The course of the walls is uncertain. Perhaps their eastern course was from the promontory of Silsileh to the lake, and their western from the modern Gabbari to the lake. Their foundations were accompanied by a portent of the usual type. There was not enough chalk to mark the outlines, so meal had to be substituted, and a number of birds flew out of the lake and ate it all up. The Greeks interpreted the portent satisfactorily: to the Egyptians it might well have symbolised the advent of the hungry foreigner. We are not told what was substituted for the meal, but somehow or other the walls were built and were studded at frequent intervals with towers. LAKE MARIOUT: p. 190 RUE ROSETTE, (Canopic Street): p. 104 RUE NEBI DANIEL (Street of Soma): p. 104 THE FIRST THREE PTOLEMIES. PTOLEMY I., SOTER, 323-285. PTOLEMY II., PHILADELPHUS, 285-247. PTOLEMY III., EUERGETES, 247-222. (_See Genealogical Tree p._ 12). When Alexander died the empire was divided among his generals, who ruled for a little in the name of his half-brother or of his son, but who soon proclaimed themselves as independent kings. Egypt fell to the ablest and most discreet of these generals, a Macedonian named Ptolemy. Ptolemy was no soaring idealist. GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THE PTOLEMIES -------------- PTOLEMY I Satrap of Egypt, 323 King (Soter), 304 m. Berenice I | +──────────────────────────────+─────────────────────+ | | PTOLEMY II Arsinoe King (Philadelphus), 287 m. (i) Arsinoe I (ii) Arsinoe II, his sister | +──────────────────────────+ | PTOLEMY III King (Euergetes), 246 m. Berenice II, of Cyrene | +───────────────────────+──────────────────────+ | | PTOLEMY IV Arsinoe King (Philopator), 221 m. Arsinoe III, his sister | +──────────────────+ | PTOLEMY V King (Epiphanes), 205 m. Cleopatra I of Syria | +────────────────────────────+────────────────+ | | |