Roman segregation policies paved the way for a strong Hellenistic identity that had been developing since the fourth century BC. In the metropoleis, the nome capitals, many cultural aspects of Hellenism were sustained, even though many townspeople, including those who claimed to be of pure Hellenic descent, went under the category Egyptian. The metropolites persisted in boasting of their Hellenic ties, be they real or imagined.425 They modeled their lives and their physical surroundings as much as possible on those of the four poleis of Egypt with public buildings, games and festivals of Greek gods on a scale that often exceeded the economic capacities. One such town was Oxyrhynchus, capital of the 19th nome, situated 160km Southwest of modern Cairo with its colonnaded street, columns of the Corinthian order,426 Serapis temple, and a large and excessively decorated theatre believed to have had a capacity of 11,000 people in the Roman period.427 Here, for example, in the 3rd century AD, a public benefactor established a trust fund the interest of which was staging the annual ephebic contests in “the same style as those staged at Antinoopolis.”428
With regards to textual evidence from this period, scholars are in the advantageous position that Oxyrhynchus has produced thousands of Greek and Latin papyri preserved from the period between the 1st and 6th centuries AD. This extraordinary circumstance has provided texts with contents that range from accounts, tax returns and census material, to invoices, receipts, to administrative correspondence on military, religious, economic, and political matters, which were periodically cleaned out of government offices, and dumped in the desert. Onto these, the private citizens added their own piles of “unwanted” papers, thus providing present day scholars with an extensive knowledge about the town and its people.429 Oxyrhynchus is thus an exceptional archeological source with hundreds of papyri of known and unknown literary texts of all types including the remains of at least two private Greek libraries.430
Greek remained the lingua franca of Egypt, and literary papyri testify that works of all major Hellenic authors continued to be copied and recopied in Egypt during and after Roman rule,431 while
425 R. S. Bagnall, "The People of the Roman Fayum," In Hellenistic and Roman Egypt: Sources and Approaches. The author argues that most of the Greek speaking inhabitants of the Fayoum saw themselves as both Hellenic and Egyptian and that it is such people who commissioned the famous mummy portraits.
426 D. M. Bailey, "Classical Architecture in Roman Egypt," In Architecture and Architectural Sculpture in the Roman
Empire, 122-3.
427 D. Rathbone, "Roman Egypt," In The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, 706-7. 428 Lewis, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, 39.
429 cf. P. Parsons, The City of the Sharp-nosed Fish: Everyday Life in the Nile Valley., and A. K. Bowman and others, eds., Oxyrhynchus: A City and its Texts.
430 F. Kenyon, "The Library of a Greek of Oxyrhynchus," JEA 8, (1922): 129-38. 431 Lewis, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, 59.
new important Greek works of literature were already being produced during Ptolemaic rule.432 Unfortunately, most of the poetry has not survived in its complete form, but fragments of poems and references thereof by other authors and collectors of manuscripts provide an idea about the most influential poems of the time. Menander was among the popular dramatist and the only completely preserved copy of his comedy has survived from Egypt (Aninoopolis?) along with copies of three of his plays.433 Other famous poets were Demosthenes, Euripides and Hesiod, and evidence suggests that Egyptian priests were well aware of these poets and their works as seen, for example, among the Greek papyri found in priestly houses and rubbish dumps near the temple of Soknopaiou Nesos and Tebtunis, which included fragments of Homer and Euripides.434 But Homer was by far the most popular poet, referred to all through antiquity simply as “the poet.” He was read in the private sphere as well as in school, and fragments of more than one thousand manuscripts with the Iliad and Odyssey have been found in Egypt.435
Greek traditions were thus cultivated and preserved in the Roman period. The richest source of Greek literary traditions are mainly Oxyrhynchus and the Fayoum region,436 where classics and new compositions were read, copied and performed: an example is an oratory of Euripides (pOxy. 31 2548) from the 3rd century AD.437
Unfortunately, and due to circumstances referred to in the course of the present chapter, it is almost impossible to determine ethnic origins of the social classes of Egypt during the Greco-Roman period, as Hellenization was taking form on a socio-cultural level from the onset of Ptolemaic rule: in the poleis, metropoleis, as well as their surrounding villages, intermarriages had taken root, names were changed, citizenships were obtained and Helleno-Egyptian identities were entwined. But what about
432 A survey of Greek literature produced in Hellenistic Egypt is in: A. D. Morrison, "Greek Literature in Egypt," In A
Companion to Ancient Egypt, 775-8. Translation of major Hellenistic poets in: F. J. Nisetich, The Poems of Callimachus. A. Verity, Theocritus: Idylls. R. L. Hunter, Jason and the Golden Fleece. General introduction to the
Hellenistic period and its literature: A. W. Bulloch, "Hellenistic Poetry," In The Cambridge History of Classical
Literature.; G. O. Hutchinson, Hellenistic Poetry. R. L. Hunter, "Literature and its Contexts," In A Companion to the Hellenistic World, 477-93.
