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- [00:01]
Tristan Hughes
Thanks for listening to the Ancients. You can get all history hit podcasts, ad free early access and bonus episodes along with hundreds of original history documentaries by subscribing. Head over to historyhit.com subscribe hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds.
- [00:16]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [01:28]
Tristan Hughes
It'S 322 BC. The River Nile is in full flow, and on its eastern bank a group of horsemen can be seen approaching. They're not Egyptian, they're Macedonian veterans of Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire and beyond. But Alexander is dead, and now his former generals have assumed command of various parts of his empire. The man leading this group was one such figure who had come from Alexander's deathbed in Babylon to claim one of the richest jewels of Alexander's empire. Egypt, the land of pharaohs. This general had lofty ambitions. War with his rival commanders, his former brothers in arms, was on the horizon. He had to be ready. He planned to keep hold of Egypt at whatever cost, turning this lucrative land into a fortress, forging his own dynasty, and kickstarting an age where the heirs of Alexander ruled Egypt. They were high aspirations for this commander, newly arrived at the Nile. But Ptolemy was determined to achieve them. It's the entrance on History hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and today we're talking about a period of history that I'm absolutely captivated by. The aftermath of Alexander the Great's death and the figures that rose to the fore. Alexander's former generals who carved out their own kingdoms in the chaos that was the wars of the successors. We're talking about arguably the most successful of those successors, Ptolemy, the man who took Egypt as his prize and laid the foundations for the last ancient dynasty of Egypt, the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled from Alexandria and became one of the most powerful kingdoms in the Mediterranean world. A wealthy and intellectual powerhouse with great monuments such as the library of Alexandria, the lighthouse, and of course, the tomb of Alexander the Great. It was a dynasty that ended with the famous Queen Cleopatra, Cleopatra vii, when Rome finally brought this kingdom to its end. But that was almost 300 years after the original Ptolemy, Ptolemy I was ruling. It was he that laid the foundations for this extraordinary Hellenistic kingdom to rise to prominence and to talk through his incredible life story, from serving Alexander the Great to stealing that conqueror's body and crowning himself Pharaoh. I was delighted to interview Dr. Toby Wilkinson from Clare College, University of Cambridge. Toby. He has been on the podcast once before when he talked through some of the greatest discoveries from Tutankhamun's tomb. So it was great to have him back on the show to talk through the story of one of my favorite figures from antiquity. Toby, it is wonderful to have you back on the podcast.
- [04:30]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
It's wonderful to be back. Thank you for inviting me.
- [04:32]
Tristan Hughes
You're more than welcome. It's been too long since we last talked all the things, the treasures of Tutankhamun. We picked five particular objects a couple of years ago, which was very, very interesting. But I must admit we're going on to a pet favorite topic of mine. The last dynasty of ancient Egypt, the Ptolemies and the original Ptolemy. Toby, the man who founds this dynasty, he is an extraordinary figure.
- [04:55]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
He is. I mean, he starts off as a military man rising up to the top of the army under Alexander the Great, with whom he has already become great friends, even before Alexander becomes king and he ends up as pharaoh of Egypt. I mean, what an extraordinary journey in one man's lifetime and set the scene for us.
- [05:16]
Tristan Hughes
I mean, time wise, Toby, last time we were talking all about Tutankhamun, but Egyptian history, it is so long. It's ancient history. How much later are we talking about with Ptolemy I, Alexander, after, let's say, 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom Egypt.
- [05:32]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes. So our period now is the 4th century BC. So we're talking, oh, about 1100 years after the height of the New Kingdom, or a thousand years after Tutankhamun's time. Ptolemy himself was born in 367, and he is recognized as Pharaoh of Egypt in 304 and dies in 284. So we're really spanning, I suppose, the second half of the fourth century.
- [06:07]
Tristan Hughes
And as you've highlighted there, born in 367, but only crowned Pharaoh 304, that is over 60 years. So this feels important to highlight straight away, Toby, Ptolemy I, the original Ptolemy, he is not Egyptian.
- [06:20]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
No, he is not. He is of Macedonian Greek heritage. He grows up in the kingdom of Macedon under King Philip, Alexander the Great's father. He is brought up at court, at the royal court, where he gets to know the young Alexander, still then a prince, and they take lessons together. In fact, they're taught by some of the greatest thinkers of the time. And then when Alexander the Great succeeds his father as king and embarks on this extraordinary series of military campaigns to forge a new empire, his childhood friend Ptolemy becomes one of his closest lieutenants. And that would have been enough for most people's careers to follow a great military leader across the known world, conquering lands and forging an empire. But as you say, in his 60s, all sorts of other extraordinary things happened to Ptolemy.
