Ptolemids

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Members of the Macedonian Greek royal family descended from Ptolemy, a general of Alexander the Great, who ruled Egypt after his death
2. The rulers of Egypt from the Macedonian Greek dynasty founded by Ptolemy I Soter after the death of Alexander the Great
3. Descendants of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who founded the dynasty that governed Egypt until the Roman conquest in 30 BC

Etymology: The Ptolemies were the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt from 305 BCE until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE, and "Ptolemids" is simply the English plural-style term for members of that family, formed from their dynastic name. That name goes back to Ptolemy, the Macedonian general of Alexander the Great who seized Egypt after Alexander's death and took the title of king in 305 BCE. His name, "Ptolemaios" in Greek, is a compound of roots meaning roughly "warlike" or "war-mighty," a fitting name for a founder whose descendants kept the throne for nearly three centuries. The Greek form "Ptolemaios" came into English through Latin "Ptolemaeus," and the Latinized spelling is what gives the family name its familiar look. The ending "-id" is the standard English suffix for "descendant of" or "member of a dynasty," the same pattern seen in "Bonaparte" becoming "Bonapartists" or "Herod" becoming "Herodians." Some writers use "Ptolemids" as a variant of the more common "Ptolemies," which is the form most dictionaries prefer.