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
Reign of Cleopatra and introduced relief efforts such as releasing grain from the royal granary. Both Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII found it necessary to debase Ptolemaic coinage due to financial troubles. No gold coins are known from Cleopatra's reign, while use of bronze coins was revived (absent since the reign of Ptolemy IX) and silver currency was debased roughly 40% by the end of her reign. Coins struck under Cleopatra's reign came from a wide geographical expanse, including sites in Egypt like Alexandria, but also the island of Cyprus, Antioch, Damascus and Chalcis ad Belum in Syria, Tripolis in Phoenicia, Askalon in