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The John Batchelor Show

4/8: The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra Hardcover – April 8, 2025 by Toby Wilkinson (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Last-Dynasty-Ancient-Alexander-Cleopatra/dp/1324052031 Alexander the Great and Cleopatra may be two

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

News, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

4/8:
The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra Hardcover – April 8, 2025
by  Toby Wilkinson  (Author)

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Dynasty-Ancient-Alexander-Cleopatra/dp/1324052031

Alexander the Great and Cleopatra may be two of the most famous figures from the ancient world, but the Egyptian era bookended by their lives―the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BC)―is little known. In The Last Dynasty, New York Times best-selling author Toby Wilkinson unravels the incredible story of this turbulent era, bringing to life three centuries’ worth of extraordinary moments and charismatic figures.
Macedonian in origin and Greek-speaking, the Ptolemies presided over the final flourishing of pharaonic civilization. Wilkinson describes the extraordinary cultural reach displayed at the height of their power: how they founded new cities, including Alexandria, their great seaside residence and commercial capital; mined gold in the furthest reaches of Nubia; built spectacular new temples that are among the foremost architectural wonders of the Nile Valley; and created a dazzling civilization that produced astonishing works of sculpture, architecture, and literature. Stunningly, he also shows how such expansionist ambitions led to the era’s downfall. The Ptolemaic period was a time when ancient Egypt turned its gaze westward―in the process becoming the unwitting handmaid to the inexorable rise of Rome and the consequent loss of Egyptian independence.
Featuring a superb blend of first-rate scholarship and evocative narrative history, The Last Dynastyprovides fresh insights into this overlooked period of history and its legacy in shaping the world as we know it.

1900 PORT SUEZ

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm John Batchel with Professor Toby Wilkinson.

0:03.6

He's an Egyptologist, which is a very specialized form of taking it for a walk in history.

0:10.5

And this period is the 300 years before Rome shows up and takes over everything in the Mediterranean.

0:19.6

The Macedonians are in the Nile River Valley, and they

0:23.3

learn through Ptolemy, Alexander starts it, but Ptolemy and Ptolemy 2 and Ptolemy 3, to work with the Egyptians

0:31.0

who have gifts and many gods and understand the Nile is life-giving. At the same time, they're surrounded by warriors

0:40.4

who mean to take control of the bounty

0:44.0

that the Egyptian kings, Ptolemies, have produced.

0:48.8

And we have the first Syrian war,

0:50.9

I lost count, how many Syrian wars are.

0:53.1

I think there are five.

0:56.1

We also have a war called the Kremlinodian War. And all of this is fought in the third and second and

1:04.2

third and fourth century BCE. The Punic War start in here, Rome gets involved.

1:11.1

Rome versus Carthage,

1:12.8

Rome versus Macedon,

1:15.3

Seleucid versus

1:16.5

Egypt. And the

1:18.4

Ptolemy's managed all this because

1:20.2

what of their army? I've

1:22.5

presented them as intellectual giants

1:24.7

were they also very good on the

1:26.6

battlefield?

...

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