Ptolemaic cult of Alexander the Great

This claim was particularly useful in Egypt, where Alexander had been greeted as liberator from the Achaemenid Empire (the so-called 27th and 31st dynasties) and had been enthroned as Pharaoh and son of the Egyptian deity Ammon-Ra, receiving divine honours.

During his stay in Egypt, Alexander had also laid the foundations for the city of Alexandria, which became the main Greek colony and capital of the country.

Driven by his unprecedented conquests, in the last year of his life Alexander had demanded even from his Greek subjects to be treated as a living God (apotheōsis).

During the early Ptolemaic dynasty (c. 290 BC), Ptolemy I began the construction of the Tomb of Alexander the Great in Alexandria (the σῆμα, sēma), and appointed a priest (ἱερεύς, hiereus) to conduct religious rites there.

This office quickly advanced to become the highest priesthood in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, its prominence underscored by its eponymous character, i.e., each regnal year was named after the incumbent priest, and documents, whether in Koine Greek or Demotic Egyptian, were dated after him.

Not only did the presence of Alexander's body in the Ptolemaic capital enhance the dynasty's prestige, but it also became one of the main attractions and pilgrimage sites in the ancient Mediterranean.

The Ptolemies assigned the deified Alexander a prominent place in the Greek pantheon, associating him with the Twelve Olympians like Zeus and Apollo.

With this gesture, the Ptolemies underlined the superior position of Alexander, and their own subordination to him as "temple-sharing gods" (σύνναοι θεοί, synnanoi theoi).

The most recent list is W. Clarysse - G. Van der Veken, The Eponymous Priests of Ptolemaic Egypt, Papyrologica Lugduono-batava 24 (1983).

As women could not occupy a supreme priesthood in the Greek world, she had to content herself with placing one of her supporters in the post, as a public sign of her new dominance.