Egypt
Egypt
Primary culture
Capital province
Government
State religion
Military traditions
Heritage of Ptolemaios
+10% State Religion Happiness
−15% Found city cost modifier
−15% Pop Assimilation Speed
Egypt is a major power in the Middle East, a Macedonian-ruled Diadochi kingdom that emerged from the collapse of the 
Argead Empire to rule the rich and highly populated Nile valley from the city of Alexandria. It is one of the larger and wealthier countries at the start of the game and while smaller than the competing Diadochi powers of the 
Antigonid Kingdom and 
Seleukid Empire, Egypt is much more stable and defendable than the spread out, culturally and religiously diverse empires of its rivals, an advantage that will likely soon prove its value once the Wars of the Diadochi resume. In 450 AUC, Egypt has recently proven its continued presence in the Aegean Sea despite its defeat at the hands of the Antigonids and the loss of Cyprus in a massive naval battle at the Battle of Salamis (in 448 AUC) through its aid and intervention in the Siege of 
Rhodes and its continued suzerainty over 
Kos and 
Andros, though tensions with the Antigonids remain high and a return to war is almost inevitable. Historically, Egypt would contend with the Seleukid Empire for control over Syria and Palestine and dominate the Eastern Mediterranean as far as Cyprus and the Aegean Sea after the fall of the Antigonid Kingdom as the Ptolemaic dynasty entrenched itself, eventually falling into a slow decline and losing many of its outlying clients and possessions but surviving all the way until the 
Roman annexation in 30 BC, having outlived all of the other Diadochi.
Contents
Background[edit]
The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt is the latest incarnation of the (in 304 BC) nearly 3000-year-old Ancient Egyptian civilization. It is, however, not a true native Egyptian kingdom but rather an Egyptian kingdom ruled by a Macedonian upper-class aristocracy and a Greek minority that was installed and introduced, respectively, after Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt in 332-331 BC. Egypt is one of the four main successor states to Alexander the Great's empire that fell about two decades prior. Ptolemaic Egypt is ruled by Ptolemy Soter Lagid, one of the diadochi of Alexander the Great who fought for control over and later partitioned Alexander's empire among themselves after Alexander's death in 323 BC. The Ptolemaic dynasty was able to secure the wealthiest province of the empire, Egypt, for themselves, became rulers of the region and would remain so until 30 BC when Egypt was conquered by Rome, thus ending Egypt as an independent nation for almost 1000 years to come.
Government[edit]
Ptolemaic Egypt starts off as an Aristocratic Monarchy ruled by Basileus Ptolemy I Soter Lagid (11 
6 
6 
8 
), of the Lagid family. Ptolemy himself starts off with the 
cautious trait as well as the 
Blood of the Lagidae bloodline trait, which grants 
+20 prominence and +1 zeal for every character with the trait as well as 
+6% unintegrated culture group happiness and 
+5% research points if the current ruler has the trait. The trait is inherited patrilineally.
Representing its adoption of some of the native Egyptian traditions, Egypt also has the Familial Marriage succession law enacted, rather than the standard Agnatic Primogeniture.
Events[edit]
- Main articles: Diadochi events, Egyptian flavor events
The Wars of the Diadochi[edit]
At start, all the Diadochi states will receive an event that gives them claims on all of the western half of the former Argead Empire and access to the special Legacy of Alexander wargoal, allowing them to easily declare war and conquer territory from each other. For Egypt, these claims will go away on the death of the first ruler.
Fourth War of the Diadochi[edit]
Shortly after the game starts, the Antigonid Kingdom will receive an event to make an ultimatum against 
Macedon, usually leading to war and pulling in allied 
Thrace as well. If war breaks out, after a few months Egypt will receive an event that will let them directly declare war on the Antigonids or present an ultimatum to cede control of Palestine and southern Syria in exchange for peace. The Seleukid Empire will also receive a similar event a few months afterwards, and then Thrace a few months after that.
