Soter (the Savior). By that designation--Ptolemy Soter--he is
distinguished from succeeding kings of the Macedonian dynasty in
Egypt.

He established his seat of government not in any of the old
capitals of the country, but in Alexandria. At the time of the
expedition to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, the Macedonian
conqueror had caused the foundations of that city to be laid,
foreseeing that it might be made the commercial entrepot between
Asia and Europe. It is to be particularly remarked that not only
did Alexander himself deport many Jews from Palestine to people
the city, and not only did Ptolemy Soter bring one hundred
thousand more after his siege of Jerusalem, but Philadelphus, his
successor, redeemed from slavery one hundred and ninety-eight
thousand of that people, paying their Egyptian owners a just
money equivalent for each. To all these Jews the same privileges
were accorded as to the Macedonians. In consequence of this
considerate treatment, vast numbers of their compatriots and many
Syrians voluntarily came into Egypt. To them the designation of
Hellenistical Jews was given. In like manner, tempted by the
benign government of Soter, multitudes of Greeks sought refuge in
the country, and the invasions of Perdiccas and Antigonus showed
that Greek soldiers would desert from other Macedonian generals
to join is armies.

The population of Alexandria was therefore of three distinct
nationalities: 1. Native Egyptians 2. Greeks; 3. Jews--a fact
that has left an impress on the religious faith of modern Europe.

Greek architects and Greek engineers had made Alexandria the most