History of Ptolemaic Egypt 2252715 224446164 2008-07-08T21:42:37Z Cumulus Clouds 1151671 /* Roman Egypt */ rm inline 3D image per [[WP:3D]] {{Nofootnotes|date=December 2007}} {{History of Egypt}} '''Ptolemaic Egypt''' began when [[Ptolemy I Soter]] declared himself [[Pharaoh]] of [[Egypt]] in [[305 BC]] and ended with the death of queen [[Cleopatra VII|Cleopatra]] of [[Egypt]] and the [[Aegyptus (Roman province)|Roman conquest]] in [[30 BC]]. The [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] was a powerful [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] state, extending from southern [[Syria]] in the east, to [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] to the west, and south to the frontier with [[Nubia]]. [[Alexandria]] became the capital city and a center of [[Hellenistic Greece|Greek]] culture and trade. To gain recognition by the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves as the successors to the Pharaohs. The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bowman | first = Alan K | title= Egypt after the Pharaohs 332 BC – AD 642 | publisher=University of California Press | location=Berkeley | year=1996 | edition=2nd ed. | pages=25-26 | isbn=0520205316}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Stanwick | first = Paul Edmond | title= Portraits of the Ptolemies: Greek kings as Egyptian pharaohs | publisher=University of Texas Press | location=Austin | year=2003 | isbn=0292777728}}</ref> Hellenistic culture continued to thrive in Egypt well after the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|Muslim conquest]]. The Ptolemies had to fight native rebellions and were involved in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the kingdom and its annexation by Rome. ==Alexander the Great== {{main|Alexander the Great}} In [[332 BC]] [[Alexander III of Macedon]] conquered Egypt with little resistance from the Persians. He was welcomed by the [[Egyptians]] as a deliverer. He visited [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]], and went on pilgrimage to the oracle of [[Amun]] at the [[Oasis of Siwa]]. The oracle declared him to be the son of Amun-Re.<ref> Peters, F.E. "The Harvest of Hellenism" p. 42 </ref> He conciliated the Egyptians by the respect which he showed for their religion. While Macedonians commanded military garrisons, including at Memphis and Pelusium, Alexander left the civil administration in local control; initially there were two, later one governor.<ref> ibid pp. 42-3 </ref> Alexander founded a new Greek city, [[Alexandria]], to be a major commercial port.<ref> ibid p. 41 </ref> This city, where Alexander was buried,<ref> ibid p. 174 </ref> grew, quickly becoming as well Egypt's administrative capital and an intellectual centre.<ref> ibid p. 41 </ref> The wealth of Egypt could now be harnessed for Alexander's conquest of the rest of the [[Persian Empire]]. Early in [[331 BC]] he was ready to depart, and led his forces away to Phoenicia. He left [[Cleomenes of Naucratis|Cleomenes]] as the ruling [[nomarch]] to control Egypt in his absence. ==Ptolemaic Kingdom== {{main|Ptolemaic Kingdom}} <!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:ac.ptolemy.jpg|thumb|left|Ptolemy I, King of Egypt]] --> Following Alexander's death in [[Babylon]] in [[323 BC]], a [[Diadochi|succession crisis]] erupted among his generals. Initially, [[Perdiccas]] ruled the empire as regent for Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus, who became [[Philip III of Macedon]], and then as regent for both Philip III and Alexander's infant son [[Alexander IV of Macedon]], who had not been born at the time of his father's death. Perdiccas appointed [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy]], one of Alexander's closest companions, to be [[satrap]] of Egypt. Ptolemy ruled Egypt from [[323 BC]], nominally in the name of the joint kings Philip III and Alexander IV. However, as Alexander the Great's empire disintegrated, Ptolemy soon established himself as ruler in his own right. Ptolemy successfully defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in [[321 BC]], and consolidated his position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the [[Diadochi#Wars of the Diadochi (322-301 BC)|Wars of the Diadochi]] ([[322 BC]]-[[301 BC]]). In [[305 BC]], Ptolemy took the title of King. As [[Ptolemy I Soter]] ("Saviour"), he founded