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Cleopatra (VII), the last queen of Egypt, was forced to marry her younger brother to keep the royal blood in the family. This, of course was a form of royal incest.

From what I understand, the practice of royal incest barely existed in Egypt before the arrival of the Ptolemaics. These represented a Greek royal line descended from Ptolemy, a general of Alexander the Great. And the Hellenic and Egyptian cultures were quite different. So how/what caused the Greek Ptolemaics to revive the barely existent Egyptian practice of royal incest?

And even if, as a commenter noted below, the Ptolemaics chose to adopt a "local" custom to consolidate their power, why this particular one?

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    The fact that the Greek Ptolemys were quite different ethnically than the locals seems an obvious rationale. There are those who argue that's what was originally behind the Indian Caste system as well.
    – T.E.D. ♦
    Commented Jul 4, 2021 at 18:59
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    I'm confused about the second paragraph. You say that the practice of royal incest barely existed in Egypt before the arrival of the Ptolemaics in the first line and then in the last you refer to the Egyptian practice of royal incest. If the Egyptians didn't do it prior to the arrival of the Ptolemaics how is it an "Egyptian practice"?
    – Steve Bird
    Commented Jul 4, 2021 at 19:24
  • @SteveBird: OK, added the words "revive the barely existent" practice to the last line of the former lasat paragraph to highlight the paradox. Then added a new paragraph to address T.E.D.'s conjecture that they were trying to consolidate power by deferring to "local" customers
    – Tom Au
    Commented Jul 4, 2021 at 22:12
  • what caused the Greek Ptolemaics to revive the barely existent Egyptian practice of royal incest ? - It all started one fine day, with a very careful choice of adverbs, only to evolve naturally from there.
    – Lucian
    Commented Jul 4, 2021 at 22:33

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