- [07:17]
Tristan Hughes
Absolutely. And do we know when Ptolemy's fascination with Egypt begins? Because I know in Alexander's conquests, one of those conquests is the takeover of Egypt. So presumably he first sees Egypt much earlier in his life.
- [07:29]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes. So Ptolemy first visits Egypt with Alexander the great in 332. This is when Alexander is welcomed by the Egyptians as a conquering hero, mainly because he's delivered them from the hated Persians who had been ruling Egypt for a couple of centuries before Alexander's arrival. So Ptolemy arrives as a military general in the following of Alexander the Great. This is his first encounter with Egypt. And in particular, I suppose it must have been three episodes in that early visit to Egypt that would have really resonated with Ptolemy. The first was when Alexander marched to the ancient capital of Memphis, the traditional capital city of ancient Egypt for 3,000 years, to be formally recognised as pharaoh. No doubt with a whole series of elaborate ceremonials and rituals. And that depth and antiquity of ancient Egyptian civilization must have really imprinted themselves on Ptolemy. And then he follows Alexander to the remote Siwa oasis out in the Libyan desert, where there is an oracle which, surprise, surprise, proclaims that Alexander is the son of God and he is a worthy pharaoh. But again, that encounter with ancient Egyptian religion, up close and personal, must have left a really strong mark with Ptolemy. And then finally, Alexander's parting gift to Egypt before he leaves the country, never to return to continue his campaigning, is the foundation of a new city on the Mediterranean coast. Of course, we know it today as Alexandria, but the vision there for this great new metropolis that was both in Egypt, but also looking out to the wider Mediterranean world. Again, a moment of great importance in Ptolemy's life.
- [09:25]
Tristan Hughes
Very great. And that kind of sets the scene as to that fascination Ptolemy has with Egypt. And as you've mentioned there, Toby, so Alexander the Great continues his conquests. Ptolemy goes with him further east, defeating the Persians and then going as far as India. And then just under a decade later, you get Alexander the great's death in 323 BC, the massive chaos that erupts after that. And Toby set the scene for us, set the scene of this chaos. Ptolemy, how does he manage to secure Egypt in this chaos that follows Alexander's death?
- [09:58]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Well, I think this is a measure of Ptolemy's strategic and tactical brilliance, because you can well imagine that the scene after Alexander's death at Babylon, you know, he has forged, literally with his own power and might, this enormous empire that stretches all the way from the Aan to India, as you've said. And without that controlling presence, that controlling genius, the empire risks falling apart. And there are a small circle of companions around Alexander who sort of vie for supremacy and, and they want to control this empire. But I think it very quickly becomes apparent that nobody really other than Alexander himself could hold this whole empire together. And so you start to get people jostling for position to inherit parts of his kingdom. And what happens is that different members of Alexander's former inner circle make bids for power. And Ptolemy's very shrewd here because, you know, he's been to Egypt, he's witnessed the country, and in particular the country's huge agricultural wealth. That must have made an impression on him. Egypt, with the fertility of the Nile, was famed throughout the ancient world as a kind of great breadbasket, a great supplier of food and other commodities. And it also had the great advantage, compared to other parts of Alexander's empire, of being relatively easily defended. Egypt sits within natural borders. The Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea to the east, the Sahara Desert to the west. And so, unlike parts of Asia, parts of the Greek world, Egypt is much easier to kind of defend as a kingdom on its own terms. And so Ptolemy evidently decides if I want a piece of the action. The best bet for me, both in terms of being easily defended from aggression and in terms of being a really wealthy kingdom, is Egypt. And he has the advantage of having been there and known something of the lay of the land. So he, very quickly, after Alexander's death, makes his way to Egypt and is recognized not as king immediately, but as governor of Egypt, Satrap, to use the Persian term for the governor. But very quickly, you know, he starts to effectively rule Egypt, even though he is nominally paying homage to Alexander's designated successors. That state of affairs really continues for, well, nearly 20 years until eventually logic dictates that Ptolemy is recognized as king and he's acclaimed as pharaoh, and so begins the reign of the first of the last dynasty.
- [12:56]
Tristan Hughes
I mean, Toby, it is absolutely fascinating. Before we kind of go on chronologically, I feel I must take a step back, because as you've beautifully elaborated then, it seems we do know quite a bit about Ptolemy's background, his story with Alexander and that immediate aftermath, how he takes control of Egypt. How do we know this? What types of sources do we have? I'm guessing we have texts, if it's around the time of Alexander. But do we have other types of sources, too?