the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] that was to rule Egypt for nearly 300 years. [[Image:NE 200bc.jpg|thumb|300px|Ptolemaic Kingdom and its neighbors in 200 BC.]] All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name "Ptolemy", while princesses and queens preferred the names [[Cleopatra]] and [[Berenice]]. Because the Ptolemaic kings adopted the Egyptian custom of marrying their sisters, many of the kings ruled jointly with their spouses, who were also of the royal house. This custom made Ptolemaic politics confusingly incestuous, and the later Ptolemies were increasingly feeble. The only Ptolemaic Queens to officially rule on their own were [[Berenice III of Egypt|Berenice III]] and [[Berenice IV of Egypt|Berenice IV]]. [[Cleopatra V of Egypt|Cleopatra V]] did co-rule, but it was with another female, Berenice IV. [[Cleopatra VII]] officially co-ruled with [[Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator]], [[Ptolemy XIV of Egypt|Ptolemy XIV]], and [[Ptolemy XV of Egypt|Ptolemy XV]], but effectively, she ruled Egypt alone. [[Image:Ptolemy I Soter - bust.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Ptolemy Soter as pharaoh presents the Hellenistic ruler as the rightful ruler of the land of Egypt]] The early Ptolemies did not disturb the religion or the customs of the [[Egyptians]], and indeed built magnificent new temples for the Egyptian gods and soon adopted the outward display of the Pharaohs of old (''illustration, left''). During the reign of Ptolemies II and III thousands of Greek veterans were rewarded with grants of farm lands, and Greeks were planted in colonies and garrisons or settled themselves in the villages throughout the country. Upper Egypt, farthest from the centre of government, was less immediately affected, though Ptolemy I established the Greek colony of [[Ptolemais Hermiou]] to be its capital, but within a century [[Greeks|Greek]] influence had spread through the country and intermarriage had produced a large Greco-Egyptian educated class. Nevertheless, the Greeks always remained a privileged minority in Ptolemaic Egypt. They lived under Greek law, received a Greek education, were tried in Greek courts, and were citizens of Greek cities, just as they had been in [[Ancient Greece|Greece]]. The Egyptians were rarely admitted to the higher levels of Greek culture, in which most Egyptians were not in any case interested. ==Ptolemaic contributions== {{POV|date=December 2007}} Ptolemy I, perhaps with advice from [[Demetrius of Phalerum]], founded the Museum and [[Library of Alexandria]]<ref> F.E. Peters, "The Harvest of Hellenism" p. 193 </ref> The Museum was a research centre supported by the king. It was located in the royal sector of the city. The scholars were housed in the same sector and funded by the Ptolemaic rulers.<ref> ibid </ref> They had access to the Library. The chief librarian served also as the crown prince's tutor.<ref> ibid p. 194 </ref> For the first hundred and fifty years of its existence this library and research centre drew the top Greek scholars<ref> ibid </ref> This was a key academic, literary and scientific centre.<ref> ibid p. 195f </ref> The [[Greeks]] now formed the new upper classes in [[Egypt]], replacing the old native aristocracy. In general, the Ptolemies undertook changes that went far beyond any other measures that earlier foreign rulers had imposed. They used the religion and traditions to increase their own power and wealth. Although they established a prosperous kingdom, enhanced with fine buildings, the native population enjoyed few benefits, and there were frequent uprisings. These expressions of nationalism reached a peak in the reign of [[Ptolemy IV Philopator]] (221–205 BC) when others gained control over one district and ruled as a line of native "pharaohs." This was only curtailed nineteen years later when [[Ptolemy V Epiphanes]] (205-181 BC) succeeded in subduing them, but the underlying grievances continued and there were riots again later in the dynasty. Family conflicts affected the later years of the dynasty when [[Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II]] fought his brother Ptolemy VI Philometor and briefly seized the throne. The struggle was continued by his sister and niece (who both became his wives) until they finally issued an Amnesty Decree in 118 BC. ==Demographics== The Ptolemaic kingdom was diverse in the people