Ptolemy I

Preceded by: Alexander IV	Pharaoh of Egypt Ptolemaic Dynasty	Succeeded by: Ptolemy II
Ptolemy I Soter
Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαίος Σωτήρ Romanized: Ptolemaios Soter Latin: Ptolemaeus Salvator
Statue of Ptolemy I at the British Museum. (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Reign
305–282 BC (23 years)
Royal Titulary Praenomen Setepenre-Meryamun Chosen by Re, Beloved of Amun Nomen Ptolemaios Horus name Werpehty-Nesutqeny Great of Strength, Brave King Nebty name Itjemsekhem-Heqatjaru Seizer of Power, Ruler of Sile
Legacy
Father	Lagus of Eordaia
Mother	Arsinoë of Macedon
Consort(s)	Thaïs, Artacama, Eurydice, Berenice I
Issue	Eirene, Lagus, Leontiscus, Ptolemy Keraunos, Lysandra, Arsinoë II, Meleager, Philotera, Ptolemy II, Ptolemais
Born	ca. 367 BC, Pella
Died	January 282 BC, Alexandria (aged 84-85)
Burial	Alexandria (?)
Monuments	Library of Alexandria, Ptolemais Hermeiou

For other pages by this name, see Ptolemy.

Ptolemy I Soter (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαίος Σωτήρ, Romanized: Ptolemaios Soter, i.e. Ptolemy the Savior, 367—282 BC) was a Macedonian general who became ruler of Egypt as satrap (323-305 BC) and later as founding Pharaoh (305-282 BC) of the Ptolemaic Dynasty during the Hellenistic Period.

He was the son of Arsinoë of Macedon -- either by her husband Lagus of Eordaia, a Macedonian nobleman, or by her lover, Philip II of Macedon (which would make him the half-brother of Alexander the Great if true). Ptolemy was one of Alexander the Great's most trusted generals, and among the seven "somatophylakes" attached to his person. He was a few years older than Alexander, and his intimate friend since childhood. He may even have been in the group of noble teenagers tutored by Aristotle. He was with Alexander from his first campaigns, and played a principal part in the later campaigns in Afghanistan and India. At the Susa marriage festival in 324 BC, Alexander had him marry the Persian princess Artacama. Ptolemy also had a consort queen in Thaïs, the famous Athenian hetaera and one of Alexander's companions in his conquest of the ancient world. Thaïs became his queen in Egypt, and even after he divorced her, she reportedly remained his friend, and kept the title of queen while in Memphis.

Successor of Alexander

When Alexander died in June 323 BC, Ptolemy is said to have instigated the resettlement of the empire made at Babylon. Through the Partition of Babylon, he was appointed satrap of Egypt, under the nominal kings Philip Arrhidaeus and the infant Alexander IV; the former satrap, the Greek Cleomenes of Naukratis, stayed on as his deputy.

When the mercenary commander, Thibron of Sparta, attempted to besiege and subjugate Cyrene, its exiles betook themselves partly to Ptolemy. Ptolemy thereupon took this opportunity to subjugate Cyrenaica and, without authorization, sent a large force against Cyrene led by his admiral Ophellas. The Cyrenaean people then made common cause with Thibron against the new invader; but Ophellas defeated him. Having totally defeated Thibron and the party that supported him, he helped establish Ptolemaic control over Cyrene itself and its dependencies. Ophellas was then installed as military governor of Cyrenaica.

By custom, kings in Macedonia asserted their right to the throne by burying their predecessor. Probably because he wanted to pre-empt Perdiccas, the imperial regent, from staking his claim in this way, Ptolemy took great pains in getting his hands on the body of Alexander the Great, placing it temporarily in Memphis. Ptolemy then openly joined the coalition against Perdiccas. Perdiccas appears to have suspected Ptolemy of aiming for the throne himself, and maybe decided that Ptolemy was his most dangerous rival. Ptolemy executed Cleomenes for spying on behalf of Perdiccas — this removed the chief check on his authority, and allowed Ptolemy to obtain the huge sum that Cleomenes had accumulated.

First War of the Diadochi

In 321 BC, Perdiccas invaded Egypt. Ptolemy decided to defend the Nile, and Perdiccas's attempt to force it ended in fiasco, with the loss of 2000 men. This was a fatal blow to Perdiccas' reputation, and he was murdered in his tent by two of his subordinates. Ptolemy immediately crossed the Nile, to provide supplies to what had the day before been an enemy army. Ptolemy was offered the regency in place of Perdiccas; but he declined. Ptolemy was consistent in his policy of securing a power base, while never succumbing to the temptation of risking all to succeed Alexander.

In the long wars that followed between the different Diadochi, Ptolemy's first goal was to hold Egypt securely, and his second was to secure control in the outlying areas: Cyrenaica, as well as the Levant, including the island of Cyprus. Having seized control over Cyrenaica, he began moving towards his next objective. Ptolemy initially offered Laomedon, satrap of the Levant, a large sum of money in exchange for his government. When the latter rejected his overtures, Ptolemy sent his general Nicanor with an army to invade Syria in 320 BC. As a result, the regions of Palestine, Phoenicia and a part of southern Syria (which henceforth became known as Coele-Syria) were added to Ptolemy's realm. The remaining northern part of Syria was swiftly taken from the north by another Diadochi, Antigonus Monophthalmus.

Second War of the Diadochi

Following the death of Antipater in 319 BC, Ptolemy joined the coalition of Cassander, Antigonus and Lysimachus against Polyperchon, Olympias and Eumenes. The war resulted in Cassander replacing Polyperchon as regent of Macedon, while Antigonus defeated his rival Eumenes in Asia Minor. The war in Asia Minor had shifted the balance of power to such a degree that Antigonus could pose a threat to any or all of the other Diadochi.

