Changes

===Ptolemy II’s Cultural Program===

Ptolemy II allowed the native Egyptian cults to continue and even promoted them to some extent, at least as far as it benefited him and his family. Ptolemy II and his successor did, though, curtail the power of the native priesthood by taking control of the temple revenues. <ref> Chauveau, p. 116</ref> When it came to the sometimes contentious coexistence of ancient Egyptian and Hellenistic culture, Ptolemy attempted to walk a middle ground. Besides promoting some of the native cults, Ptolemy II also patronized native Egyptian scholars who were well-versed in the backgrounds of both cultures. It is believed that Ptolemy II was the major patron of Manetho, a high-priest of Re from the Delta city of Sebennytos, who lived during the reigns of the first three Ptolemies. Manetho is best known for his Greek language chronological history of the kings of Egypt, Aegyptiaca, which only survives today in fragments recorded by historians in late antiquity. Manetho is believed to have been one of the original priests of the Serapis cult, which was a Greek version of the Egyptian Apis cult. Ptolemy II envisioned that that cult would bring together the elite of Egyptian society with the Greeks of Alexandria in what can only be described as a truly Hellenistic venture. <ref> Verbrugghe, Gerald P. and John M. Wickersham. <i>Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated: Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.</i> (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001), p. 96</ref> Ptolemy II also brought other Hellenistic ideas to Egypt during his rule.