Ptolemy (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖος, Ptolemaios) is a male given name, derived from Ancient Greek and meaning 'warlike'.[1] It is formed from the Epic Greek πτόλεμος ptolemos meaning 'war'.[2] The name was used throughout the Greek world, but was particularly popular in ancient Macedon and its nobility. During the Hellenistic period, Ptolemy I Soter, a general of Alexander the Great, founded the Ptolemaic dynasty which ruled their KingdominAncient Egypt. All male rulers of the dynasty bore the name 'Ptolemy', the last being Ptolemy XII Auletes, father of Cleopatra. Common variants include Ptolemaeus (Latin), Tolomeo (Italian) and Talmai (Hebrew).
Ptolemy is the English form of the Ancient Greek name Πτολεμαῖος (Ptolemaios), a derivative of πτόλεμος, an Epic form of πόλεμος 'war'[3][note 1] and the suffix -αῖος -aios meaning 'pertaining' or 'belonging to'. A nephew of Antigonus I Monophthalmus was called Polemaeus,[4] the normal form of the adjective. Ptolemaios is first attested in Homer's Iliad and is the name of an Achaean warrior, son of Piraeus, father of Eurymedon.[5]
The name Ptolemaios varied over the years from its roots in ancient Greece, appearing in different languages in various forms and spellings:
| Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Ptolemaîos |
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The name Ptolemy spread from its Greek origins to enter other languages in Western Asia during the Hellenisation that followed the conquest of the known world by Alexander the Great.
The Aramaic name "Bar-Talmai", "son of Talmai" (Greek Bartolomaios and English Bartholomew) may be related.[6]
Ptolemais is formed from this name by the Greek feminine adjectival ending -i(d)s.
Ptolemy commonly refers to Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca. 90 AD–ca. 168 AD), a writer, geographer, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer who lived in the Alexandrine Greek culture of Roman Egypt.
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| Ptolemy inhieroglyphs | |||||||||||||
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Ptolemy also refers to any of 16 pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty who ruled Hellenistic Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC. The Greco-Egyptian pharaonic dynasty of Macedonian origin was established by Ptolemy I Soter (303–282 BC), and the male dynastic successors were all also named Ptolemy, as were several other members of the dynasty.