- [13:21]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes, it's a very good question. So there are a number of accounts of Alexander the Great's life, campaigning, and death written by his biographers, and they helped to elucidate some of the details around both the campaigning, but also the political machinations that followed Alexander's death. And Ptolemy himself was also a noted scholar. I mean, as I say, he'd had lessons with the young Alexander. They'd been taught by no less a person than Aristotle. He thought of himself as a scholar as much as a war leader. And so he also encouraged around him people to compile histories, to compile natural histories, and to record and write about him and his reign and the land of Egypt. So actually, our documentary evidence for the Ptolemaic period is very rich and diverse.
- [14:16]
Tristan Hughes
That's interesting. So one of the sources there, Toby, which I find fascinating with Ptolemy, is that he's quite a good PR man, isn't he? He's almost like Julius Caesar or Darius the Great in the fact that he writes about himself. And I'm guessing with his own account, he puts himself in quite a good light.
- [14:32]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
He does. I mean, he is an early example, in a long line that stretches all the way down to Winston Churchill and beyond, of people writing their own accounts of great military campaigns which portray them in the best possible light. But I think even cutting through that spin, there's no doubting Ptolemy's huge accomplishment. I mean, he not only creates Egypt as his own kingdom, but he sets up buffer zones around Egypt which ensure that Egypt retains its autonomy, retains its independence for the next 300 years, unlike all the other parts of Alexander's former empire, which get conquered and reconquered successively. So he is a master of spin, but he's also a master of political and military strategy, there's no doubt about that.
- [15:26]
Tristan Hughes
I'm very happy you mentioned those buffer zones. We'll get to those quickly. But I must ask one other question in Ptolemy's kind of consolidating of his control over Egypt, because that aftermath of Alexander's death, Toby, I mean, the wars are the successors, one of the most chaotic, tumultuous times in ancient history. And surely given how lucrative and as you said, defendable Egypt was, surely other figures, soon enough they start looking at Ptolemy in Egypt and thinking, actually, I want to take control of that for myself. Does Ptolemy in those early years, is it very much him having, I mean, to fight for his spear, one possession that he has to defend and win to maintain control?
- [16:04]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
He absolutely does. And this is where his brilliance as a military tactician come to the fore. There was no doubt that other of Alexander's successors would have loved Egypt as part of their realm. And indeed, in 312, so this is just over a decade after Alexander's death, there is an attempted invasion of Egypt by one of the other successors. But what Ptolemy does really, from the word go, from the moment of Alexander's death, from the moment that Ptolemy arrives in Egypt, he starts to build up his own military force, because I think he knows that an attack won't be long in coming. So he builds his own defenses. But as I've said, he also adopts a very clever strategy of surrounding Egypt proper, which is always going to be the heart of his kingdom with a series of buffer zones. So, for example, he conquers Cyprus and takes control of that island, which is a key strategic location in the eastern Mediterranean. He annexes Cyrenaica, which is modern day coastal Libya, so protecting Egypt from invasion from the west. So he puts in place pieces of a kind of geographical jigsaw puzzle around Egypt, not really with the intention of conquering a larger empire, but absolutely as a defensive ring, a sort of cordon sanitaire around Egypt, because what he wants to preserve above all is the integrity of the Nile Valley as his new kingdom.
- [17:33]
Tristan Hughes
And I guess also, Toby, in that you've got, and I know you looked at this a lot because this seems to be a constant area of tension between Ptolemy, his successors and these other kingdoms that formed following Alexander the Great's death. This area of the ancient name is Sealy, Syria. So that Syrian coastline.
- [17:51]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes, I mean, of course coastal Syria had been conquered by Egyptian pharaohs. I mean, way back in the New Kingdom, before Tutankhamun's time, it was rich in natural resources, the great timber stands in Lebanon, access to minerals and other raw materials. And it was also of huge strategic importance as an outpost to, you know, to prevent invasion from those other great kingdoms of the ancient world, whether that be Assyria or Persia. So it was always of strategic interest to Egypt and is likewise of strategic interest to Ptolemy. So yes, coastal Syria is another part of his sort of defensive ring around Egypt and that is fought over the successive generations regularly. But nonetheless, Ptolemy's initial vision for encircling Egypt with a kind of protective ring of steel holds. And the result is that Egypt is the longest lived of the post Alexander kingdoms. It's the last one to give up the ghost under the famous Cleopatra, when all the others have fallen to the might of Rome long before.
