Ethnic Tensions in Ptolemaic Egypt

Commencing with the conquest of Alexander the Great[1] in 332 BC, Egypt was ruled for three occasionally chaotic centuries by a foreign Greek dynasty, the Ptolemies[2]. The last of the Hellenistic kingdoms to be annexed by Rome[3], Ptolemaic Egypt was one of the two greatest powers of the Hellenistic East. However, it was from within Egypt itself that troubles first began to emerge, largely due to ethnic tensions between the Greeks and native Egyptians. Through the evaluation of literary texts, papyri, and royal decrees documented during the reign of the Ptolemaic kings, it can be seen that a fusion of Greek disdain for the natives and Egyptian resentment due to