Ch. 3. Contemporary Historiography and Ptolemy’s Creation of an ‘Egyptian’ Alexander

In the wake of the premature death of Alexander the Great, contemporary historiography began to reconfigure his image in response to the aims and ambitions of the various Successors. Ptolemy I was arguably the most successful in reworking the events of Alexander’s campaign in service to his political and military agenda. In particular, Ptolemy took care to excise all the non-Egyptian elements from his narrative of Alexander’s consultation of the oracle at Siwah in order to represent him as a Ptolemaic predecessor, thus laying a solid foundation for his new dynasty based in Alexandria. Published in Andrew G. Scott,, ed., Studies in Contemporary Historiography (HISTOS Supplement 15), p. 39-63

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