25. After an Adventurous Life, Ptolemy Settled Down to Establish the Longest-Lasting Hellenistic Dynasty
As seen previously, Ptolemy also intercepted and hijacked the corpse of Alexander the Great while it was being transported for burial in Macedonia. He took it to Alexandria, to enhance his capital’s prestige by building a magnificent mausoleum in the city center. There, the preserved corpse of the great conqueror was put on display for visitors. Not long afterward, Alexander’s generals fell out amongst themselves and went to war against each other. The Nile Valley’s isolation was a great advantage to Ptolemy during those turbulent decades.
From his relatively secure power base in Egypt, Ptolemy alternated between war and diplomacy to expand or protect his domain. However, he suffered a major naval defeat in 306 BC that forced him to give up on expansion and abandon any ventures beyond his realm. For the final decades of his life, Ptolemy relied on diplomacy and marriage alliances to secure what he already had. At his death in 282 BC, he left behind the most secure and stable of the newly created Hellenistic powers, and the Ptolemaic Dynasty established by him outlasted all of its Hellenistic peers.