The first biography of Ptolemy in any language, Walter Ellis' study charts in detail this ancient ruler's extraordinary achievements both in and beyond Egypt and within the period between the death of Alexander the Great's empire and the birth of the Hellenistic state. It was during this time that a great number of powerful and ambitious men were jockeying for control of Alexander's fragmented empire with Ptolemy at the forefront of the struggle. Of these figures, Walter Ellis argues, Ptolemy was the most important. He established the first, most influential and longest-lasting of all the Hellenistic dynasties. He made Alexandria, his capital, the most significant city of its day and the intellectual center of the Western world. Under his reign, the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the world, was constructed as was a library which contained a collection of books unmatched by any other.Ptolemy of Egypt not only tells the story of a leader with prophetic insight, extraordinary intellect and keen administrative ability, but provides in the process an accessible introduction to the early Hellenistic period.