On our previous post we have spoken of Cleopatra I of Egypt, based in our guiding question concerning the ancestor of Cleopatra VII. This curiosity, however, led us to the idea of going further in finding out, or at least in proposing a discussion, about the royals that ruled Ancient Egypt and who left their marks in History.
Having that in mind, Ptolemy Lagides the first of the Ptolemaic Dynasty is the subject of the post today. It's true that he is best reminded for fathering a dynasty whose most famous member is the already mentioned Cleopatra VII, and for being the general who well served Alexander the Great. But what can it be said of his deeds? What was his legacy to Egypt?
In truth, we know nothing regarding Ptolemy's childhood or his education. Even about his parents there is not much certainty about their identity. What we can tell, following the bibliography here consulted, is that he was possibly related to the Macedonian Argead dynasty. As we can see below:
"Ptolemy's mother was Arsinoe of Macedon, and while his father is unknown, ancient sources variously describe him either as the son of Lagus, a Macedonian nobleman, or as an illegitimate son of Philip II of Macedon (which, if true, would have made Ptolemy the half-brother of Alexander), but it is possible that this is a later myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic dynasty. Ptolemy was one of Alexander's most trusted generals, and was among the seven somatophylakes (bodyguards) attached to his person. He was a few years older than Alexander and had been his intimate friend since childhood."
In the next paragraph, there seems more certainty regarding Ptolemy's life by bringing another perspective, though not very different from the one before:
"Ptolemy was the son of the nobleman Lagus, a native of the Macedonian district of Eordaea whose family was undistinguished until Ptolemy's time, and of Arsinoe, who was related to the Macedonian Argead dynasty. He was probably educated as a page at the royal court of Macedonia, where he became closely associated with Alexander. He was exiled in 337, along with other companions of the crown prince. When he returned, after Alexander's accession to the throne in 336, he joined the King's bodyguard, took part in Alexander's European campaigns of 336-335, and in the fall of 330 was appointed personal bodyguard [...] to Alexander [...]"
What had led him to exile, however? It seems that Ptolemy, after Alexander's father defeated the Greeks,
"advised Alexander to invernet in a marriage alliance concluded by Philip between his son Arridaeus and the daughter of the satrap of Caria, Pixodarus. The result of Alexander's intervention was a disaster and the Macedonian king ordered Ptolemy to give his advise henceforth outside Macedonia. The exiled man did not return until Alexander hd become king in the autumn of 336"Following this misguided event, Ptolemy's military career however began to scalate when he directly participated in the situations described next:
"In this capacity he captured the assassin of Darius III, the Persian emperor, in 329. He was closely associated with Alexander during the advance through the Persian hughland. As a result of Ptolemy's successful military performance on the way from Bactria (in northeastern Afghanistan) to the Indus River (327-325), he became commander (trierarchos) of the Macedonian fleet on the Hydaspes (modern Jhelum in India). Alexander decorated him several times for his deeds and married him to the Persian Artacama at the mass wedding at Susa, the Persian capital, which was the crowning event of Alexander's policy of merging the Macedonian and Iranian populations."
For Ptolemy, the apparent genuine loyalty he showed Alexander now collected it's fruits in a surprising twist of destiny. Although we cannot know his personal thoughts about the events of his personal and public life, by his actions we understand he was a man who comprehended and absorbed well how the world worked back then. He was ambitious and intelligent and he did used well of his marriages, though we have nothing that can confirm if a sentiment of affection was felt by both parts at the time he married his wives throughout his lifetime.
Whatever happened to his first wife, probably being sent away, his next one was an Egyptian one. This was a sign of Ptolemy's attempt to court the "local population", and the beginning in what would be his "conquest" to Egypt. But, before we get there, we must get back to what had happened after Alexander the Great's death and the consequences that led Ptolemy directly to Egypt.
As we know, and as it has previously been discussed in the former paragraphs, Ptolemy was a great commander under Alexander III's military battles and conquests. His skills in battlefields, as well as with strategies, were very formidable and it is no wonder how Ptolemy soon became a general under the said king's command. He was, as we said before, very loyal to Alexander. As a result, with the support of Philip III Arrhidaeus and the infant Alexander IV, Ptolemy "through the Partition of Babylon, he was appointed satrap of Egypt [...]; the former satrap, the Greek Cleomenes, stayed on as his deputy."
Also,
"By custom, kings in Macedonia asserted their right to the throne by burying their predecessor. Probably because he wanted to pre-empt Perdiccas, the imperial regent, from staking his claim in his way, Ptolemy took great pains in acquiring the body of Alexander the Great, placing it temporarily in Memphis, Egypt. Ptolemy then openly joined the coalition against Perdiccas".
