Egypt, a cradle of civilization that has fascinated the world from the earliest of times. A civilisation and an Empire that brought wealth and architectural wonders to those who ruled it. One dynasty that brought more change than perhaps any other before it was the Ptolemy dynasty, a dynasty that started when a Satrap of Alexander the Great took a leap of faith and created an Empire that would last for centuries.
It is perhaps the greatest of tragedies that that dynasty has been reduced to its most famous member, Cleopatra VII, she who charmed Julius Caesar and Anthony, she who had plays and movies made about her. Whilst yes, she was a fascinating person in of herself, she built on the work done by her illustrious ancestors and without them would have been a mere footnote in history.
In The Last Dynasty, Toby Wilkinson seeks to explore exactly how the Ptolemies came to rule Egypt and how they shaped the kingdom they ruled and how it shaped them. As with any good book, he starts right at the beginning with the Alexandrian conquest. Here, Wilkinson highlights how Alexander the Great sought to differentiate himself from his Persian predecessors. He embraced the customs and the cults of his new subjects, he honoured their Gods and he declared himself the son of Amun. To really make a mark he had the famous city of Alexandria built near the coast, to benefit from the Mediterranean trade of his larger Empire.
However, as Wilkinson highlights, Alexander’s premature death in Babylon caused chaos throughout the Empire as his generals ignored the nominal authority of his successors and fought to carve out their own dominions. The most successful was arguably Ptolemy, a man who despite being almost a decade older than Alexander had learned from Aristotle at his side and had become a trusted companion. Through political skill and military force, Ptolemy emerged from the Wars of the Diadochi as one of the Hellenisitc world’s most powerful rulers. His empire encompassed Egypt and parts of what are now Libya.
He and his immediate successors, Ptolemy II and III brought in the early golden age of Ptolemaic rule. Wilkinson uses the source material brilliantly here, highlighting how these early Pharaohs skilfully combined Hellenistic and Egyptian traditions that cemented their legitimacy and power amongst their elite and native subjects.
But once they passed on, Wilkinson goes on to state that the dynasty faced challenges. Native revolts, wars with the Seleucids, the Macedonians and eventually Rome, chipped away at the dominance of the dynasty, leaving it on its knees more than once. It took several good Pharaohs and their Queens (many of whom were named Cleopatra) to keep the dynasty and the Kingdom they ruled alive and fighting. Wilkinson skillfully narrates the ups and downs of this period, taking the reader on an epic journey that deserves its own movie or HBO show.
Finally, we get onto the curtain call, Cleopatra, Anthony and Caesar. The drama in these moments is superb, the reader is left with their heart in their throat, for though the outcome is already known, Wilkinson skilfully navigates the complex web of intrigue and romance to show that it could have gone either way had certain things been done differently. One comes out of this period feeling sad for Cleopatra, caught as she was between two men who wanted something from her, but refused to give back.
Ultimately, for someone such as myself who did not know much about the Ptolemaic dynasty beyond a passing glance, this book is informative whilst making it easy to keep track of who is who. That is down to Wilkinson’s writing style, which takes the form of a narrative, something that makes it much easier to associate with the people he discusses. A solid book and one that anyone with an interest in Ancient Egypt should get.
The Last Dynasty is out on 24th October via Bloomsbury Publishing.
Vivek Rajkhowa 
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