Ptolemy: The General Who Invented a God

Sep 8, 2026 #alexanderthegreat #historydocumentary
Following the death of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I Soter inherited a fiercely traditional, deeply fractured Egyptian. To bridge the massive cultural divide between his ruling Greek elite and millions of native Egyptian subjects, he manufactured a god.

By commissioning the legendary Greek sculptor Bryaxis to merge the styles of Zeus and Hades with the traditions of Osiris and Anubis, Ptolemy birthed Serapis. Explores how a Macedonian general weaponized art, how Serapis swept across the Mediterranean, and why Roman Emperors like Septimius Severus and Hadrian eventually adopted the face of Ptolemy’s fake god as their own.

If you enjoyed this video, you may also like my other videos on Alexander:
• This Isn’t the Real Alexander the Great

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I use AI exclusively for fact checking and source investigation as well as finding relevant Images (non ai) to show.

Images used from public domain sites such as Wikimedia commons.

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