ABSTRACT
Of the aliens who come to settle upon Egypt, the ruling race, the Græsco-Macedonians, were the most important element. Greek-speaking Egyptians were probably employed quite largely in the lower posts of the government administration, though not, till under the later Ptolemies, in the higher ones. The distinction between Greeks and Macedonians, who together formed the privileged class, seems now to have been without practical importance. As against the native Egyptians, the Greeks felt themselves the representatives of a higher civilization. During the interval between the deaths of Alexander as well as Ptolemy's assumption of the style of king, it even issued an autonomous coinage. On the island of Pharos, the famous lighthouse, reckoned one of the wonders of the world, was built by the architect Sostratus of Cnidos, begun, no doubt, under Ptolemy I and finished early in the reign of Ptolemy II.
