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Glite Dictionary
Ptolemies

Ptolemies

1 9.9
A Greek-Macedonian royal family who ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC
  • proper noun
  • /ˈtoʊləˌmiz/
translation icon : ptolemios
  • She may have been a slave, but since no ancient writer mentions her or points out that she had a different or slave origin, it is much more likely that she was, like the Ptolemies themselves, a freeborn Macedonian Greek.

Examples

  • The Ptolemies did not associate with Egyptians very much, so that if they did so (as in one instance), it was noted.

    Academic text (1995)

  • How much of Greek culture remained in other Hellenic kingdoms such as the Ptolemies or Seleucids?

  • But I would have been proud of it in any case, for it is a great name in the history of our family, going all the way back to the sister of Alexander the Great, to whom we Ptolemies are related.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The Ptolemies could not allow the Seleucids to maintain this advantage in warfare.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Berenice and older Cleopatra were just staring; there was no help from those Ptolemies, either.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The downward course continued precipitously after Alexander the Great became pharaoh in 332 B.C.E. and under the Ptolemies.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Interesting in that both the head librarian, Hypatia, a female philosopher said to be fluent in more than a dozen languages, and the government of the Ptolemies, who built the libraries, were pagan.

    Blog text (5)

  • That could be because the Ptolemies—the Macedonian dynasty established by Alexander the Great's general Ptolemy—may have also found aspects of Egyptian religion simpatico with their own beliefs.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The Ptolemies ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, leaving a significant impact on its culture and politics.

  • Cleopatra was one of the last members of the Ptolemies, known for her intelligence and political acumen.

Synonyms

Ptolemaic dynasty
vsPtolemies
9.9

A royal family from Macedonia that ruled Egypt from 323 BC to 30 BC, ending with Cleopatra VII

begins rule from 305 BC rather than 323 BC

Surface Forms

Ptolemies main

Etymology

Ptolemies comes from the Greek name Ptolemy, the first ruler of that family in Egypt. So Ptolemies simply means the 'family of Ptolemy' and refers to the Greek-Macedonian kings who ruled Egypt.