- [19:05]
Tristan Hughes
You're absolutely right there. And I feel one other object, body we should talk about, that seems closely entwined with Ptolemy's vision. And of course the whole legacy of the Ptolemies, the successors of Ptolemy I, is Alexander the Great's body. Yes, this is big, isn't it? How does Alexander the Great's body ending up in Ptolemy's possession? It is quite the story.
- [19:27]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
It is quite a story and it really illustrates the sort of talisman, Germanic quality of Alexander the Great in death as well as in life. So Alexander dies in Babylon in 323 and he's laid down quite careful instructions for his funeral and burial. And his intention was that he should be taken back to the ancestral royal burial ground in Macedonia for burial there. And so the body sets out in a great sort of funeral procession from Babylon destined for Macedon an awfully long way and would have taken a great deal of time. Well, it makes its way through Persia, through Mesopotamia, through Syria and then it's hijacked en route. Ptolemy sends his, you know, trusted team, his A list team, to carry out one of the most audacious acts in ancient history, which is to capture, to seize Alexander's body en route to its originally designed burial place. And he diverts the funeral cortege from Syria southwards to Egypt, you know, at the point of a spear. So Alexander's body is brought to Egypt and this becomes incredibly important symbolically for Ptolemy if he's presenting himself as Alexander's successor and as a legitimate pharaoh, what more powerful symbol could he have in his new kingdom? Than the body of his predecessor. And I think here he's also tapping into this very ancient Egyptian belief, which is that how does somebody become a legitimate pharaoh? They become a legitimate pharaoh by overseeing the burial of their predecessor. That was a rule that was sort of hardwired into ancient Egyptian thought for hundreds, if not thousands of years. And so Ptolemy, by presiding over the reburial of Alexander initially at Memphis and then subsequently in Alexandria itself, he is saying, I am the legitimate heir of Alexander because I have buried his body and I have given him his funeral rights in accordance with tradition. So it's a brilliant and audacious plan, but it works. And the result is that Ptolemy and his dynasty sort of become unimpeachably pharaonic.
- [22:07]
Tristan Hughes
Absolutely. And it's so interesting, isn't it, because he then is able to fend off this invasion by another of the successors, a man called Perdiccas, and that helps Ptolemy keep control of Alexander's body. And you mentioned something really interesting there, first of all, Toby, because when someone mentions the Ptolemies, you might immediately think Alexandria. But at least at the early stages of Ptolemy I's reign, Alexandria is still being built and his capital is in fact that old traditional Egyptian capital further south along the River Nile at Memphis.
- [22:37]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes. What's really interesting about Ptolemy, and again, I think it gives you a sense of the man and his brilliance as a political strategist. He doesn't do what a lot of invaders might do and simply surround himself with a small coterie of his fellow Macedonians. He deliberately brings into the highest echelons of government, native Egyptians, people indeed, who have served under the last native Egyptian pharaoh.
- [23:05]
Tristan Hughes
And who was that, by the way, Toby, if you're saying that the Persians were in Egypt before Alexander, because that seems going quite a bit further back.
- [23:11]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yeah. So the Persians, this is a complicated history. The Persians had first conquered Egypt in around 525. They'd held control of Egypt for quite a long period. They'd then been ousted by a dynasty of native Egyptian pharaohs who we call the 30th dynasty. And then after the last of the native pharaohs, Nectar Nebo ii, the Persians had come back in and had ruled Egypt for a matter of decades before Alexander arrived. So it was a bit of a to and fro. But there had been this last native pharaoh, Nectarbo ii, born and raised in Egypt, and men who had served under him were brought back into the government by Ptolemy because they knew Egypt better than anybody else. And he was also presenting himself not so much as a conqueror, but as a new legitimate pharaoh. And so he wanted to buy the loyalty and the support of the native population as well. And this means he's ruling from Memphis, the traditional capital. He's advised by a number of key figures from the Egyptian aristocracy. And so it's much easier for him to gain traction as a foreign ruler of Egypt because he's wrapping himself in pharaonic clothes, quite literally and metaphorically. And as you say, for the first decades of his time in Egypt, Alexandria is being built. And one of the amusing things here is that the ancient Egyptians continue to refer to Alexandria as the building site. That's their nickname for Alexandria, and long after it's been finished and inaugurated as a great capital city, they still somewhat contemptuously refer to it. Oh, the building site.
- [25:00]
Tristan Hughes
Is this the Egyptian world Rakotis?
