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Follow Hellenistic Egypt from Ptolemy I and the Library of Alexandria through the Rosetta Stone and Roman intervention to Cleopatra VII and Actium.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Ptolemaic Period · 332–30 BCE
Hellenistic Egypt

The Ptolemaic Period

From Alexander's conquest and the foundation of the dynasty by Ptolemy I through the golden age of Alexandria and its Library, the revolts and Roman shadow over the later Ptolemies, the Rosetta Stone and the dynasty's slow decline, to the reign of Cleopatra VII, the defeat at Actium, and the Roman annexation of Egypt in 30 BCE. Slide across three centuries of Greek pharaohs, when Egypt was the richest kingdom of the Hellenistic world.

323 BC
Foundation
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In the year of Our Lord

323 BC

Foundation
  • Political

    Ptolemy takes Egypt

    On the death of Alexander the Great, his general Ptolemy son of Lagus secures Egypt as satrap, founding the dynasty that will rule for nearly three centuries.

8 milestones
Full Chronicle

The Ptolemaic Period

From Alexander's conquest and the foundation of the dynasty by Ptolemy I through the golden age of Alexandria and its Library, the revolts and Roman shadow over the later Ptolemies, the Rosetta Stone and the dynasty's slow decline, to the reign of Cleopatra VII, the defeat at Actium, and the Roman annexation of Egypt in 30 BCE. Slide across three centuries of Greek pharaohs, when Egypt was the richest kingdom of the Hellenistic world.

  1. Foundation

    • Ptolemy takes Egypt

      On the death of Alexander the Great, his general Ptolemy son of Lagus secures Egypt as satrap, founding the dynasty that will rule for nearly three centuries.

  2. Early Ptolemies

    • The Library and Museum of Alexandria

      Ptolemy I and his son establish the Museum and Great Library of Alexandria, making the city the foremost centre of learning in the ancient world.

  3. Ptolemaic Dynasty

    • Ptolemy II and the height of the kingdom

      Ptolemy II Philadelphus presides over the dynasty's golden age, expanding Egypt's empire abroad and its splendour at home.

  4. Native Unrest

    • Raphia and the revolt of the Egyptians

      Ptolemy IV defeats the Seleucids at Raphia by arming native Egyptian troops, who soon turn their new confidence into revolt and a breakaway state in the south.

  5. Ptolemaic Egypt

    • The Rosetta Stone

      Priests issue a decree honouring the boy-king Ptolemy V in three scripts; centuries later this trilingual stone will unlock the reading of hieroglyphs.

  6. Roman Shadow

    • Rome's 'Day of Eleusis'

      When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV invades Egypt, a single Roman envoy forces him to withdraw, revealing that Egypt's fate now lies in Rome's hands.

  7. Cleopatra VII

    • The accession of Cleopatra VII

      Cleopatra VII, the last and most famous of the Ptolemies, comes to the throne and binds Egypt's survival to the leaders of Rome.

  8. The Fall

    • Actium and the death of Cleopatra

      Octavian crushes the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium; within a year both are dead and Egypt becomes a province of Rome, ending the age of the pharaohs.