433 cf. Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 199. A. A. MacDonald, Michael W. Twomey, and G. J. Reinink, Learned Antiquity: Scholarship and Society in the Near East, the Greco-
Roman World, and the Early Medieval West, 153ff.
434P. Van Minnen, "Boorish or Bookish? Literature in Egyptian Villages in the Fayum in the Graeco-Roman Period,"
JJP 28, (1998): 145-68.
435 For Homer as most attested exercise, cf. e.g. R. Cribiore, Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt, esp. 46 and catalogue on 204ff. see also: R. Cribiore, "Literary School Exercises," ZPE 116, (1997): 53-60. For
influence in Egypt and circulation of Homer, see also: I. Morris and B. P. Powell, A New Companion to Homer, 55-100; M. Finkelberg, "Regional Texts and the Circulation of Books: the case of Homer," Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 46, (2006): 231-48.
436 Stephens and Winkler, eds., Ancient Greek Novels: The Fragments. Introduction, Text, Translation, and
Commentary, 7.
437 Text image: http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/ees/ees.html.
the Egyptian priesthood who seemed to have been rather privileged during the Ptolemaic dynasty? From the dawn of Egyptian history, the priesthood was an exclusive cast with major influences in the political arena, and the Ptolemies had realized their value and offered space for religious syncretism of which the most obvious is the establishment of the cult of Serapis. Under Roman rule, the priestly organization and their income were significantly reduced and controlled, and a lesser number of the temples and priests retained privileges in the form of tax and corvée exemption.
(4.3.1) The priesthood
Egyptian temple organization was rather different from its Hellenic counterpart, which had no clergy, but only managers and administrators who were elected by the (metro)polites from their own class. They functioned in annual rotations, attending to the maintenance of the temples and the cultic requirements of the shrines, and the office of chief priest was not hereditary, but open to all within the (metro)polite class.438 In contrast, Egyptian temples consisted of a hereditary priestly organization supported by several grades of attendants, and the temples had great wealth and political influence.439 When Egypt was annexed into the Roman Empire, Augustus instituted a system of control that efficiently reduced and restrained the wealth and political influence that the priesthood previously could benefit from under the Ptolemies. Records of temple staff and financial accounts were regularly subject to examination by representatives of the Privy Purse and while the priests could hold several official titles in the past, Roman rule prohibited such arrangements, restraining them from engaging in other activities than those related to divine service.440 This monitoring scheme against the priesthood and its establishment was already instigated during the early years of Roman occupation and is recorded on an edict of the prefect Gaius Turanius from year 4 BC:441
I order [the temples] to register their hereditary priest and acolytes and all the others belonging to the temples and their children, and to make clear what functions they perform. I will then scrutinize the list of the current 26th year of [Augustus] Caesar, and those not of priestly origin I will forthwith remove. (BGU IV 1199)
438 Lewis, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, 91.
439 W. Clarysse, A. Schoors, and H. Willems, Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years. Studies Dedicated to the
Memory of Jan Quaegebeur. It provides a series of articles on Egyptian religion in Greco-Roman Egypt. For a
comprehensive survey of titles and functions, see also, Sauneron, Les prêtres de l'ancienne Égypte.
440 This affected only the priests in the top offices. Lesser offices were usually held by ordinary people who combined serving the temple with farming and others activities: W. Clarysse, "Egyptian Temples and Priests: Graeco-Roman," In
A Companion to Ancient Egypt, 288.
