Of course, being an Alexander fan, I have the STRANGEST feelings about the Ptolemies. Ptolemy Soter I can deal with, but when you get into the 2nd and 1st centuries A.D., I get the shivers about the whole dynasty.

One thing I would love to discuss. Professor Jeremy McInerney's excellent tapes on The Hellenistic Age (The Teaching Company) really made my hair stand up on end in discussing the Ptolemies. Basically, they pillaged the entire country from the git-go. If I remember my statistics, the Pharaoh and the Macedonians owned something like 70% of all land in Egypt, the priests owned 25%, and there was something godawful like 5% of the land to go for the entire remaining population of Egypt.

This is something I'd like to learn more about!