Toby Wilkinson on Ptolemaic Egypt and the First Great Commercial Civilization

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems. Learn more at Mercatus.org. For a full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit conversationswithtyler.com. Hello everyone and welcome back. Welcome to Conversations with Tyler.

Today I'm chatting with Toby Wilkinson, who is one of the world's leading Egyptologists. I'm quite intrigued by his latest book. It is called The Last Dynasty, Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, and he is also a fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. Toby, welcome. Thank you very much for having me on the show.

So Ptolemaic Egypt, you know, it lasts around 300 years. When exactly does it start and end and and where was it? Just to give our listeners an introduction. Sure. So we're talking here about Egypt, the valley of the River Nile, in the northeastern corner of the continent of Africa, but always really a a crossroads between Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

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