Why is the founder of the Ptolemaic dynastic called Ptolemy in English-speaking countries and Ptolemaios in the rest of the world? The answer is that he himself spelled his name Πτολεμαῖος. Unfortunately, most people (other than Greeks) are not familiar with the Greek alphabet. This was true even in the days of ancient Rome, although many educated Romans back then did read and write Greek and they all greatly admired the older, more developed Greek civilization. They translated many Greek works of literature, history, and philosophy from Greek to Latin. Unfortunately, in the process of translation, they tended to “Latinize” the Greek names they encountered. Somehow, Πτολεμαῖος became Ptolemy, Αλέξανδρος became Alexander, and the City of Μίλητος became the City Miletus.
When ancient Roman manuscripts were rediscovered during the Renaissance, scholars, who tended to do their scholarly writing in Latin, naturally used the Latinized versions of Greek names they found in the ancient manuscripts. For some reason, most scholars writing in English continue to use the Latinized versions of Greek names to this day.
In the meantime, manuscripts written in ancient Greek began to turn up at various monasteries in Europe and in libraries and book shops in the Islamic world. European scholars, reading names written in the original Greek, started to faithfully transliterate the Greek names into the Latin alphabet we all use today. Thus, α became a, β became b, γ became g, δ became d, Κλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ became Kleopatra, and Πτολεμαῖος became Ptolemaios. At least that’s what happened in Continental Europe. In England, the newfangled fashion of faithful transliteration never caught on.
When I set out to write the Ptolemaios Saga, I was immediately confronted with a dilemma. All my major characters are real historical figures with real Greek spellings of their names. Since I was writing in English, I needed to render their names using the Latin alphabet. But somehow it rubbed me the wrong way to bastardize a perfectly good name, such as Ptolemaios, as Ptolemy. So, I decided to go with Ptolemaios and Alexandros and Kleopatra. One unfortunate result of this decision is that anybody searching for Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I Soter, or Cleopatra VII Philopator will never find my books on Amazon or my website on the Internet.
But my books are historical fiction, so I get to name my characters anything I want. The trouble was that even I – pedantic, strange, idiosyncratic, and weird as I might be – had a moment of hesitation when it came to naming places that have well-known English names. I just couldn’t bring myself to call Ἀθῆναι as Athenai. So, I called it Athens. I realize I’m being inconsistent but, as Emerson said, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. It goes without saying that all my consistencies are astute.
Speaking of inconsistencies, for places less well known in the English-speaking world, I have retained their Greek names, transliterated into the Latin alphabet. So, basically, what I’ve done is completely arbitrary – one of the privileges of being an author.
Let me know what you think of all this. And enjoy reading my books!