The Cyrenaican Problem[edit]
Near the beginning of the game Egypt will also have to choose how to deal with 
Cyrenaica, who a few years before had effectively asserted their independence after the death of the previous Ptolemaic governor. Egypt can choose to attempt to bribe the new king and get Cyrenaica as a tributary, assert its historic rights and get claims on the area, or send the king's stepson Magas to restore Ptolemaic rule over the region as a tributary and trigger a civil war for control of the kingdom if they do not accede peacefully.
The Cult of Serapis[edit]
A few years after the start of the game, Egypt will receive an event about whether or not to embrace the syncretic Serapis Cult, and more generally decide what the cultural and religious orientation of the country as a whole should be. Depending on the choice, Egypt can either choose to stay Macedonian Hellenic, embrace the cult and convert to Kemetic while gaining access to new deities, or fully embrace native traditions and change the primary culture to Egyptian as well.
Decisions[edit]
As the ruler of Alexandria, Egypt has access to the special decisions to build the ancient wonders of the Pharos Lighthouse (the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria) and the Museion (the Great Library of Alexandria).
Pharos Lighthouse
Maritime journeys are never entirely safe, from pirates and wreckers to storms and tempests the Mediterranean is a dangerous place to be. Nonetheless it is the quickest way to travel for a grand city such as Alexandria on the Nile it is imperative that we are able to guarantee the safety of all ships and sailors.
The small island of Pharos just outside our port would be the perfect location for a great lighthouse to guide the way for all shipping. This venture would also put an end to the infamous wreckers that often roam the island.
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Allow
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A Temple to the Muses
As the natural center of the Post-Alexandrine world the city of Alexandria already attracts many of the best and the brightest Hellenistic minds. We must embrace this role as the carrier of Greek culture and philosophy, and create a temple to the Muses themselves. In this Museion all texts ever written in Greek would be assembled, and any texts yet unknown to Greek scholarship translated.
While it has been the ambition of many a great monarch to assemble a personal library worthy of admiration and envy, few have dared aim as high as this. Should we succeed our memory will live on for centuries, if not millennia.
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Allow
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As a Hellenistic monarchy, Egypt can take the decision to reunite the Argead Empire if they can conquer the other Diadochi kingdoms and restore its old territorial extent. This, however, requires Egypt to retain its Monarchy and Hellenic Greek primary culture.
Reunite Alexander's Empire
That one power could not possibly come from any dynasty but our own. Only a family that respects the Argead traditions can legitimately claim its legacy.
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Allow
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Reformation[edit]
Egypt.png)
Culture
Capital province
Government
Military traditions
If Egypt is destroyed (completely annexed and removed from the map), then any other nation that has a primary culture in the Egyptian or Nubian culture groups and has managed to conquer all the key cities of Egypt can reform it through a decision, representing a restoration of the native Egyptian kingdom. 
Dodekaschoinos and 
Kush are particularly well positioned to do this if they can manage to defeat the pre-existing Ptolemaic kingdom. Forming Egypt as a country in the Nubian culture group will shift the country's primary culture to Bohairic, representing the shift of the nation's center of power to Egypt.
Form Egypt
Egypt is perhaps the oldest civilization of all, and yet she is not free. Instead pretenders have usurped the kingdom and play at honoring the old gods. This cannot be tolerated. We must unite Upper and Lower Egypt once again under a dynasty that truly understands and cherishes the legacy of the Pharaohs.
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Allow
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Diplomacy[edit]
Egypt has no allies in 450 A.V.C (304 BC) but has three 
subjects: the feudatories of Kos and Andros in the Aegean Sea and the client state of Dodekaschoinos on its southern border.
To the west, Egypt borders the small breakaway state of Cyrenaica, which Egypt may be able to get as a tributary or client state by event, while the rival Diadochi state of the Antigonid Kingdom and its tributaries of 
Judea and 
Samaria looms to the northeast; war is probably inevitable. To the south and southeast, Egypt borders the smaller states of 
Nabatea and 20px Blemmia, while Kush lies south of Dodekaschoinos.
