On the death of Alexander the Great on 13 June 323 BC Ptolemy, son of Lagus and Arsinoe, obtained from Perdiccas, the holder of Alexander's seal, the right to administer Egypt. This chapter discusses the rule of Ptolemy I (Soter), since the first fifty years of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt. It also discusses administration, economy and society of Egypt under the rulers Philadelphia and Euergetes. Ptolemaic military doctrine held that to keep open the land route for his armies to operate abroad. The 'Revenue Laws', for instance, are addressed to military authorities, strategoi, hipparchs, hegemones, as well as to civilian officials and police officers. If, in the religious life, Egyptian themes prevailed, literature and science were dominated by the Greeks. Their studies might be termed a secular religion. The scholarly achievement of Alexandria was the crowning glory of Ptolemaic Egypt. The Egyptians took over and adapted the Greek alphabet as a notation for their own language.