And Ptolemy Lagus, or Ptolemy I, ruled Egypt and Palestine.

Of the four divisions of Alexander’s empire, the Ptolemaic kingdom lasted the longest. Ptolemy I assumed the title of king in 305 B.C.E. and became the first of the Macedonian kings, or Pharaohs, of Egypt. Making Alexandria the capital, he immediately began an urban-development program. One of his greatest building projects was the famous Alexandrian Library. To oversee this grand project, Ptolemy brought from Greece a noted Athenian scholar, Demetrius Phalereus. Reportedly, by the first century C.E., the library housed one million scrolls. The Ptolemaic dynasty continued to rule in Egypt until it fell to Rome in 30 B.C.E. Rome then replaced Greece as the dominant world power.