The Effect of Political Instability on Travel Movement in Ptolemaic Egypt

This paper shines light on the political instability in Egypt during the Ptolemaic period that was mainly caused by three factors: the struggle for the throne, as in the case of the struggle of the two brothers Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII, the king's weakness because of the rule of a Child-King and the Egyptian revolts that mainly broke out in Upper Egypt. This political unrest affected the travel movement in three main issues: tourism, trade and political delegations. For example, Egypt witnessed a flood of travellers keen on sightseeing in Egypt. However, this travel stopped during the revolts. This can be proved by the absence of the graffiti and the inscriptions in certain periods. It seems that trade was negatively affected precisely that with Nubia that led to the end of the elephant-hunting expeditions. Political instability led to changing the trade route to India. As for the political delegations, they increased as a result of political instability and the interference of Rome in the internal affairs of Egypt.