problems. Contemporary historical analysis is limited in period (Polybius, Diodorus Siculus), much of it concentrating on the scandalous and...[The entire page is 1655 words long]
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