who settled and made Egypt their home on this time. During this period, Greek troops under [[Ptolemy I Soter]] were given land grants and brought their families encouraging tens of thousands of [[Greeks]] to settle the country making themselves the new ruling class. Native [[Egyptians]] continued having a role, yet a small one in the Ptolemaic government mostly in lower posts and outnumbered the foreigners. During the reign of the Ptolemaic Pharoahs, many [[Jews]] were imported from neighboring Palestine by the hundred thousands for being renowned fighters and established an important presence there. Other foreign groups settled during this time even [[Galatian]] mercernaries were invited in. ===Greeks=== Of all ruling entities to come and settle upon Egypt, the [[Greeks]] were the most important element. They were partly spread as allotment-holders over the country, forming social groups, in the country towns and villages, side by side with the native population, partly gathered in the three Greek cities — the old Naucratis, founded before 600 B.C. (in the interval of Egyptian independence after the expulsion of the Assyrians and before the coming of the Persians), and the two new cities, Alexandria by the sea, and Ptolemais in [[Upper Egypt]]. Alexander and his [[Seleucid]] successors were great as the founders of Greek cities all over their dominions; [[Greek culture]] was so much bound up with the life of the city-state that any king who wanted to present himself to the world as a genuine champion of [[Hellenism]] had to do something in this direction, but the king of [[Egypt]], whilst he was as ambitious as any to shine as a [[Hellene]], would find Greek cities, with their republican tradition and aspirations to independence, inconvenient elements in a country which lent itself, as no other did, to bureaucratic centralization. The Ptolemies therefore limited the number of Greek city-states in Egypt to those three — [[Alexandria]], [[Ptolemais]], [[Naucratis]]. Outside Egypt, as we have seen, they had Greek cities under their dominion — the old Greek cities in the [[Cyrenaica]], in [[Cyprus]], on the coasts and islands of the Aegean — but in Egypt no more than the three. There were indeed country towns with names such as Ptolemais, Arsinoe, and Berenice, in which Greek communities existed with a certain social life; there were similar groups of Greeks in many of the old Egyptian towns, but they were not communities with the political forms of a city-state. Yet if they had no place of political assembly, they would have their gymnasium, the essential sign of Hellenism, serving something of the purpose of a university for the young men. Far up the Nile at Ombi we find in 136‑135 B.C. a gymnasium of the local Greeks, which passes resolutions and corresponds with the king. And in 123 B.C., when there is trouble in Upper Egypt between the towns of [[Crocodilopolis]] and Hermonthis, the negotiators sent from Crocodilopolis are the young men attached to the gymnasium, who, according to the Greek tradition, eat bread and salt with the negotiators from the other town. All the [[Ancient Greek dialects|Greek dialects]] of the Greek world gradually became asimilated in the [[Koine Greek]] dialect which was the common language of the [[Hellenistic world]]. Generally the [[Greeks]] of the Ptolemaic Egypt felt like a representative of a higher civilization yet were curious over the native culture of Egypt. ===Arabs during the Ptolemies=== [[Arab]] nomads of the eastern desert penetrated in small bodies into the cultivated land of the [[Nile]] {{Fact|date=September 2007}}. The Greeks called all the land on the eastern side of the Nile "Arabia", and villages were really to be found here and there with a population of Arabs who had exchanged the life of tent-dwellers for that of settled agriculturists {{Fact|date=September 2007}}. In the village of Poïs, in the Memphite nome, two inhabitants sent on [[September 20]], 152 B.C a letter in Greek. It had to be written for two of its Arab inhabitants by the young Macedonian [[Apollonius]], the Arabs being even unable apparently to subscribe it. [[Apollonius]] writes their names as Myrullas and Chalbas, the first probably, and the second certainly, Semitic. A century earlier Arabs were farther west, in the Fayûm, organized under a leader of their own, and working mainly as herdsmen on the dorea of Apollonius the dioiketes; but these Arabs bear Greek and Egyptian names.