It seems that Perdiccas suspected of Ptolemy's ambition in having the Egypt's throne for himself and began to provide measures to prevent this to happen. Therefore,
"In 321 BC, Perdiccas attempted to invade Egypt only to fall at the hands of his own men. Ptolemy's decision to defend the Nile against Perdiccas's attempt to force it ended in fiasco for Perdiccas, with the loss of 2000 men. This failure was a fatal blow to Perdiccas' reputation, and he was murdered in his tent by two of his subordinates. Ptolemy immediately crossed the Nile, to provide supplies to what had the day before been an enemy army. Ptolemy was offered the regency in place of Perdiccas; but he declined. Ptolemy was consistent in his policy of securing a power base, while never succumbing to the tempation of risking all to succeed Alexnader."
During this period where he managed to hold Egypt under his control, Ptolemy went to war. As a result, he occupied regions as Cyrenaica, Cyrupus, Syria and the province of Judea. He prevented Antigonus One-Eye, master of Asia's ambition to extent too far by joining a coalition against him. Revolts as one that happened in Cyrence were subdued. After all this, must be added that he won over the Egypt population, and this can possibly be related to the marriage with his second wife, though the match did not last too soon for Ptolemy remarried a third time, this time to Berenice, granddaughter of Cassander, son of Antipater.
"After naming himself king, Ptolemy's first concern was the continuing war with Antigonus, which was now focused on the island of Rhodes. In 1304 Ptolemy aided the inhabitants of Rhodes against Antigonus and was accorded the divine title Soter (Saviour), which he was commonly called from that time. The dissolution of Alexander's empire was brought to a close with the battle near Ipsus in Asia Minor in 301."
Though wars is what we know best of Ptolemy, where his rule as Egypt's pharaoh, a title which he attributed himself, is concerned, we can observe a swift change of policies. Ptolemy opted for peace treaties through marriages he arranged for his daughters in alliances that brought him wisely more benefit than going to wars as he did in the past. In addition,
"In 290 he made his wife Berenice queen of Egypt and in 285 (possibly on June 26) appointed his younger son Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who was born to Berenice in 308, co-regent and successor. The provision for the succession, which was based on examples from the time of the pharaohs, made possible a peaceful transition when Ptolemy died in the winter of 283-282."
In the next paragraph, we have a better comprehension of Ptolemy's legacy for Egypt as we see below:
"Ptolemy won over the Egyptians through the establishment in Memphis of the Serapis cult, which fused the Egyptian and Greek religions; through restoration of the temples of the pharaohs, which had been destryoed by the Persians; and through gifts to the ancient Egyptian gods and patronage of the Egyptian nobility and priesthood. [...] He founded the Museum (Mouseion), a common workplace for scholars and artists, and established the famous library at Alexandria. Besides being a patron of the arts and sciences, he was a writer himself. In the last few years of his life Ptolemy wrote a generally reliable history of Alexander's campaigns. Although it is now lost, it can be largely reconstructed through the extensive use made of it later by the historian Arrian."
Some even might say that Ptolemy supported a mathematician named Euclid, "but found Euclid's seminal work the Elements too difficult to study, so he asked if there were an easier way to master it." In terms of his character, Ptolemy was
"Shrew and cautious, [...] had a compact and well-ordered realm to show at the end of forty years of war. His reputation for bonhomie and liberality attached the floating soldier-class of Macedonians and other Greeks to his service [...]; nor did he wholly neglect conciliation of the natives. He was a ready patron of letters, founding the Great Library of Alexandria."
As a heritance to the next generations, Ptolemy, who rose very high from a general to one of the greatest conquerors History came to know to a king whose dynasty would far from being left behind Alexander III's own deeds (though not always by comparable acts of geniously warfare state) left a military state, sometimes perceptible in "iron" managements. His son and grandson would be obliged to deal with wars to foreign kingdoms, but his dynasty would endure for the next three centuries.
Finally, it can be said that
"The early Ptolemies were occupied with the economic exploitation of Egypt, but, because of the lack of first-hand information, the details of Ptolemy's participation in the process cannot be determined. It is certain, however, that discrimination against the Egyptians took place during his reign. The only town he founded was Ptolemais in Upper Egypt. He probably placed Macedonian military commanders alongside the Egyptian provincial administrators and intervened unobtrusively in legal and financial affairs. In order to regulate the latter, he introduced coinage, which until that time was unknown in Egypt."
Bibliography:
-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ptolemy-I-Soter
-http://www.livius.org/articles/person/ptolemy-i-soter/
-https://upclosed.com/people/ptolemy-i-soter/
-https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Ptolemy-I-Soter2-Rise-to-Power.pdf
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