Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy was the son of Arsinoe of Macedon by her husband Lagus, and rose as one of Alexander's most trusted military officers. When Alexander died in 323 BC, Ptolemy intercepted the funeral convoy and placed the body in Memphis, later moving it to Alexandria. He joined a coalition against the royal regent Perdiccas, who invaded Egypt in 320 BC but was assassinated by his own men - leaving Ptolemy to consolidate the country. Through wars with Alexander's other successors, he claimed Judea, Cyprus, and Cyrenaica, placing his stepson Magas over the latter. He became pharaoh in 305/304 BC and commissioned the Library of Alexandria and the Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders. He married at least four times - possibly Thaïs, the Persian noblewoman Artakama, Eurydice daughter of Antipater, and finally Eurydice's cousin Berenice I. When he died in 282 BC, his son with Berenice, Ptolemy II, inherited a kingdom that would endure until 30 BC.