- [25:02]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
It is. It's rached in ancient Egyptian. It becomes Rakotis in its Greek form, and it simply means the building site, which was their rather pejorative description of the greatest city in the ancient world. I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and on Not Just the Tudors From History Hit we do admittedly cover quite a lot of Tudors, from the rise of Henry VII to the death of Henry viii, from Anne Boleyn to her daughter Elizabeth I. But we also do lots that's not Tudors, murderers, mistresses, pirates and witches. Clues in the title really. So follow not just the Tudors from.
- [25:51]
Tristan Hughes
History hit wherever you get your podcasts.
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- [27:05]
Tristan Hughes
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Dr. Toby Wilkinson
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Tristan Hughes
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Tristan Hughes
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- [28:15]
Tristan Hughes
It's so clever of Ptolemy, isn't it? Especially as you say, he is at the end of the day a foreign ruler. I mean he is not a royal blood. He's a general Macedonian coming in, taking control of Egypt, slowly consolidating his rule not just by linking Alexander the Great to his governing of Egypt, but also the last native Egyptian pharaoh. Do you start seeing very quickly Ptolemy for that idea of legitimacy, linking himself not just with Alexander, but also that last Egyptian pharaoh, Nectarbo II too?
- [28:47]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes, and there's one very important way in which he does that. So Ptolemy knows, because he's a brilliant scholar, but he's also being well advised by native Egyptians. He knows that one of the core duties of an Egyptian pharaoh is to build and beautify the temples of the gods. And that's how pharaohs are judged by posterity. And he embarks very quickly. In fact, even before he's recognized as king, even while he's still satrap governor of Egypt, he embarks upon a program of restoring and beautifying the temples. But not just any temples. He's very clever in choosing temples that were either built or added to by Nectunebo ii. And then he starts to complete that work and beautify them further. And that's a very deliberate policy on Ptolemy's part, linking himself with the last native Egyptian pharaoh and saying I am continuing the work of Nectarbo ii, I am his legitimate successor. Not only am I Alexander's legitimate successor, but I'm Also now casting myself as the heir to Neptunebo ii, carrying on his program of temple construction. So the strategic aims are just brilliantly executed.
- [30:06]
Tristan Hughes
And should we also say here, Toby, as we kind of alluded to at the start, getting in the mindset of someone like Ptolemy, as you hinted, as you mentioned, a great scholar, but also for all those others like Alexander the Great and so on, would they have all viewed Egyptian culture as being incredibly ancient and prestigious?
- [30:23]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes. I mean, even starting with Herodotus a couple of centuries earlier, the Greeks had a fascination for Egypt. They recognized that its civilization was of great antiquity. It was also thought of as the source of great wisdom and knowledge. And Greeks had been in Egypt for a long time. I mean, Greek traders first arrived in Egypt in the 6th century. So there was a certain degree of knowledge in the wider Greek world about ancient Egypt and a huge respect and wonder at its civilization. And so both for Alexander and for Ptolemy, they are embracing something of kind of almost mystical importance. And although Ptolemy is a very clear sighted man, you know, he's a very scholarly man, he's a very good tactician. I think he also recognizes the deep spiritual significance of Pharaonic civilization and seeks to build on that in a way that previous foreign conquerors of Egypt had not done. So he does absolutely embrace what it is to be a pharaoh. And I think this is what makes the last dynasty such a long lived and successful dynasty, is that they're not ruling Egypt as foreigners, although they are foreigners and most of them don't speak Egyptian. They are trying to rule Egypt as legitimate pharaohs. And that really is what makes them unique in the post Alexander world.
- [32:05]
Tristan Hughes
And I know that the large amount of our chat is focused on just Ptolemy the first, but I feel it's a great microcosm for, as you hinted at there, Toby, understanding the long lasting success of the Ptolemies and the practices that endure, I said that ensure this dynasty continues, albeit, let's be honest, there was quite a bit of backstabbing in the court as we might get to as time goes on. But in regards to kind of acting like pharaohs, like Ptolemy, I. Do we see this in how Ptolemy depicts himself in art too?
