The Overseas Empire in 218 B.C.

The Overseas Empire — Ptolemaic Egypt.

The maritime dominion that makes Egypt a Mediterranean great power: a viceroyalty in Cyprus, the Greek cities of Cyrene, garrisons and protectorates along the coasts of Syria, Asia Minor, Thrace and Crete, and a scatter of Aegean island-stations — all bound together by the royal fleet. From these footholds the Ptolemies watch the Seleucids by land and sea, dominate the Cyclades, and reach as far as the Hellespont. It is the broadest sea-empire of the age, but a brittle one — held by ships, subsidies and garrisons rather than by settlement, and now strained by the war for Coele-Syria.