Episode 43 The Ptolomies

The History of Ancient Egypt

Professor Robert Brier

Film Review

A dozen Ptolemies served as pharaoh before the Romans ended Greek rule in Egypt in 31 BC.

General Ptolemy initially appointed Alexander’s intellectually disabled half-brother Phillip pharaoh until Alexander’s mother had him assassinated. He subsequently he appointed Alexander IV (Alexander’s son by a Bactrian woman) as pharaoh. After both he and Alexander’s mother were assassinated, Ptolemy assumed the throne himself. Following Egyptian custom, he married his sister.

He’s most famous for building the famous library at Alexandria (rumored to house 700,000 scrolls). The library complex also contained a museum (“place of the Muses”), which became the first think tank in history. Ptolemy financially supported scholars from all over the world to teach and study and the library. It was here that Euclid wrote his geometry in 300 BC, Eratosthenes first calculated the Earth’s circumference (the Greeks were aware the Earth was as sphere a early as 300 BC), Herophilus ascertained that the brain (not the heart) is the seat of intelligence, and the engineer Hero of Alexandria developed the world’s first steam engine.** Ptolemy also hired 70 rabbis to translate the Septuagint (the Hebrew Bible) into Greek.

Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II also built the magnificent lighthouse at Pharos, (at 423 foot high) one of the first modern skyscrapers. A fire burned continuously there, reflected by a huge bronze rotating mirror. It remained functional until 1303 AD. Ptolemy I also built two harbors at Alexandria, each accommodating 1200 ships, as well as building Egyptian temples and appointing various Egyptian priests to serve as trade administrator.

The Greeks ran Egypt like a business, with heavy taxes (10%) on all land sales and on exports of low grade emeralds and gold (both discovered by the Greeks near the Red Sea ) and grain.*** After introducing the first coinage to Egypt, the Ptolemies dominated the banking industry. Under Greek rule, there were 300,000 Greeks living in Alexandria with seven million mainly farmer inhabiting the rest of Egypt.

*According to Brier, it was sometimes used to facilitate movements by gods’ statues in temples.

**Prior to the Greeks, taxes on Egyptian producers (linen, grain, cattle, etc) were paid in kind and wages were paid in bread and beer.

***Following a major land reclamation project in the delta near Fayum, Ptolemy I substantially increased Egyptian grain production.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/1492791/1492885