- [32:34]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes. And here we get a sense of the two aspects, the two faces quite literally of Ptolemaic rule. Ptolemy and his successors have quite a difficult balancing act. They have to present themselves to the native population of Egypt as legitimate pharaohs. But they're also facing another direction. They're facing towards the Mediterranean world. They're facing towards the Greek speaking world, and indeed large numbers of Greek speaking immigrants who flood into Alexandria and more widely into Egypt under the Ptolemies. So for that audience, Ptolemy has to present himself as a sort of hero, a heroic figure in the Greek tradition, and you see this in the art. If the king is commissioning portable sculpture for a Greek context, it will show Ptolemy as a Greek heroic leader with the sort of tousled locks that Alexander made famous statuary in the Greek tradition. But in the temples of Egypt, he's shown exactly as pharaohs had been shown for centuries and millennia, according to the styles and traditions of ancient Egyptian art. He bears a series of Greek titles, but he also wraps himself in the full Pharaonic titulary of the pharaohs of old. So he is facing quite literally two ways, but using art, architecture and religion to do both of those things at the same time, to portray himself as a legitimate heroic Greek leader, but also as a fully fledged pharaoh.
- [34:10]
Tristan Hughes
Does coinage also come into this? Because sometimes we always overlook coins, but they're so interesting sometimes for getting more of an idea of that portrayal of the ruler and how far it stretches.
- [34:21]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Coinage is largely unknown in ancient Egypt, but it is very much a feature of the Greek world. And the coins minted by Ptolemy I and his successors are really aimed, I would say, at the wider Greek world, which is where coinage is in greater use as a medium of exchange. So the iconography of Ptolemaic coinage speaks to the Greek aspect of Ptolemaic rule. And you see the same sort of elements that you would see on the coins of Alexander and other post Alexander rulers that perhaps starts to break down a little bit later on in the Ptolemaic period, when, to be frank, the shine has slightly worn off the Ptolemaic dynasty in Greek eyes, but they're still very much regarded as legitimate pharaohs by the Egyptians. And then you start to see more Pharaonic iconography sort of creeping into the coinage. So it is quite an interesting lens through which to examine the changing face, the changing portrayal of Ptolemaic rule before.
- [35:21]
Tristan Hughes
We go on to Alexandria and a bit more on governing. And I'd like to talk a bit about his family and then legacy. Toby, I'd like to just quickly ask a little bit more about that, that key date that you've mentioned already. I think you said 304bc, when Ptolemy goes from governor from satrap to king to pharaoh. And so this is basically almost two decades since Alexander the Great's death. The official heirs of Alexander that you've also mentioned in Passing, they're both dead. By this time, it'd been two decades of chaos and turbulence with the successor wars. Why does Ptolemy then decide that that is the time to take that? And let's remember, this is a huge step for someone who wasn't born into royalty to take this huge step of becoming a king.
- [36:04]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes, it is. And he's very cautious. I mean, as you can tell, he waits nearly two decades before making a sort of reality of the situation and adopting royal titles. The trigger for this is actually the adoption of royal titles by the rulers of other parts of Alexander's empire. So when the ruler of the Asian domains and the ruler of Macedon and the Greek domains, when they adopt royal titles, essentially saying, you know what, Alexander's dynasty is over, his successors are dead. We're the new rulers now, and you know, we're going to make ourselves kings. It's only when they do that that Ptolemy follows suit. I suppose maybe this is down to his deep loyalty to Alexander, his childhood friend. He maintains this sort of veneer that Alexander's successors are ruling and reigning until really that becomes an untenable position. Everybody else has said, no, this is over, we're the new kings. And then Ptolemy follows suit. So he is quite cautious. That's probably the only area in which he shows a degree of caution. And I think you can possibly ascribe it to his lingering loyalty for Alexander. But of course, what it does then is simply confirm what has already been effective on the ground, which is Ptolemy is the monarch. He is the sole ruler. And as far as the Egyptians are concerned, he's kind of been a pharaoh for the last 20 years anyway, even if he wasn't formally designated as such.
- [37:37]
Tristan Hughes
I mean, absolutely. I mean, you mentioned that kind of strong loyalty to Alexander. So is the cult of Alexander. Well, first with Ptolemy and then his successors, of all places in the Mediterranean, is it particularly strong in Egypt that almost he becomes like an ancient Egyptian God? Almost?
- [37:53]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Well, yes. I mean, Alexander the Great was careful to patronize some of the key temples during his very short stay in Egypt. So putting himself in the long line of traditional pharaohs and the siege of Alexander's body by Ptolemy does give the Ptolemaic dynasty this very special kind of seal of approval. And indeed, it's very telling that that Ptolemy and his successors are buried in the same mausoleum as Alexander in Alexandria. It's almost as if the presence of the great conqueror himself lends legitimacy to the entire dynasty that follows. And I'm sure Ptolemy would have wanted himself to be seen as not the founder of a new dynasty perhaps, but as the successor of both Alexander and of Neptunebo ii. So yeah, it's a rather kind of nuanced way of presenting himself because as you say, he wasn't born into royalty, he assumes royalty. But one of the ways in which he makes that a success is by taking on the trappings and the aura of these two great figures of the past. Nectinibo, the last Egyptian pharaoh, and Alexander the Great.