Population[edit]
Egypt has a 
population of 1718 pops at the beginning of the game, divided across its 
188 territories. The vast majority of its pops (about 78%) are in the Egyptian culture group, making up the majority throughout most of the Nile valley and parts of the neighbouring desert that forms Egypt proper, with Bohairic culture especially dominant. A number of primary culture Macedonian pops are settled in some of the major cities of Lower Egypt, particularly in the province of Western Delta, with a small Hebrew minority settled throughout the Nile valley. Much of the western desert is Libyan, while Phoenicians and Nabateans form the majority in some of the sparsely populated areas to the east. Most pops follow the religion associated with their culture - the native Egyptian population completely Kemetic, most Macedonians still Hellenic, and the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Nabateans being Jewish, Canaanite, and Arabic, respectively.
Despite the large proportion of wrong religion, wrong culture group pops - one of the largest in the game - Egypt is generally much less likely to collapse or face rebellions than the other two Diadochi states with a largely non-Hellenistic population. Egypt has Bohairic culture - which makes up almost half of its pops - as integrated, with significant rights for the remaining Egyptian cultures, which means that most of its pops do not have as large a penalty as pops of other culture groups would normally have. The event for Egypt to convert to Kemetic, which combined with the embrace of Kemetic deities and the 
+10% state religion happiness modifier in its heritage also means a substantial happiness boost for the native Egyptian population that makes up the vast majority of its pops.
Population Types are as follows.
- 22
Nobles (1.28%) - 466
Citizens (27.12%) - 378
Freemen (22.00%) - 203
Tribesmen (11.82%) - 649
Slaves (37.78%)
Cultural privileges[edit]
- Bohairic (Egyptian) -
Integrated culture, Citizen rights - Sahidic (Egyptian) - Protected Inheritances
- Faiyumic (Egyptian) - Protected Inheritances, Right of Intermarriage
- Phoenician (Levantine) - Right to Enter Contracts, Protected Inheritances
Unique deities[edit]
- Main article: Hellenic#Serapis cult deities
These deities are available to to Egypt if it chooses to follow the Serapis cult (to retain access to them, Egypt must be Hellenic or Kemetic), to Kemetic nations that have enough Hellenic pops, or to any polytheistic countries that control their holy site:
| Deity | Category | Rarity | Passive effect | Omen effect | Apotheosis effect | Holy site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harpokrates | Culture | Very Rare |  −0.05 Monthly Corruption
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 +5% Morale of Armies
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Gain  +2.50 Civic Advances progress multiplied by the deity’s Finesse, with a minimum of +5 and a maximum of +25
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| Serapis | Culture | Very Rare |  +0.05 Monthly Ruler Popularity Gain
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 +6% National Citizen Happiness
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If the deity has more than 8 finesse, gain  1 Free Province InvestmentOtherwise, the culture with the most pops gets  +8% Culture Happiness and  +10% Culture Slave Output
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| Zeus Ammon | Culture | Very Rare |  +5% Pop Conversion Speed
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+12% State Religion Happiness
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Up to 5 pops in a random territory  assimilate to the deity’s culture
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| Hermanubis | Economy | Very Rare |  +10% National Tax
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 +6% National Slave Happiness
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Gain  15 Wealth multiplied by the deity’s Finesse, with a minimum of 50 and an additional 75 gold if the deity has more than 10 Finesse
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Strategy[edit]
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Initial situation[edit]
Out of the three largest diadochi kingdoms (Egypt, the Antigonid Kingdom and the Seleukid Empire), Egypt is the most stable. While the Antigonid Kingdom and the Seleukid Empire have to worry about internal issues due to the fact that their populations are split into a wide variety of cultures and religions and none of them have a clear majority, Egypt does not suffer from such internal disunity. Out of Egypt's 1813 pops, 1473 are Kemetic Egyptians, 144 are Hellenic Macedonians and the rest (which make up a much smaller minority) are a mix of different religions and cultures.
