Vaillant, Historia Ptolemæorum, fol. Amstelodam. 1701. Illustration by the aid of coins.
Champolion Figeac, Annales des Lagides, ou Chronologie des Rois d'Egypte, successeurs d'Alexandre le Grand. Paris, 1819, 2 vols. This treatise, which was honoured with a prize by the Académie des Inscriptions, has by no means exhausted the whole of the subject. See
J. Saint-Martin, Examen Critique de l'ouvrage de M. Ch. F. intitulé Annales des Lagides. Paris, 1820.
Letronne, Recherches pour servir à l'histoire de l'Egypte pendant la domination des Grecs et des Romains, tirées des inscriptions Grecques et Latines, relatives à la chronologie, à l'etat des arts aux usages civils et religieux de ce pays. Paris, 1828. It cannot be denied that the author has thrown a much clearer light on the subjects mentioned in his title.
Flourishing state of Egypt under the Ptolemies.
1. Egypt, under the Ptolemies, fulfilled, and perhaps more than fulfilled, the designs projected by Alexander; it became not only a mighty kingdom, but likewise the centre of trade, and of science. The history of Egypt, however, confines itself, almost solely, to that of the new capital, Alexandria; the foundation of that city produced, imperceptibly, a change in the national character, which never could have been wrought by main force. In the enjoyment of civil welfare and religious freedom, the nation sunk into a state of political drowsiness, such as could scarce have been expected in a people who so often rose up against the Persians.
Alexandria, originally, was no doubt a military colony; it was not long, however, before it became a general place of resort for all nations, such as was scarcely to be met with in any other town of that day. The inhabitants were divided into three classes; Alexandrines, (that is to say, foreigners of all nations, who had settled in the place; next to the Greeks, the Jews were, it appears, the most numerous,) Egyptians, and Mercenaries in the king's service. The Greeks and Macedonians divided into wards (φυλας), constituted the citizens; they were under municipal government; the others, such as the Jews, formed bodies corporate according to their respective nations. The more important, in so many respects, that Alexandria is for history, the more it is to be regretted that the accounts respecting it, which have reached us, are so far from satisfactory!—Concerning the topography of ancient Alexandria:
Bonamy, Description de la ville d'Alexandrie in the Mém. de l'Académie des Inscript. vol. ix. Compare:
† J. L. F. Manso, Letters upon ancient Alexandria, in his Vermischte Schriften, vol. i.
Ptolemy Soter,
B. C. 323—284.
321.
307.