Rise of the PtolemiesĪlexander the Great (356-323 BC) liberated Egypt from the Persians in the autumn of 332 BC.
It was also a major Hellenistic cultural center which set the pattern for other Hellenistic kingdoms to follow. Nonetheless, they preserved many of the traditions of the ancient Egyptians. The Ptolemies were not native Egyptians, but Greek and Macedonian by descent. Ptolemaic Egypt is distinctive in being both the last independent Egyptian dynasty and the last Hellenistic kingdom to fall to Rome.