Right from the start, however, Egypt still faces the problem of having a Hellenic Greek minority as the ruling upper class and having the same state religion and primary culture while the majority of the country is populated by Kemetic Egyptians, which can cause problems due to conflicting cultures and religions. Egypt does, however, get an event early on in the game called "The Cult of Serapis" that allows it to address this issue in different ways, depending on the choices made.
Egypt has one of the most unusual geographies as a nation. The vast majority of its geography is covered with impassable deserts that can only be traversed along a set of narrow pathways, funneling armies into bottlenecks. Likewise, Egypt's population is concentrated almost entirely along the Nile River. While this makes it easier to defend the country's core regions, it also makes Egypt more vulnerable to conquerors as once they manage to break through the bottlenecks and seize control of the Nile River, they will more or less control the entire country. This makes it extremely important to protect the Nile river and the surrounding regions.
Despite being one of the largest and wealthiest nations in the world and indisputably the largest military power within its immediate neighborhood, Egypt still faces some threats to its territorial integrity. The most immediate threat would be from the Antigonid Kingdom to the north. While Egypt starts out as wealthier than most of its neighbors, the Antigonids have a significant advantage in terms of military power and a head-on confrontation is not an option early on.
Despite its wealth, Egypt does not have everything. Egypt lacks both 
Wood and 
Iron, which makes it harder to build up a navy and army respectively. Trading resources to import Iron and Wood will allow Egypt to more easily build up and maintain a working navy with Wood while Iron will allow Egypt to field 
Heavy Infantry, which are a powerful and very useful infantry unit type to have.
Expansion[edit]
When playing as Egypt, one will have to work to secure their flanks by conquering smaller neighbors to consolidate Egypt's position in East Africa while building up Egypt's economy and military and waiting for the Antigonids to become weakened. The best target to start the consolidation of the Egypt's rule on East Africa would be the small nation of Cyrenaica to Egypt's west. It is small and weak but should be annexed nonetheless to prevent it from forming any alliances with Egypt's enemies. In addition to that, this will also grant Egypt a handful of provinces for relatively little aggressive expansion.
Nabatea can be considered a soft target as well, and it holds the last two territories of the capital region of Lower Egypt, as well as territories for the region of Palestine, which already has a governor.
Next up would be Egypt's southern neighbors Kush and 20px Blemmia. 20px Blemmia has very limited expansion options and the Nile Delta is one of the wealthiest areas in the game. As such, Egypt would do well to work to secure their southern flank by attacking 20px Blemmia and conquering it entirely. The provinces gained from this are relatively remote and should thus be able to develop relatively quietly for the rest of the game (although a governor has to be assigned for the region of Punt). Kush lies south of Dodekaschoinos; once Dodekaschoinos has been integrated, Egypt can then attack Kush; remember that this will empower the governor of Nubia, who already administers the whole province of Aswan after the integration of Dodekaschoinos. Once both Kush and 20px Blemmia have been annexed, the southern flank should be mostly secure as the rest of the nations in the area are too small to pose a credible threat for most of the game.
Once the south has been secured, Egypt is now in a much more powerful position to expand its dominion. One option could be to build up a large navy and launch a conquest of the island of Crete to the north of Egypt and from there move on to Greece.
Alternatively, Egypt could also attempt to focus on the Antigonid Kingdom by allying some of their stronger enemies (like the Seleukid Empire) and then attacking the Antigonids to conquer territories from them.
If Antigonids are ever seriously weakened by internal instability or ends up in a costly war (such as against their larger neighbor, the Seleukid Empire), that is a prime opportunity for Egypt to possibly strike and weaken the Antigonids further. If the Antigonid Kingdom ever disintegrates due to revolts, civil wars or foreign aggression, Egypt is in a prime position to expand into the Middle East and further strengthen its position.
Achievements[edit]
