Was Memphis the capital? I always thought it was Alexandria
Was Memphis really the capital of Ptolomy
Was Memphis the capital? I always thought it was Alexandria
Re: Was Memphis really the capital of Ptolomy
Indeed, Memphis was not by this time still the capital. Originally though, for the Ptolemies to rule effectively over the Egyptians, they had to occupy the old capital. Though it might seem like an obvious symbolic gesture for a foreign ruler to make, it held a great deal more significance for the Egyptians than it would for other people. They possessed one of the truly oldest cultures, civilizations, and distinct states of any people conquored or inherited by a successor, so it was important that the Greek Pharoah be recognizalbe as Pharoah and less as Greek (which Alexandria was, to anyone who saw it). Eventually, Ptolemy did move the capital (along with Alexander's body), to Alexandria... how the Egyptians felt about that is a more complicated story though.
One more thing for the patch I guessThanks for pointing it out
Last edited by VandalCarthage; 01-22-2006 at 22:16.
"It is an error to divide people into the living and the dead: there are people who are dead-alive, and people who are alive_alive. The dead-alive also write, walk, speak, atc. But they make no mistakes; only machines make no mistakes, and they produce only dead things. The alive-alive are constantly in error, in search, in questions, in torment." - Yevgeny Zamyatin
Re: Was Memphis really the capital of Ptolomy
ok cool. thanx for the info, never knew thatOriginally Posted by VandalCarthage
Indeed, Memphis was not by this time still the capital. Originally though, for the Ptolemies to rule effectively over the Egyptians, they had to occupy the old capital. Though it might seem like an obvious symbolic gesture for a foreign ruler to make, it held a great deal more significance for the Egyptians than it would for other people. They possessed one of the truly oldest cultures, civilizations, and distinct states of any people conquored or inherited by a successor, so it was important that the Greek Pharoah be recognizalbe as Pharoah and less as Greek (which Alexandria was, to anyone who saw it). Eventually, Ptolemy did move the capital (along with Alexander's body), to Alexandria... how the Egyptians felt about that is a more complicated story though.
One more thing for the patch I guess
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks