Review of McKechnie and Cromwell (eds.), Ptolemy I and the Transformation of Egypt, 404-282 BCE

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Paul McKechnie, Jennifer Cromwell (ed.), Ptolemy I and the Transformation of Egypt, 404-282 BCE. Mnemosyne supplements. History and archaeology of classical antiquity, 415. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2018. Pp. x, 247. ISBN 9789004366961. €110,00. Reviewed by Tara Sewell-Lasater, University of Houston (tlsewell@uh.edu).

This book is a collection of essays presented at a 2011 conference at Macquarie University, where the overall theme was the transformation of Egypt during the fourth century. As Paul McKechnie notes in his introduction, the common view that the reign of the Ptolemies was a new and unique event in the history of Egypt has prevented much-needed analysis, especially of the continuity with the immediately preceding Persian period: “Alexander and his successor Ptolemy maintained vital features of the Thirtieth Dynasty settlement while simultaneously building an innovative settler society on foundations derived from their Macedonian heritage” (5). The essays collected here look at the transformation from several different angles.

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Ptolemy I is a character in the Bible. For more on him, see here, here, and here and links.

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