Ptolemy's & Cleopatra!

In June 323 B.C.E., when Alexander the Great died suddenly in Babylon, his Macedonian generals scrambled for the remains of his empire. The general Ptolemy, a tough and shrewd man, desired two things, Alexander's body and Egypt. In the Egyptian Oasis of Siwah the oracle of Amon saluted Alexander as the son of the god which turned him into a conqueror and a cult-hero and a god.

Ptolemy became satrap of Egypt and while the other generals were engaged elsewhere, Ptolemy waylaid the funeral procession and took the hero's body to Memphis and held it there until a fitting tomb in Alexander was prepared.

After numerous maneuvers with Macedonian generals and the Egyptian political powers, Ptolemy became Ptolemy I Soter, Soter meant Savior and he claimed he had saved Egypt from the Persians and had hieroglyphics written to this effect.

The kings advertised themselves as Soter (Savior) and Euergetes (Benefactor) and Epiphanes (Shown-by-God). They and their queens were called Philadelphus (Brother or Sister-loving) or Philometor (Mother-loving). Sometimes these titles meant a real marriage between brother and sister or parent and child. This scandalized the Greeks but to the pragmatic Macedonians, this was a dynastic advantage. The Ptolemy men ran to fat as the realms became rich and lazy. The Ptolemy queens on the contrary, remained sharp-witted, competent and energetic. The last Ptolemy on the throne of Egypt was Cleopatra and neither of her mothers or grandmothers heritage is known, only that she sprang from concubines and that infusion of new blood may have made her one of the greatest of the Ptolemy line.