Ptolemies, The

tol'e-miz, The, a house of Grecian rulers of Egypt. The dynasty was founded by Ptolemy I, a celebrated Macedonian general who, in 323 B. C., took Egypt as his share of the Empire of Alexander the Great. He made Alexandria his capital, and assumed the title of king, 306 B. C. Ptolemy XII was the last of the name; Cleopatra, the last of the family. The dynasty colonized Alexandria with Greeks and made that city for a century or two the center of Greek learning and literature. Greek was thus made the official language of Egypt. See Alexandria; Cleopatra; Ptolemy