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REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS
This latest narrative by Toby Wilkinson is written in his usual engaging style, drawing on the usual Greek and Roman sources, but also some 50 archives of papyri unearthed in Egypt.
The three centuries between Alexander the Great’s ‘conquest’ of Egypt in 332 BC and Cleopatra’s accession in 51 BC is ‘too late for Egyptologists, too early for Roman historians’. And yet it is a fascinating period that saw Egypt become a major player in the eastern Mediterranean, facing off against the empires of Syria and Rome, while crippled by insurrection and dynastic strife.
After a brief summary of Alexander the Great’s time in Egypt (and the ‘grubby free-for-all’ between his successors), the book is divided into the four main phases of Ptolemaic history: the golden age of the first three Ptolemies; the transitional phase of Ptolemies IV to VI ‘when the Empire began to fray at the edges’; the crisis years of dynastic disputes from Ptolemy VIII to XI; and ‘the endgame’ – Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII.
Wilkinson describes Alexandria – ‘the first Universal City’ – with its famous lighthouse, and the Mouseion and Library ‘where feats of scholarship and invention would change the course of human history’. He shows how the dynasty’s foreign ambitions led to unrest at home, with stories of individual Egyptians that reflect the tensions of living ‘in a country riven by ethnic and cultural divisions’. These are set against the gripping tale of ‘a seemingly unending series of family squabbles’ and the irresistible rise of Rome. A brief epilogue describes Egypt’s fate under Augustus as ‘a territory to be exploited and plundered at will – for Rome’s sole benefit’.
The author provides a handy timeline and family tree to help the reader navigate this complex period, with a selection of colour plate, extensive notes, and a comprehensive bibliography, making this an ideal introduction for anyone wanting to find out more about the last of Egypt’s pharaohs.
THE LAST DYNASTY: ANCIENT EGYPT FROM ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO CLEOPATRA
by Toby Wilkinson
Bloomsbury, 2024
ISBN 978-1-5266-6464-8
HARDBACK, £25
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