Ancient Egypt’s Last Dynasty Was a Seriously Weird Family
Few ruling families have been as dysfunctional, perverse, or given to more intra-familial strife, than the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 BC. All fifteen of the dynasty’s kings were named Ptolemy, numbered I through XV. Of the Ptolemaic queens, there were seven Cleopatras, and four Berenices. The family had a tradition of incestuous marriages, mostly with brothers marrying sisters, with the occasional uncle-niece and nephew-aunt weddings, and at least one possible mother-son marriage, thrown into the mix. In addition to marrying their close relatives, the Ptolemies were also into murdering each other, and history abounds with Ptolemies killing their brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, and even mothers.
The dynasty’s founder, Ptolemy I Soter, Greek for “Ptolemy the Savior” (367 – 282 BC), was a Macedonian general and close companion of Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s death, Ptolemy was one of the three Diadochi, or successors, who carved up Alexander’s empire amongst themselves. Ptolemy ended up taking Egypt as his share. There, he set himself up as king, or pharaoh. His descendants and heirs became the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt for three centuries, until Queen Cleopatra VII’s suicide and the annexation of Egypt to the Roman Empire in 30 BC.