The Ptolemies - Hardcover

Sprott, Duncan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1400041546 ISBN 13: 9781400041541

Publisher: Knopf, 2004

Synopsis

A wildly imaginative yet historically accurate, intensely dramatic yet often hilarious, re-creation of the early years of the House of Ptolemy (323—30 B.C.)–the forgotten ten-generation dynasty of Greek Pharaohs of Egypt.

And what a dynasty . . .

The Ptolemies is a story so layered, so dark and glittering and disastrous, that perhaps only Thoth the Ibis–the irreverent, riotously pompous narrator who is also the god of Wisdom and Patron of Scribes–could do it justice.

It begins with Ptolemy Soter, the Macedonian general who, after the death of Alexander the Great, takes all Egypt for himself–and hijacks Alexander’s body to serve as his lucky mascot. Of humble origin, Ptolemy now becomes Satrap of Egypt, and he is soon to be Pharaoh, a god in his own lifetime. We follow this rise to divinity as it takes him from Memphis to Alexandria, and through a string of wives and concubines, bad-seed sons and tragic daughters, conniving High Priests and oracle-giving sacred bulls. And around him: a constantly shifting cast of Greeks and Egyptians–high and low, powerful and weak, honorable and evil–whose lives unfurl against a dense and vividly drawn backdrop of increasingly bizarre dynastic drama and turmoil.

The triumph of The Ptolemies is its often unexpected but always masterly combination of narrative sweep and riveting historical detail, of fact and invention, of gravity and humor. It will take you by surprise at every turn.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

From a refreshingly antic new voice in historical fiction, this epically entertaining, irresistibly madcap novel re-creates an ancient family whose obsessions and dysfunctions would change the world, for better or worse.
They were the last pharaohs to rule Egypt. Ptolemy Soter (putative half-brother of Alexander the Great-his mother may have been raped by Alexander's father) begins it all when he takes the kingdom of the Nile as his share of the empire and brings along Alexander's carefully embalmed corpse for luck. Soon enough, Ptolemy, in a kind of ancient corporate takeover, becomes pharoah, the living god of Egypt, first in what he hopes will be a long line of Ptolemies. Scheming priests, conniving wives, errant sons and daughters (some of whom have a thing for each other), and an epic's worth of battles and intrigue make for a tale so rich in upheaval and mayhem that perhaps only our narrator, the irreverent and disapproving Thoth, Egyptian god of Wisdom and Patron of Scribes, could do it justice.

About the Author

Duncan Sprott is the author of two previous books, The Clopton Hercules and Our Lady of the Potatoes, both historical reconstructions, published in the United Kingdom. He lives in Ireland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1400041546
• ISBN 13: 9781400041541
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496