Ptolemy I Soter way to master it. According to Proclus Euclid famously quipped: "Sire, there is no Royal Road to geometry." Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy I Soter (; , "Ptolemaĩos Sōtḗr" "Ptolemy the Savior"; c. 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a companion and historian of Alexander the Great who succeeded to his empire. Ptolemy became ruler of Egypt (323–282 BC) and founded the Ptolemaic dynasty which ruled it for the next three centuries, turning Egypt into a Hellenistic kingdom and Alexandria into a center of Greek culture. Ptolemy was the son of Arsinoe of Macedon by either her husband Lagus or
History of Alexandria wealth and power of the Ptolemies, but also celebrated and affirmed Greekness. These processions were used to shout Greek superiority over any non-Greeks that were watching, thereby widening the divide between cultures. From this division arose much of the later turbulence, which began to manifest itself under the rule of Ptolemy Philopater (221–204 BC). The reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon from 144–116 BC was marked by purges and civil warfare (including the expulsion of intellectuals such as Apollodorus of Athens), as well as intrigues associated with the king's wives and sons. Alexandria was also home to the largest Jewish community