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} ===Jews of Egypt=== The largest foreign element after the Greek was the Jewish population. At the time of the [[Christian era]] the Jews in Egypt may have come to number about a million<ref> F.E. Peters, "The Harvest of Hellenism" p. 296 </ref> out of a total population of about seven and a half millions. The Jews of Alexandria were, no doubt, like the Greeks of Alexandria, engaged in various kinds of trade and industry, but large numbers of the Jews in Egypt had been imported as soldiers. The [[Maccabean revolt]] and the wars of the Hasmonaean kings proved how formidable the Jews could be as fighters. The Elephantine Aramaic papyri have shown us Jewish soldiers of the Persian king established near the first cataract long before Alexander came to Egypt. Perhaps semi-paganized Jewish communities of this type had been absorbed, and ceased to exist as a separate people, before the end of the Persian period, but it seems likely that Ptolemy I found a Jewish element still existing in Egypt when he took over the obscure. Sir Flinders Petrie refers to a Jewish tomb, opposite [[Oxyrhyncus]], discovered in 1922, with a long [[Aramaic]] inscription, belonging to the middle of the 5th century. In any case, when Palestine had been united to their kingdom by the Ptolemies, a fresh stream of immigration from Judaea to Egypt naturally followed. It was not only voluntary immigration. Regarding the Jews as good material for his army, Ptolemy I had transported masses of them to Egypt — 100,000, according to Pseudo-Aristeas, who says that he put 30,000 of them "in the garrisons" — settled them, we may perhaps understand, like the Greeks and Macedonians, on the land.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} Inscriptions and papyri give us traces of this Jewish population in the country towns of Egypt throughout the Ptolemaic period. The language of the Egyptian Jews was [[Greek language|Greek]]; after a generation or two immigrants from Palestine forgot their Semitic speech.<ref> Solomon Grayzel "A History of the Jews" p. 56 </ref> Their Hebrew scriptures they knew only in the Greek translation, which was named the Septuagint because, according to the legend, the translation had been made by the Seventy Translators under Ptolemy II.<ref> Solomon Grayzel ibid pp. 56-57 </ref> Since the Seventy Translators were held to have been themselves miraculously inspired, there was no need for the Egyptian Jews to concern themselves with the original Hebrew. As a matter of fact, the translation of the [[Old Testament]] was made, bit by bit, in Egypt during the last three centuries before the [[Christian era]]. According to the first form of the legend, it was not the Old Testament as a whole, but only the five books of the Law which were translated by the Seventy,<ref> ibid p, 56 </ref> and it is likely that a Greek version of the Law really was required by the Egyptian Jews as early as the reign of [[Ptolemy II]]. In the latter times of the dynasty it made an important difference to any one who ruled Egypt, or aspired to rule it, if he had the Jews on his side. Whether the [[Jews]] at Alexandria were, or were not, included in the citizen-body of Alexandrines is, as has been said, a debated question. It seems really to resolve itself into a question of terms — what is meant by "citizenship" — the Jews plainly had certain peculiar privileges, on the strength of which they might claim to count as Alexandrine citizens, whilst they lacked other ordinary characteristics of citizenship, the absence of which might justify the Greek Alexandrines in denying them the name. As a community in Alexandria, they had a measure of self-government not conceded to any other community within a Greek [[city-state]]. Their chief in early Roman times (and perhaps in Ptolemaic times) had the title of [[genarches]] or [[ethnarches]]. In Roman times the government of the community was vested in a senate (gerusia), and this, too, may go back to the earlier period. The archontes seem to have been a committee of the senate. But the only title for the rulers of the community for which we have documentary evidence in the Ptolemaic period is that of Elders. The Jewish quarter, Delta, adjoined the palace quarter on the north-east and reached down to the sea. Insofar as it lay