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Tristan Hughes
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Dr. Toby Wilkinson
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- [40:32]
Tristan Hughes
Well, let's move on to Alexandria. So Toby, you've mentioned how when Ptolemy begins his reign, Alexandria still very much a building site, then that kind of cheeky quip of Alexandria by the Egyptians. When does Ptolemy decide to take that step of moving from the traditional capital of Memphis to relocating to right by the Mediterranean coast and establishing his capital at Alexandria.
- [40:58]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes, I mean, it's quite late in his reign actually. You know, I suppose it's really signaled by the move of Alexander's body from Memphis to Alexandria. That kind of signals that Alexandria is now the new capital. And it's a mistake to think that Alexandria was all kind of done and dusted. It remains a building site for many, many decades. Its initial layout is dictated by Alexander the Great himself. He lays out the the axes of the principal roads. He sets his seal on what he wants his city to become and the key monuments and buildings that will be part of it. I mean, Alexandria seems to be formally designated the capital around 311. So this is what 12 years after Alexander's death, 12 years after Ptolemy has become satrap, 10 years, really a decade after Alexander's body has been brought to Egypt. But it remains a work in progress for some considerable time. And one mustn't think that Alexandria immediately eclipses Memphis. Memphis remains an important administrative centre for the whole of the Nile Valley, both in commercial, political and indeed in religious terms. So Alexandria is the sort of Mediterranean facing capital in Egypt. But Memphis retains a huge importance, as indeed does Thebes, as the great religious centre further south.
- [42:26]
Tristan Hughes
And you've said how he's building or adding more buildings to those of previous pharaohs like Nectar, Nebo, these temples and so on along the River Nile. But at Alexandria itself, are there any particular grand monuments or art that Ptolemy is very much the patron of that he decides to fund when he moves his capital there to kind of further adorn this capital that's being built?
- [42:50]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
I mean, undoubtedly Ptolemy's greatest legacy to Alexandria, to the Mediterranean world, indeed to human history, is the museum, the Temple of the Muses in Alexandria, which is designed to be a new scholarly academy. I mean, it's been called the first university in world history. You know, the history of that is very interesting. Ptolemy was a great scholar, as we've already discussed. He also recognizes that scholarship is one of the ways in which you claim glory in the ancient Greek world. Athens is famed not only for its political dynamism, but above all as a great centre of scholarship. And Ptolemy wants to seize Athens crown as the great centre of learning in the ancient world. And so he invites a man called Demetrios of Phaleron to come from Athens to Alexandria and set up an academy which is deliberately designed to rival Plato's academy in Athens. And it's called the Museion Museum in Latin, which means a temple of the Muses. But in fact it was a bit like a modern college. It was designed to provide board and lodging for scholars. In fact, they were paid stipends by the state so that they didn't have to worry about earning a living. They could simply devote themselves to scholarship. There were communal dining areas, there were shady porticos where scholars could walk and debate. Museon held drinking parties and debates on great topics of interest. And eventually a library is founded to accompany this scholarly academy, which turns into the great library of Alexandria and the greatest repository of knowledge in the ancient world. And I think that above all is Ptolemy's great legacy, as I say, to human history as well as to the history of Egypt.
- [44:56]
Tristan Hughes
And it's also really interesting Isn't it? Because you said the museum, and then other people think of like the Lighthouse of Alexandria and all those kind of big monuments, isn't it? But many of those things, do they come after Ptolemy I, or is it much later that they're kind of seen in all their glory? But Ptolemy I, he almost sets the benchmark for many of these things that we come to associate with Alexandria.
- [45:17]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
That's right. I mean, the museum and the library, they're up and running before Ptolemy I's death. So they very much begin during his reign and they're subsequently enlarged and aggrandized in future reigns. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, the famous Pharos, that also seems to have been initiated very late in Ptolemy's reign. But it's really a monument that we associate more with his successor, Ptolemy ii. But I think there's no doubt that while Alexander the Great set the blueprint for Alexandria in terms of the layout of the city, it's Ptolemy I who fashions that into a great dynastic capital, a centre of culture, a center of commerce, a jewel in the crown of Ptolemaic Egypt that attracts settlers, fortune seekers from across the Mediterranean world, and remains this most extraordinary of cities and arguably the greatest metropolis in the ancient world. That, I think, is Ptolemy I's legacy.
