The Economic Role Of The Ptolemaic Dynasty In The History Of Egypt

Ancient Egypt was a nation which held special civilization and old traditions .The Egyptians created their history continually in the place of fertile and relative occlusive Nile valley. In the evening of the Pharaonic Egypt, Egypt began to decline and suffered foreign invasions incessantly. After the conquest of Alexander in the year of BC.332, Egypt was under the dominion of Greece-Macedon .After the death of Alexander, his tycoon Ptolemy seized the mastery of ruling Egypt ,who became the king of Egypt and established the Ptolemy Dynasty in BC.305. With the Roman subjection in BC.30, the Ptolemy Dynasties ended, but it left much splendid legacy behind,the Lighthouse of Pharos that has the reputation of "one of the World Seven Wonders", the city of Alexandria that played central role in the Mediterranean commerce embodied the prosperity on the different aspects and brought new vital force for the declining Egypt. This paper centers on the development of commodity economy of the Ptolemy dynasties to analyze and evaluate the economic role of the Ptolemy Dynasties in the history of Egypt. The first part analyzes the characteristic of the political system and its influences on economy of the Ptolemy Dynasties.Conquest and placatory policies were enforced combined in the period of Alexander, through paying sacrifice to Amon temple, they gained the supports of monastery rank, the basic administration power was in the Egyptians' hold, but the supreme ruling power and martial power turned into the hands of the Greece. The succeeding kings inherited the administering idea of Alexander, they renewed the Pharaonic institution, repairing, reinforcing and expanding inappropriate the facets and built a suit of more self-contained bureaucracy and administration system. The kings of the Ptolemy Dynasties controlled the whole nation's territory, established many states, its institution of administration was in disperse layers, lower executive officials absolutely obeyed the king's decree regardless the Greek or the Egyptian, as a result, there were formed a pyramid national management machine from bottom to top. The ancient Egyptians still in the lowest layer suffered exploitation and oppression as the differences between conquers and subjections could not vanish. The law of the Ptolemy dynasties was divided into the Greece city law and the Egyptians native law, the former was always dominant, and the law affairs of the Greece in villages had to be settled by cruising organizations. The ruling class also lassoed the people in virtue of the strength of the monastery and credited them with privilege. The priests existed and developed in need of the protection of kings, whereas the priests and kings formed a relationship of mutual using and supporting. In a word, the political system of the Ptolemy dynasties inherited the frame of Pharaonic Egypt's state machine; it changed and developed in the concrete content, and embodied the privilege of the governor. The influences of the political system of Ptolemy dynasties on the economy were evident. On one hand, the land system followed the traditional economic mode of ancient Egypt, which made the agricultural production stable, the slavery wasn't influenced too much, and went on to develop. The inherent economic frame was fused into the management and skills of the Greek in Ptolemy dynasties, which formed a new compound economic system. The advanced skills and the spread and appliance of the new tools enhanced the agricultural productivity; the comparative open policy of the economy boosted the flourish of the trade. In this period, the economy of the temples also developed awfully. On the other hand, the political pressure and taxes exploitation of Ptolemy dynasties made the Egyptians poorer and poorer, they revolted the rule of the Greek incessantly, and the economic base of the society began to waver.The second part explains the development of the economy and the flourish of the trade in Ptolemy dynasties in detail, demonstrates the effect on the economy of this period.Th...