Hellenistic period
Under Ptolemy II, Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes, Theocritus and a host of other poets made the city a center of Hellenistic literature. Ptolemy himself was eager to patronise the library, scientific research and individual scholars who lived on the grounds of the library. He and his successors also fought a series of wars with the Seleucids, known as the Syrian wars, over the region of Coele-Syria. Ptolemy IV won the great battle of Raphia (217 BCE) against the Seleucids, using native Egyptians trained as phalangites. However these Egyptian soldiers revolted, eventually setting up a native breakaway Egyptian state in the Thebaid between 205-186/5 BCE, severely weakening the Ptolemaic state.
What region was fought for during the Syrian wars?
Coele-Syria
He and his successors also fought a series of wars with the Seleucids, known as the Syrian wars, over the region of Coele-Syria.
the Syrian wars