441 The following translation is in: Lewis, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, 92. Available online:
http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0001&layout=&loc=1199
Consequently, the numbers of priests and the temples’ landholdings were significantly reduced,442 and another major blow from the Roman government followed when the previously automatic exemption from tax and from performing obligatory public services for those whose priestly status was certified was abolished. Instead, such privileges were only given to a certain number or category of priests, as for example those of the temple of Tebtunis. But as Clarysse notes, priestly privileges were not completely eliminated during the first two centuries of Roman rule and a favored number who were exempt from some taxes did flourish, well paid for their services. They had prime access to temple lands, which they turned into private possessions: the most prominent of them became part of the Greek-speaking elite.443 Of all the non-Jewish population, the priests alone were allowed to be circumcised, but even circumcision required a permit filed from government agencies. One example is in the following application, which was submitted to the nome strategos in 187 AD by four priests of the “famous, tax- exempt temple of [the village of] Tebtunis:”444
With reference to application sent to you by Maremsemis son of Marsisouchos son of Harpokration, priest of the said temple, requesting that his son Panesis born of Thenpakebkis daughter of Panesis be circumcised, in reply to your inquiry whether he is of priestly descent and entitled to be circumcised we declare on oath by the fortune of Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antonius Augustus that his priestly descent and the proofs submitted for him are genuine, and that he must be circumcised because he cannot perform the sacred offices unless this is done. If not [as we have stated], may we be liable to the consequences of our oath [signatures]
If the strategos found the boy’s lineage acceptable, he would so certify to the high priest of Egypt (the aid of the Roman governor), who would then hold a hearing on the application. According to the minutes of one such hearing in 171 AD the high priest: 445
442 e.g. 10% of Ptolemaic Fayoum were registered with priestly functions while, in comparison, the list of temples on BGU 13 2215 from 112 AD records 61 priests in Bakchias, 54 priests and 50 pastophoroi in Karanis, 40 or 50 priests and 40 pastophoroi in Tebtunis , cf. Clarysse and Thompson, Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt, 195 & 188-90. 443 Clarysse, "Egyptian Temples and Priests: Graeco-Roman," In A Companion to Ancient Egypt, 290.
444 pTebt. 2 293: B. P. Grenfell, A. S. Hunt, and E. J. Goodspeed, eds., The Tebtunis Papyri, Part II, 63-7. This Translation in: Lewis, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, 93.
445 BGU 1 347: http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-
bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0001&layout=&loc=347. ThisTranslation in: Lewis, Life in Egypt under
Roman Rule.
Enquired of the leaders and assistant leaders of the delegation, and of the scribes [and keepers] of the sacred records, whether the boy had any blemish on his body. Upon their saying that he was without blemish, Ulpius Serenianus, highpriest and minister for temple administration, by appending his signature to the letter from the strategos, gave permission for the boy to be circumscised in accordance with custom.
It is interesting to note that hardly any revolts occurred on behalf of the priesthood against the Roman government. Presumably, this was a result of the strict control now implemented on the temples. In the town villages some priests and temples, as discussed above, where rather well off and perhaps they did not feel the need to rebel. It was in Alexandria that a violent riot occurred in AD 172, lead by an Egyptian priest named Isiodorus. The rebellion, known as the boukoloi revolts (boukoloi usually translated “herdsman”), would have ended with the conquest of Alexandria if not the son of the Prefect of Egypt was summoned from Syria, he managed to divide the rebels and defeat them in several battles.446
(4.3.2) The Priesthood in Greco‐Roman Traditions
Since entrance to the temple was confined to the priests, they functioned as the intermediaries between the two domains of temple and laity. The Egyptian priesthood, by means of its expertise in the traditional language and scriptures, held a prominent status in their communities outside the domain of the temple. Such a status was easier cultivated due to their distinctive physical appearance and way of life making them “models of divine contiguity and reciprocity.”447 Accordingly, they could serve as ritual experts in their communities nourishing the local needs, which were primarily concerned with issues of daily life such as fertility, childbirth, protective amulets, and blessings and curses.
The Egyptian priesthood was thus unique in its proficiency in the ritual domain: an authority in the world of magic which composed all sorts of spells for use in the world of the living as well as that of the dead, and a source that had the secret means to communicate with the gods and connect the living with the world beyond. David Frankfurter has argued that it was this “exotic” aspect of the Egyptian priest as the ritual expert that fascinated the Hellenistic cultures resulting in a high “demand” for their skills.448 He notes that, while the general shape and structure of magical spells remained typically
446 cf. L. Capponi, "Serapis, Boukoloi and Christians from Hadrian to Marcus Aurelius," In Hadrian and the
Christians, 131ff. The author also discusses the role of the boukoloi.
