Editing Ptolemy I Soter (section)

==Early life and career==
{{stack|[[File:Tetradrachm Ptolemaeus I obverse CdM Paris FGM2157.jpg|thumb|upright|Ptolemaic coin showing [[Alexander the Great]] wearing an elephant scalp, a symbol of his conquest in India]]}}
Ptolemy was born in 367 BC<ref name="ptolemy">[https://www.livius.org/articles/person/ptolemy-i-soter/ Ptolemy I at Livius.org]</ref> in the ancient kingdom of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Prudence J.|title=Cleopatra: A Sourcebook|url=https://archive.org/details/cleopatrasourceb0000jone|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/cleopatrasourceb0000jone/page/14 14]|location=Norman|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2006|isbn=9780806137414|quote=They were members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Macedonian Greeks, who ruled Egypt after the death of its conqueror, Alexander the Great.}}</ref> His mother was [[Arsinoe of Macedon|Arsinoe]]. According to [[Satyrus the Peripatetic]], Arsinoe was a descendant of [[Alexander I of Macedon]] and thus a member of the [[Argead dynasty]], claiming ultimate descent from [[Heracles]]. Ostensibly, Ptolemy's father was [[Lagus]], a Macedonian nobleman from [[Eordaea]], but many ancient sources claim that he was actually an illegitimate son of [[Philip II of Macedon]]. If true, this would have made Ptolemy the half-brother of [[Alexander the Great]]. It is probable that this is a later myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic dynasty.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carney|first1=Elizabeth|title=Philip II and Alexander The Great: Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-973815-1}}</ref> However, through his mother Ptolemy may have been a great-grandson of [[Amyntas I of Macedon]], making him a member of the Argead royal house and a distant relative of Alexander, who was a great-great-grandson of Amyntas.<ref>Alexander The Great: Myth, Genesis and Sexuality by Daniel Ogden 2011 P. 81 note 8</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Ptolemy an Argead - pothos.org | url=https://pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=47694#p47694 | access-date=2025-04-07 | website=pothos.org}}</ref>

Ptolemy served with Alexander from his first campaigns, and was among the seven ''[[somatophylakes]]'' (bodyguards) of Alexander. He played a principal part in the later campaigns in [[Afghanistan]] and [[India]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=616}} He participated in the [[Battle of Issus]], commanding troops on the left wing under the authority of Parmenion. Later he accompanied Alexander during his journey to the [[Oracle]] in the [[Siwa Oasis]] where he was proclaimed a son of [[Zeus]].<ref name=grimal>{{cite book |last=Grimal |first=Nicolas |author-link=Nicolas Grimal |year=1992 |title=A History of Ancient Egypt |url=https://archive.org/details/historyancienteg00grim |url-access=limited |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Books |isbn=978-0-631-19396-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyancienteg00grim/page/n383 382]}}</ref> Ptolemy had his first independent command during the campaign against the rebel [[Bessus]] whom his own guards captured and handed over to Ptolemy, who then handed him over to Alexander for execution.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-0-14-044253-3 |author-link=Arrian |last=Arrian |title=Anabasis Alexandri (The Campaigns of Alexander) |editor1-first=Aubrey |editor1-last=de Sélincourt |editor1-link=Aubrey de Sélincourt |year=1976 |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |at=[https://archive.org/details/campaignsofalexa00arri/page/ III, 30] |title-link=Anabasis Alexandri }}</ref>