The war had caused political division among the Cypriot kings, with some siding with Ptolemy and others backing Antigonus. Ptolemy actively began work on establishing a protectorate over the kinglets of Cyprus. It is probably at this time, when Ptolemy sent Eirene, his extramarital daughter with Thaïs, in marriage with Eunostus, the newly crowned king of Soloi on Cyprus.

Third War of the Diadochi

When Antigonus became master of Asia in 315 BC and showed dangerous ambitions, Ptolemy joined the coalition against him, and on the outbreak of war, evacuated Syria. He sent his brother Menelaus along with Seleucus, the fugitive satrap of Babylonia who would become a major Diadochi, to join their ally on the island Nicocreon, king of Salamis, to neutralize the Cypriot city-kingdoms which had supported Antigonus. After succesfully re-conquering Cyprus (313 BC), Nicocreon was also made his military governor over the whole island. A revolt in Cyrene was crushed the same year.

In 312 BC, Ptolemy and Seleucus invaded Syria and defeated Demetrius Poliorcetes ("besieger of cities"), the son of Antigonus, in the Battle of Gaza. Again Ptolemy occupied Syria, and again—after only a few months, when Demetrius had won a battle over his general, and Antigonus entered Syria in force—he evacuated it. In 311 BC, a peace was concluded between the combatants.

Fourth War of the Diadochi

The peace did not last long, and in 309 BC Ptolemy personally commanded a fleet that detached the coastal towns of Lycia and Caria from Antigonus, then crossed into Greece, where he took possession of Corinth, Sicyon and Megara (308 BC). In 306 BC, a great fleet under Demetrius attacked Cyprus, and Ptolemy's brother Menelaus, who had succeeded Nicocreon as military governor of Cyprus, was defeated and captured in another decisive Battle of Salamis. Ptolemy's complete loss of Cyprus followed. Both Menelaus and Leontiscus (Ptolemy's son) were captured after the battle, but Demetrius showed mercy by sending them back to Egypt unharmed and without ransom.

In 306 BC, Antigonus attempted to invade Egypt, but storms prevented Demetrius's fleet from supplying him, and he was forced to return home. In the winter of 306 BC, Antigonus and Demetrius turned their attention to the island of Rhodes, which was besieged by Demetrius's forces in 305 BC. The island was reinforced by troops from Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander. Ultimately, the Rhodians reached a compromise with Demetrius – they would support Antigonus and Demetrius against all enemies, save their great ally Ptolemy. Ptolemy took the title of Soter ("Savior") for his role in preventing the fall of Rhodes, but the victory was ultimately Demetrius', as it left him with a free hand to attack Cassander in Greece.

Reign as Pharaoh of Egypt

Silver coin depicting Ptolemy I (r. 305-282). (CC0)

In the aftermath of the Battle of Salamis in 306 BC, the satraps Antigonus and Demetrius both assumed the title of king, and they were shortly followed by Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and eventually Cassander. As it turned out, the nominal Argead king, Alexander IV, had been murdered in secret on Cassander's orders in Macedonia back in 309 BC, leaving the Diadochi absolutely their own masters.

When the coalition against Antigonus was renewed in 302 BC, Ptolemy joined it, and invaded Syria a third time, while Antigonus was engaged with Lysimachus in Asia Minor. On hearing a report that Antigonus had won a decisive victory there, he once again evacuated Syria. But when the news came that Antigonus had been defeated and slain by Lysimachus and Seleucus at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, he occupied Syria a fourth time.

The other members of the coalition had assigned all Syria to Seleucus, after what they regarded as Ptolemy's desertion, and for the next hundred years, the question of the ownership of southern Syria (ie, Judea) produced recurring warfare between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties. Henceforth, Ptolemy seems to have mingled as little as possible in the rivalries between Asia Minor and Greece; he lost what he held in Greece, but reconquered Cyprus in 295 BC/294 BC. Cyrene, after a series of rebellions, was finally subjugated about 300 BC and placed under his stepson Magas.

In 285 BC, Ptolemy abdicated in favour of his son by Berenice I, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who had been co-regent for three years. His eldest (legitimate) son, Ptolemy Keraunos, whose mother, Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, had been repudiated, fled to the court of Lysimachus. Ptolemy I Soter died peacefully in his bed in 282 BC at the age of 84 or 85. Shrewd and cautious, he had a compact and well-ordered realm to show at the end of forty years of war. His reputation for bonhomie and liberality attached the floating soldier-class of Macedonians and Greeks to his service, and was not insignificant; nor did he wholly neglect conciliation of the natives. He was a ready patron of letters, founding the Great Library of Alexandria. He himself wrote a history of Alexander's campaigns that has not survived. This used to be considered an objective work, distinguished by its straightforward honesty and sobriety. However, Ptolemy is considered to have exaggerated his own role, and to have had propagandist aims in writing his History. Although now lost, it was a principal source for the surviving account by Arrian of Nicomedia.

See also

• Ptolemaic Dynasty - period of Egyptian history during the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Bibliography

• Green, P., 1990: Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. University of California Press.

External links

• Ptolemy Soter I at LacusCurtius — (Chapter II of E. R Bevan's House of Ptolemy, 1923)
• Ptolemy I (at Egyptian Royal Genealogy, with genealogical table)
• Livius, Ptolemy I Soter by Jona Lendering
• A genealogical tree of Ptolemy, though not necessarily reliable
• Ptolemy I Soter's self-promotion in his history of Alexander the Great

Predecessor: Alexander IV

Pharaoh of Egypt Ptolemaic Dynasty

Successor: Ptolemy II