Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/769

745 PTOLEMIES.] wealthy, in Egyptian towns, where a Greek was rarely seen, and the king only appeared in the character of a Pharaoh to show respect to the religion of the country. The learned men of both races drew nearer together, and Greek speculation had its effect on Egyptian thought. The less cultivated settlers were attracted by the native superstitions, and at last the Alexandrian was far more an Egyptian than even a Macedonian. On the division of Alexander s dominions, Egypt fell to the share of Ptolemy, son of Lagus and Arsinoe, a con cubine of Philip s, whose son he was supposed to have been. Of all Alexander s generals he was the most far-sighted. Instead of aiming at the rule of the empire, he secured the least exposed province and employed its resources rather for defence than offence. One of his first acts was to divert the burial of Alexander from Macedon to Egypt. The body was taken to Memphis, but under Ptolemy s successor it was removed to Alexandria, so that the conqueror rested in the city he had founded. His first conquest was the Cyrenaica (B.C. 322), a valuable province outside the field of the contests of his rivals, yet greatly useful for naval enterprises against them. Yet he did not declare himself independent ; as a subject of the phantom kings Philip Aridoeus and Alexander ^Egus, he inscribed their names in his restorations of Egyptian temples, and alone of all the generals struck money in the name of ^Egus so long as that last heir of Alexander lived. He was not long left in undisturbed occupation of his government. The regent Perdiccas, finding that Ptolemy was engaged in a league against his authority, marched into Egypt, B.C. 321; but the resistance of Ptolemy and a mutiny in the invader s army, which resulted in his death, delivered Egypt from this danger. The succeeding years were occupied in attempts to add Coele-Syria and Phoenicia to the Egyptian dominions, which can scarcely be considered rash when we remember the importance of these provinces to the security of Egypt against invasion, and for winning of the mari time supremacy of the eastern Mediterranean. During this time Cyprus was made a dependency, and the Cyrenaica, which had revolted, was finally reduced by Ptolemy s step-son Magas. A great calamity now arrested the growing power of Egypt, when Demetrius, son of Antigonus, defeated Ptolemy in a sea-fight off Salamis of Cyprus (B.C. 306). Antigonus then assumed the royal diadem, and Ptolemy followed his example. Antigonus and Demetrius immediately attacked Egypt, but without success ; and Ptolemy, rapidly recovering his strength, aided the Rhodians when besieged by Demetrius (B.C. 305-4). It is related that when the siege was raised the Rhodians gave Ptolemy, as their &quot; preserver,&quot; the title of 5am7p. This appears in his hieroglyphic inscrip tions as his distinctive title, and upon the coins of his successors struck in his name in Phoenicia. After this Ptolemy again attempted without success the conquest of Ccele-Syria and Phoenicia, but ultimately seized and held Cyprus, B.C. 295, which thus became a part of the Egyptian monarchy for nearly its whole duration. His later years were passed in consolidating his power. Seleucus was master of a Syrian empire, too firmly ruled to be attacked with any chance of success, and stretching too far eastwards to make its master aggressive on the Egyptian border. The government of Egypt was assured by the care taken to maintain and increase the Greek element in the country. Alexandria was made a seat of Hellenic culture, and if it is not absolutely certain that Ptolemy founded the Library and the Museum, he undoubtedly gathered the necessary intellectual materials. The great Greek colony of Ptolemais, in the Thebais, was established. Thus the native and foreign elements were kept apart, conflicts avoided, and strong Hellenic centres secured. The 745 Egyptians were flattered by the arrival of the image of Sarapis from Sinope and the spread over Egypt, under the king s influence, of a Hellenic form of their religion. The king s portrait on his coins shows us him in old age, and is distinguished by resolution, keenness, and craft. Having ruled thirty-eight years, the old king abdicated in favour of his young son Philadelphus, chosen to the prejudice of his elder brothers (B.C. 285), and died two years later (B.C. 283). Ptolemy Philadelphus ruled for thirty-eight years of almost undisturbed peace. His half-brother Magas, probably soon after the death of Ptolemy Soter, declared himself king in Cyrenaica, and attempted to invade Egypt. Ptolemy remained on the defensive, and at last a treaty was signed by which Ptolemy, heir of the Egyptian crown, and Berenice, heiress of Cyrenaica, were betrothed, Magas retaining the power if not the name of king. Philadelphus was also fortunate in recovering Phoenicia and Ccele-Syria. This probably took place not much before B.C. 266, for that is the earliest date in the series of coins struck at Tyre during his reign. He secured the friendship of the Phoenician and Palestinian coast-towns, by granting them a degree of autonomy, for their coins, though dated in his reign, were struck at each town, and bear not his name but that of his father. In Egypt lie paid great attention to the extension of commerce. He reopened the canal of the Red Sea and established a desert route from Coptos to Berenice on the coast which he had founded. He made war in Ethiopia, but according to his custom he was content to be on friendly terms with the Ethiopian king Ergamenes. His Ethiopian expedition led to his establishing a station for the purpose of securing a supply of elephants for war. An ambassador was sent to India. Thus the trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, and India was secured for Egypt, and continued to enrich it for eighteen centuries. Not less wisely Philadelphus made Alexandria, with the Museum and Library, the heart of the learning of Greece. Many cities were founded by him, or like Ptolema is in Galilee, refounded. In his long reign there was little expenditure but such as was calculated to enrich his empire. At his death his dominions equalled those of his father. He held Cyprus, much of the coast of Asia Minor, the Cyclades, and part of Ethiopia and Arabia. The Cyrenaica was only to be separated for the life of Magas. He twice married. His second wife was Arsinoe II., his full sister, whom he married in accordance with Egyptian rather than Greek notions. She was a woman of great beauty and force of character, and much loved by her husband. The character of Philadelphus is marked by the craft rather than the force of his father s ; but he inherited to the full his love of literature and his love of pleasure, both undisturbed by warlike ambition. He is the last representative of the old Greek &quot; tyrannos,&quot; whom Pindar has made known to us, rather than one of the restless &quot;diadochoi.&quot; Ptolemy Euergetes, son of Philadelphus and Arsinoe I., by his accession, B.C. 247, reunited the Cyrenaica to the Egyptian empire. A quarrel between Egypt and Syria immediately broke out. The Syrian king Antiochus II. had married a daughter of Philadelphus. She was now put away, and, as well as Antiochus, murdered by her rival, his first wife Laodice, who set up her son Seleucus II. Ptolemy invaded Syria, which he speedily subdued, and then following the traditions of Egyptian conquest, he passed the Euphrates and reduced the whole of the eastern dominions of Seleucus. He returned to Egypt with vast treasures, including the statues of the gods which Cambyses had carried away, and which he restored to the temples. At sea he was equally fortunate, and the maritime territories of Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean were greatly enlarged. For a moment the old Egyptian Empire was again revived VII. - 94