beyond the harbour, it might be spoken of by enemies of the Jews contemptuously, as an out‑of-the‑way wretched sort of place, whilst the Jews might retort that its sea-front and its proximity to the royal palace made it pleasant and honourable. It was not a ghetto, inasmuch as there was no compulsion upon the Jews to live in the Delta quarter; many, as a matter of fact, lived in other parts of the city. But the Delta quarter was mainly inhabited by Jews, who had gathered there by choice. There were naturally a number of synagogues in Alexandria for a community so large. The principal synagogue was in Roman times one of the most impressive in the Empire, a magnificent building in the style of a Greek basilica, described with pride in the Talmud, so large that the voice of the officiating minister could not reach the more distant part of the congregation, and a man had to be stationed half-way down the building with a flag, to signal the moments for saying Amen. But we have in Ptolemaic times the mention of synagogues at Alexandria — one built on behalf of the famous Cleopatra and Ptolemy Caesar "to the Great God who heareth", by a certain Alypus, a rich member, no doubt, of the Jewish community ==Roman Egypt== {{main|Aegyptus (Roman province)}} In [[30 BC]], following the death of [[Cleopatra VII]], the [[Roman Empire]] declared that Egypt was a province ([[Aegyptus (province)|Aegyptus]]), and that it was to be governed by a prefect selected by the Emperor from the [[Equestrian (Roman)|Equestrian]] and not a governor from the Senatorial order, to prevent interference by the [[Roman Senate]]. The main Roman interest in Egypt was always the reliable delivery of grain to the city of [[Rome]]. To this end the Roman administration made no change to the Ptolemaic system of government, although Romans replaced Greeks in the highest offices. But Greeks continued to staff most of the administrative offices and Greek remained the language of government except at the highest levels. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans did not settle in Egypt in large numbers. Culture, education and civic life largely remained Greek throughout the Roman period. The Romans, like the Ptolemies, respected and protected Egyptian religion and customs, although the cult of the Roman state and of the Emperor was gradually introduced. ==Agriculture== The early Ptolemies increased cultivatable land through irrigation and introduced crops such as cotton and better wine-producing grapes. They also increased the availability of luxury goods through foreign trade. They enriched themselves and absorbed Egyptian culture. Ptolemy and his descendants adopted Egyptian royal trappings and added Egypt's religion to their own, worshiping Egyptian gods and building temples to them, and even being mummified and buried in sarcophagi covered with hieroglyphs In his lifetime [[Strabo]] made extensive travels to among others [[Egypt]] and [[Ethiopia]]. == Notes == {{reflist}} == References and further reading == * Bingen, Jean. ''Hellenistic Egypt''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 0748615784; paperback, ISBN 0748615792). ''Hellenistic Egypt: Monarchy, Society, Economy, Culture''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 0520251415; paperback, ISBN 0520251423). * Bowman, Alan Keir. 1996. ''Egypt After the Pharaohs: 332 BC&ndash;AD 642; From Alexander to the Arab Conquest''. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press * Chauveau, Michel. 2000. ''Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies''. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell University Press * Ellis, Simon P. 1992. ''Graeco-Roman Egypt''. Shire Egyptology 17, ser. ed. Barbara G. Adams. Aylesbury: Shire Publications, ltd. * Hölbl, Günther. 2001. ''A History of the Ptolemaic Empire''. Translated by Tina Saavedra. London: Routledge Ltd. * Lloyd, Alan Brian. 2000. "The Ptolemaic Period (332&ndash;30 BC)". In ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 395&ndash;421 * Peters, F.E. 1970 ''The Harvest of Hellenism''. New York: Simon and Schuster == External links == *[http://www.unc.edu/awmc/downloads/aegyptusPtolSml.jpg Map of Ptolemaic Egypt] [[Category:Ptolemaic Empire]] [[Category:Ptolemaic dynasty]] [[cs:Ptolemaiovský Egypt]] [[es:Periodo helenístico de Egipto]] [[pt:Egipto ptolemaico]] [[ru:Эллинистический Египет]] [[vi:Ai Cập thuộc Hy Lạp]]