person
Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy
also: Ptolemy, Ptolomaeus, Ptolemaeus
A close companion and general of Alexander the Great, later king of Egypt and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Cicero relates the story of Alexander's dream-serpent that revealed the root which healed the wounded Ptolemy.
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §5.97 Nor had Ptolemy ever eaten while hungry
An anecdote of one of the Ptolemies (here taken as Ptolemy I Soter), who, separated from his retinue in the Egyptian countryside, found coarse hut-bread the most delicious meal he had eaten. Hunger, not abundance, gives food its pleasure.