Archaeological team discovers Ptolemaic cemetery in Alex

CAIRO – 26 August 2018: An Egyptian archaeological team has discovered a cemetery that dates back to the Ptolemaic dynasty in Alexandria.

The team was conducting archaeological testing at a site, where a fence was to be established, inside workshops of the Railway Authority in the Mediterranean city when they made the discovery.

The Ministry of Antiquities has allocated a sum of money to conduct excavations in the area.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom based in ancient Egypt. It was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty, which started with Ptolemy I Soter's accession after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and which ended with the death of Cleopatra and the Roman conquest in 30 BC.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter, who declared himself pharaoh of Egypt and created a powerful Hellenistic dynasty that ruled an area stretching from southern Syria to Cyrene and south to Nubia.

Scholars also argue that the kingdom was founded in 304 BC because of different use of calendars: Ptolemy crowned himself in 304 BC on the ancient Egyptian calendar,
but in 305 BC on the ancient Macedonian Calendar; to resolve the issue, the year 305 was counted as the first year of Ptolemaic Kingdom in the demotic papyri.

Alexandria became the capital city and a major center of Greek culture and trade. To gain recognition by the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves the successors to the Pharaohs.

The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life.

The Ptolemies were involved in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the kingdom and its final annexation by Rome. Hellenistic culture continued to thrive in Egypt throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods until the Muslim conquest.