447 Dieleman, Priests, Tongues, and Rites: The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts and Translation in Egyptian Ritual
(100-300 CE), 219.
448 D. Frankfurter, "The Consequences of Hellenism in Late Antique Egypt: Religious Worlds and Actors," Archiv für
Religionsgeschichte 2, (2000): 162-94.
Egyptian, the contents of the spells shifted towards a more popular objective, such as those mentioned above, including erotic pursuits and attaining revelations.449 Frankfurter identifies this development as a result of the Hellenistic “stereotyping” of priestly skills, which resulted in the priesthood’s confirmation of that stereotype by reworking spells in accordance with demands: a sort of supply-and-demand process.
The “stereotyping” of the Egyptian priesthood as experts in magic and divination is echoed in Greek and Latin texts of the Roman period. But while Egyptian literary tradition centers on an ideal image of the priest influencing society and the course of history by means of his knowledge and magical skills,450 the Hellenistic stereotype offers a very different picture. Dieleman presents the main contrasts between the Hellenistic and traditional Egyptian image of the priest as follows:451 Greek and Latin literature may question the competence of the priest, or portray him as a performer of magical feats for money: an image completely absent in the Egyptian narratives. As opposed to the image of the respected member of society in Egyptian texts, the priests in Greek and Latin texts occur as individuals alienated from society who function as exotic gurus or miracle workers. In these representations, the royal court is absent as an arena of display, which is completely contrasted in Egyptian literature where the priests are always connected to the royal sphere. While Egyptian narratives are set in the past, Greek and Latin texts present an image that is contemporary with its audience. Finally, while the priest is an actor who focalizes and speaks in Egyptian literal tradition, he is mainly a passive object subordinated to a Hellenistic viewpoint in Greek and Latin texts.
However, some of the priests’ attributes remain similar in both Hellenistic and native traditions. For example, the Kalasiris in Heliodorus of Emesa’s Aethiopika452 (c. 3rd century AD) is in reality a Memphite high priest in refuge who is not only an expert in romantic matters but also in curative spells. He cures the heroine Charikleia of what he terms the “Evil Eye” in Book 3, and performs divination and deciphers the Ethiopian royal script in Book 4. This image conforms to the traditional Egyptian portrayal of the priest as a specialist in deciphering ancient writings and preparing remedies, as for example Khamwase.453
449 D. Frankfurter, "The Consequences of Hellenism in Late Antique Egypt: Religious Worlds and Actors," Archiv für
Religionsgeschichte 2, (2000): 175-83.
450 § (2) for the motifs.
451 Dieleman, Priests, Tongues, and Rites: The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts and Translation in Egyptian Ritual
(100-300 CE), 249.
452 Heliodorus, Aithiopika: An Ethiopian Romance. Translated by T. Underdowne (Anno 1587), revised and partly rewritten by F. A. Wright, with additional corrections in the online edition by S. Rhoads:
http://www.elfinspell.com/HeliodorusTitle.html 453 cf. (2.5.1)
Another Memphite priest, Panchrates, is in Lucian of Samosata’s (2nd century AD) Philopseudes.454 He had lived underground for 23 years in the sanctuaries of Egypt, learning magic from Isis. He could control animals, for example he could ride on crocodiles, and turn broomsticks into servants by putting clothes upon them, saying a certain spell which would make the broomstick walk (Philopseudes 34). This image is reminiscent of the most common and recurring motifs in Egyptian stories about priests which involve creating images out of wax and bringing them to life through magic spells for them to execute the magician’s orders. The earliest story that utilizes this motif is Khufu’s Court where Ubainer creates a crocodile from wax and recites a spell over it instructing it to eat his wife’s lover. Panchrates does not utilize wax, but the concept of bringing life to inert objects certainly fits well with the Egyptian portrayals of the priest. The motif of having power over dangerous animals, such as the crocodile, is also conforming to the Egyptian representations.
An additional example that deserves attention is the introduction to the Greek astrological guidebook attributed to Thessalos of Tralles (1st century AD).455 In its preface, Thessalus relates how he had pursued a medical education in Alexandria. Some years later, he discovered an ancient book of king Nechepsos (Necho II, 610-595 BC) with twenty-four medical cures according to the signs of the Zodiac. After several attempts, Thessalos fails in making the cures of Necho effective. He decides to travel