Alexander the Great and His Successors Essay: Question 3- To what extent does the ancient evidence indicate that the Ptolemies were able to “Hellenize” Their Kingdom? By 13369181 This essay will endeavour to discuss the ancient evidence on the Hellenisation of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. After Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia his vast empire became divided into several Kingdoms amongst his highest ranking officials. This is how Ptolemy came into power in Egypt and created the longest lasting Hellenistic kingdom. It is important to understand what Hellenization is and how it works before discussing if the Ptolemies had managed Hellenized Egypt. Hellenization is the interaction of Greek cultures and institutions with the native cultures …show more content…
Despite being surrounded by an entirely new culture in a new land Greek conservatism asserted itself. The Greeks insulated themselves from novelty for the most part and remained purely Hellenic. Even the Royalty itself was mostly concerned with the Greek rather than the Egyptian world. Greeks clung to their heritage and this was very clear to everyone the Ptolemaic kingdom. The capital was Alexandria which was part of the Greek world and served as an example for Ptolemy I. Inspired by Alexander he created his own city, Ptolemais, to bring Upper Egypt under his control. Another example of Greeks embracing their heritage can be seen at the great precession at Alexandria in 279/8 BC. Here Ptolemy gives a lavish display of his wealth and maintains that he is a Greek by erecting a statue to Alexander and having women named after Greek cities parade with golden crowns. While the passage is a reproduction of earlier work it is most likely somewhat accurate due to the fact that the Greeks cherished their culture and enjoyed such displays. The Greek culture spread, to a limited extent, through Egypt while maintaining its identity and not assimilating with the native Egyptian culture. The spread of Greek culture was mostly centred on urban areas, where Greeks tended to settle. This need for separateness could reflect a fear that the Egyptians might pose a threat to the Greeks' own cultural …show more content…
Discontent with the Greek rulers could easily ferment in areas where there was little or no Greek cultural influence and could lead to a rejection of it. The weakening of the kingdom enabled the Egyptians to reject Hellenism and reaffirm their own cultural background. By this time there was reverse Hellenization in Egypt as the Egyptian culture had already become a significant part of the monarchy. The Kings and Queens of Egypt adopted the name of Pharaoh with their title and had begun to act more Egyptian. The Ptolemies even adopted the tradition of marrying their closer relatives . This shows how the Egyptian reasserted their identity against the Greeks. However the push back against Hellenism was only small and the Ptolemies rulers still viewed themselves as Greek rather than Egyptian. It would have required a significant amount of time for the Ptolemies to identify themselves as Egyptian. This given time could have been a possibility considering that the last Egyptian ruler, Cleopatra VII, was the first in the dynasty to actually speak Egyptian. I have many men in my man the men look for moon but I have my penny that I do