Egypt Under Greek Rule

Egypt's decline came not from internal weakness but from the rise of increasingly powerful neighbors. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE, and his general Ptolemy established a dynasty that ruled for three centuries.

The Ptolemies adopted pharaonic titles, worshipped Egyptian gods, and built temples in the traditional style — but ruled in Greek and married their own siblings to keep the dynasty pure. Cleopatra, the last Ptolemy, was the first in three centuries who bothered to learn the Egyptian language her subjects actually spoke.

Her death in 30 BCE ended over three thousand years of pharaonic civilization.