- [46:23]
Tristan Hughes
And before we completely wrap up his legacy, I'd also like to ask about his family. Do we know much about Ptolemy's family? Are there any big kind of family troubles, or is it very much? Is he able to kind of keep a lid on that as well as he sets up his dynasty?
- [46:36]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Well, I mean, yes, Ptolemy I perhaps is the least complicated of all of the Ptolemaic rulers in terms of his family relationships, because they were a dynasty known for their internecine bloodshed and all sorts of very strange goings on. Ptolemy I, he marries three times. I mean, one of those wives is at the mass wedding in Susa when Alexander encourages all of his close circle to marry Iranian women. As soon as Alexander's off the scene, Ptolemy very quickly divorces that wife and marries a woman of similar Greek origins to himself. So he has a relatively stable family life once he's ensconced in Egypt. But as I say, things go downhill fairly rapidly after that. And one of the characteristics of the Ptolemies is brothers marrying sisters and uncles marrying nieces and all sorts of strange goings on and murders and incest. But that, I think we probably can't lay that at the feet of Ptolemy I. I think that's his successors who really kind of weave that tangled web.
- [47:43]
Tristan Hughes
And does it end quite well for Toby is that you got Ptolemy II so his son and successor. But there's so many other figures from this, you know, former generals of Alexander the Great, who, let's face it, they don't have a good end. They're normally murdered or they're killed in battle. With Ptolemy I, does he actually have quite a good death and end, at least compared to others at the time?
- [48:02]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Yes, he does. And you know, what is pretty remarkable is that, you know, he dies into his 80s. You know, in the ancient world, this is an extraordinary age for anybody to achieve, let alone somebody who's lived such a, a colorful life on the battlefield and so on. He can look back on his life with a huge sense of accomplishment. He has, uniquely amongst Alexander's successors, forged a kingdom that is secure in its own borders and prosperous. He has established a new city as the glittering capital of his kingdom and as a magnet for the wider world, he set it up as a great centre of learning to rival Athens. He has a dynasty in the making, he has a son and heir who he very shrewdly appoints as co ruler before his own death to ensure a smooth succession. So really uniquely amongst Alexander's successors, Ptolemy is a success story. And the legacy of that is a kingdom that remains strong, prosperous and crucially independent for the next two and a half centuries, which is a unique accomplishment.
- [49:15]
Tristan Hughes
I mean, Toby, it is fascinating because sometimes I think we look at Alexander and then we look at Rome, knowing with that hindsight that Rome is ultimately going to become the top dog in that area of the world. But you've kind of answered my final question to you, which would have been, does it seem his significance as him laying the groundwork for this powerful, intellectual rich powerhouse in the eastern Mediterranean? I mean, before the rise of Rome, surely Ptolemaic Egypt, it will become the superpower of the time in the eastern Mediterranean. And a lot of that goes back to Ptolemy.
- [49:44]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
It does indeed. I mean, it becomes the most significant political power in this so called Hellenistic period, the period between the death of Alexander and the rise of Rome. Ptolemaic Egypt is the sort of the stable factor in what is a very unpredictable part of the world. And you know, its longevity, its success, its prosperity, all part of Ptolemy's vision. And I think it just reinforces once again our impression of a man with extraordinary abilities tactically and strategically. A great statesman, great general, a great scholar, really one of the most accomplished figures I think in the whole of ancient history.
- [50:26]
Tristan Hughes
I completely agree and I was very grateful that you allowed us to focus in on this particular figure today. Toby, this has been brilliant and you cover the story the rise reign of Ptolemy the First and the other Ptolemies in your new book which is called.
- [50:40]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
The Last Dynasty Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra.
- [50:45]
Tristan Hughes
Fantastic. Toby, it just goes for me to say thank you so much for coming back on the podcast.
- [50:49]
Dr. Toby Wilkinson
Been a great pleasure. Thank you.
- [50:55]
Tristan Hughes
Well, there you go. There was Dr. Toby Wilkinson talking you through the extraordinary rise and reign of Ptolemy I and how he forged the great Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. What an interview that was. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Ancients. Please follow this show on Spotify or wherever you get to your podcasts. It really helps us and you'll be doing us a big favour. Don't forget you can also listen to us and all of History Hit's podcasts ad free and watch hundreds of TV documentaries when you subscribe@historyhit.com subscribe as a special gift. You can also get 50% off your first three months when you use code Ancients at checkout.
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