Ptolemy manages to acquire Alexander the Great's corpse, to lend authority to his rule in Egypt

Alexander's corpse, hijacked by Ptolemy, becomes a sacred relic in Alexandria

Ptolemy begins to transform Alexandria into a centre of Greek culture, founding his famous 'museum' and library

Some 20 years after the death of Alexander the Great one of his generals, Ptolemy, extends his rule from Egypt to include Jerusalem

Euclid, teaching at the museum in Alexandria, writes what becomes Europe's standard textbook on geometry

The Jewish community of Alexandria coins the word diaspora for Jews living far from Israel

The Alexandrian school of medicine develops an alarming form of clinical anatomy – human vivisection

A great lighthouse, subsequently one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is built on the island of Pharos, off Alexandria

The Jews of Alexandria commission the Greek translation of the Old Testament which becomes known as the Septuagint

The 500,000 scrolls in the library at Alexandria are listed in a catalogue, which itself runs to 120 scrolls

The organ, using a mechanical device to pump air through a set of musical pipes, is invented in Alexandria by Ctesibius

The first alchemists, working in Alexandria, are also the world's first experimental chemists

Ptolemy III issues the Decree of Canopus, the earliest known in the Ptolemaic series of public decrees inscribed in stone in two languages and three scripts

The text of the Rosetta stone is chiselled into a black basalt slab in the three scripts hieroglyphic Egyptian, demotic Egyptian, and Greek

Cleopatra, destined to become the last ruling pharaoh as Cleopatra VII, is born in Egypt – the daughter of Ptolemy XII

Ptolemy XII dies, leaving Egypt to his young son, now Ptolemy XIII, and to his older daughter Cleopatra

In the Ptolemaic tradition, Cleopatra marries her brother Ptolemy XIII and at the age of eighteen is joint ruler of Egypt

Caesar, reaching Egypt, is not pleased when sent by Ptolemy XIII the gift of Pompey's severed head, already embalmed

Civil war breaks out in Egypt between Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra, each scheming to become sole ruler

Pompey, seeking in Egypt refuge from Caesar, is first welcomed and then murdered by the faction of Ptolemy XIII

Julius Caesar, now fifty-two, meets the 21-year-old Cleopatra in Alexandria and they become lovers

The combined forces of Caesar and Cleopatra defeat Ptolemy XIII in a battle fought in the Nile delta

Ptolemy XIII is either killed or accidentally drowns while attempting to escape across the Nile

Cleopatra acquires a new co-ruler and husband in the form of another young brother, now Ptolemy XIV

Julius Caesar leaves Alexandria to travel with his army by the land route back to Italy, through Turkey