Personally, I like the Ptolemaioi better...simply because it's alot easier to fend off the Arche Seleukeia and Carthage than to have the entire East ready to shoot arrows or shove long pikes into your ass. On the campaign map, Egypt is a very secure location that gives you a very easy time conquering the Arche Seleukeia if you give a full effort. I like to expand southwards and make the Nubians and Kushites acknowledge my supremacy. If you want to spread your power into Anatolia..it's as simple as conquering Rhodos and Kypros and using them as your forward bases.

I want to start a new Ptolemaioi campaign now xD