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Français
It is highly unfortunate that what has reached us of Demotic papers about the first Ptolemaic age specially from the time of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II is so little compared to what has reached us about the Greeks. It is probable that this is due to Egyptians not having a lot of dealings outside their environment. In addition, they only documented very few of their dealings with the occupiers and may have even been restricted to what relates to farming and renting of land. As for dealings that took place between Egyptians themselves, they were many and were related to diverse fields. Such documents kept increasing from the time of Ptolemy III who started ruling Egypt in 246 BC.

Ptolemy III started ruling the Egyptian Empire at the time when it appeared at it best. He continued ruling it with strength and wisdom till 221 BC. The general consensus is that Egypt reached its goriest time at the time of his reign. We find that he has extended the Egyptian Empire and succeeded in managing its internal affairs fairly well. He started his rule by adding a state to his Empire. After that, we find him carrying out the Third Syrian war in defence of his nephew’s throne. That was ended with his laying his hands on more land after making a peace treaty. After those wars, in which he found little resistance, Ptolemy III returned triumphantly back to Egypt.