Thirty-Third Dynasty

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

305 to 30 BC

The Ptolemaic Dynasty lasted just short of 300 years, but was one of Egypt’s most complex historical periods due in no small part to the growing influence of foreign powers.  The Macedonian and Roman empires were larger and more cosmopolitan than any previous hegemony, and as a result Egypt experienced unprecedented cultural intersections.  Greek and Roman values, religions, and traditions came together into the Egyptian melting pot, sometimes with remarkable philosophical, scientific, and architectural results.

Ptolemaic pharaohs all took the name Ptolemy, and their queens took the names Cleopatra, Arsinoe, or Berenice.  The timeline of the Ptolemaic Dynasty is as difficult to follow as the Intermediate Periods because there are frequent co-regencies, kings and queens sometimes fall out of power only to regain it, and several kings come to violent ends very early in their reign.  But it is also a period of cultural growth and some of Egypt’s most beautiful temples and monuments are either constructed or restored during this time.

Women wielded a great deal of power in the Ptolemaic Period, with queens ruling as both co-regent and independently.  The most well-known is Cleopatra VII, who became politically and romantically embroiled with the two most powerful men in Rome, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.  Things did not end well for any of those involved.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty ended with the suicide of Cleopatra VII.  Around 30 BC, Emperor Octavian makes Egypt a Roman province, and for the next 400 years Egypt is ruled from Rome.  In the year AD 395 the Roman Empire is divided and Egypt falls under the control of the Byzantine Empire, ruled from Constan-tinople.  In AD 640 the armies of Amr ibn al-‘As invade Egypt, heralding in the Islamic Age. 

The search for the famous queen of the Ptolemaic Dynasty has been tightening around Alexandria in recent years, and this year’s dig season could bring us even closer.  Also, Dr. Hawass confirms an item from our October checklist!

Source Article-  Ria Novosti:  “Egyptian archaeologists to search for Cleopatra”

It is the quintessential story of star-crossed lovers.  Long before there was Romeo and Juliet, there was Mark Antony and Cleopatra.  Whether you prefer saucy Claudette Colbert in the 1934 Cecil B. Demille classic, divaesque Liz Taylor in the 1963 epic, or the uber-hot Lyndsey Marshal of HBO’s Rome, Cleopatra is the very image of the woman for whom you would give it all up. 

As for Zahi Hawass, he gives us another October promise.  According to Ria Novosti, the search will begin in earnest in mid-October, so while there is no promise of results, we do have one more reason to welcome the mild winds of October.

We also have a reaffirmation for our check list, A Banner Month for Egyptology.  “Hawass also said that Egyptian authorities would next week demand a Nefertiti bust from a Berlin museum as Cairo has proof the artifact was taken out of the country illegally,” says Ria Novosti.

If you are participating in an October betting pool, you might want to put Nefertiti’s bust close to the top.  As for what the Germans will do, that is another matter altogether.  So far they have dug in for a long fight, and  with Dr. Hawass set to retire next year, time may be on  their side.  But regardless of the outcome, they will always have the bust of Cleopatra.

Photographs ”DSC093719.JPG” by E. Michael Smith, and “Stamps of Germany (Berlin) 1984, MiNr 708.jpg” by Nightflyer, are provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright by Keith Payne, 2009, all rights reserved.