The fifteen Ptolemies that sat on the throne of Egypt between 305 B.C.
(the date of assumption of basileia by Ptolemy I) and 30 B.C. (death of Cleopatra VII)
are in most cases little known and, even in its most recognised bibliography, their work has
been somewhat overlooked, unappreciated. Although boisterous and sometimes unloved,
with the tumultuous and dissolute lives, their unbridled and unrepressed ambitions, the
intrigues, the betrayals, the fratricides and the crimes that the members of this dynasty
encouraged and practiced, the Ptolemies changed the Egyptian life in some aspects and
were responsible for the last Pharaonic monuments which were left us, some of them still
considered true masterpieces of Egyptian greatness. The Ptolemaic Period was indeed a
paradoxical moment in the History of ancient Egypt, as it was with a genetically foreign
dynasty (traditions, language, religion and culture) that the country, with its
capital in Alexandria, met a considerable economic prosperity, a significant political and
military power and an intense intellectual activity, and finally became part of the world
and Mediterranean culture.