Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Episode 59, Ptolemaic Egypt, Kingdom of Gold, Kingdom of the Nile.

When we had last left off on the previous episode, we discussed the roles and presentation of the Ptolemaic monarchy in the eyes of its Greek and Egyptian subjects.

As the longest reigning dynasty in Egyptian history, they were undoubtedly

successful, capable of maintaining their Greco-Macedonian identity as Hellenistic monarchs,

while performing the duties as required by legitimate pharaonic dynasty. Today, we will be

focusing less on how they were perceived as kings and queens, turning away from their

cultural or political ideology,

and instead largely focusing on their rule from an administrative and economic perspective.

The Ptolemy's, after all, were famous or infamous for the riches and abundance that they possessed.

It is not a stretch to claim that they were the wealthiest people in the world during the 3rd century BC,

largely brought about by their exploitation of the Nile River and a rigorous taxation program that was more extensive than anything seen in Egypt before.

We'll be looking at how they govern Egypt, the reforms and bureaucratic systems that they introduced,

and how they enforced their will on the landscape to reshape it, sometimes literally, in order to meet their needs. To start with, why don't we go over

the rough administrative layout of Hellenistic Egypt? It must be understood that much of what I'm going

to say is a bit of a generalization, given that changes were occurring throughout the reign of the

dynasty and for the sake of brevity.

The Ptolemies had also inherited the system that stretched back thousands of years.

Their institutions were following patterns in the Saite and Persian periods decades before their arrival.

As such, I'm not going to keep reminding you of this because it would just be unproductive to do so.

However, I always

recommend that you do check out the bibliography and the episode transcript if you want to find out

...