Egyptian Sight-Seeing in Ptolemaic Diplomacy

This chapter re-evaluates sight-seeing tours in Egypt as a part of Ptolemaic diplomacy. Papyrological and literary sources indicate that the central administration coordinated Egyptian travel for foreign diplomats. In contrast to other Hellenistic kingdoms, the Ptolemaic dynasty used such sight-seeing in a diplomatic strategy that leveraged pharaonic cultural history and positive impressions of Egypt’s antiquity and grandeur. Moreover, the strategy enrolled the broader population of Egypt in the diplomatic image, as local administrators and religious practitioners became integral to Ptolemaic political display.