10 - 16 January 2002
Issue No.568
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10 - 16 January 2002 Issue No.568 |
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All about the Ptolemies
A History of the Ptolemaic Empire, Günther H›lbl, transl. Tina Saavedra, London and New York: Routledge, 2001. pp373
The most authoritative account of its subject to have appeared for years, Günther H›lbl's History of the Ptolemaic Empire shows how politics, ideology and religious culture were closely linked during the Ptolemaic Empire, a period in Ancient Egyptian history that ran from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to those of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC. Anyone who has ever despaired of finding reliable information on this long, fascinating, but strangely neglected period in Egypt's ancient history can now go to H›lbl's book in confidence, knowing that the author, an Austrian professor and specialist in the field, has produced a reference work that synthesises modern research on questions relating to Egypt's position within the Graeco-Roman world and the domestic character of a society that worshipped its Greek Ptolemaic rulers as gods.
The Temple of Isis on Philae, Aswan
H›lbl divides his study of the three centuries of Ptolemaic rule into three parts, corresponding to three distinct historical periods. Part I covers the "golden age" of Ptolemaic rule from Ptolemy I Soter, the successor of Alexander the Great, to Ptolemy III Euergetes, who died in 222 BC. This period of a little over a century saw the establishment of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, essential to Alexandria's grand design for an ancient new world order, and it saw the peak of the Ptolemies' power under the country's second and third Ptolemiac rulers between 282 and 222 BC.
Part II of H›lbl's book looks at the change and decline that set in after this date. The author traces Egypt's domestic and foreign policy from Ptolemy IV Philopator to Ptolemy VI Philometor (221-168 BC), describing challenges to Ptolemaic rule, the operation of priestly rule and worship in the community, and the inter-relation of Greek cults and Ancient Egyptian gods. He shows how Ptolemaic Egypt gradually fell under Rome's shadow, as the Romans extended their reach in the Eastern Mediterranean in the first century BC, culminating in the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, at the hands of Octavian, later Augustus Caesar.
According to H›lbl, Alexander the Great became interested in Egypt and the Nile Valley civilisation because the Pharaonic system there was "a very suitable ideology that was well established and has been accepted for millennia," and it was one that could be turned to serve his own ends. Alexander therefore observed the traditional protocols associated with the Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, visited the centre of the sun cult at Heliopolis, and recognised that making offerings to the gods was an essential part of the ruler's role, making sacrifices at the shrine to the god Apis in the temple of Ptah, for example.
Alexander's belief in his own divine nature was in harmony with the Ancient Egyptian conception of the Pharaoh as god, and his trip to the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert to consult the oracle of Amun was a part of his taking on the mantle of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and of his participation in the Ancient Egyptian system of belief. Following his visit to Siwa, Alexander returned to Memphis and organised sacrifices to Zeus-Amun and to the god Cyrene, who was related to the Theban god Amun-Re. His Ptolemaic successors continued these practices.
Ancient Memphis near to modern Cairo was established as the new Ptolemaic state's capital, even though it was not a convenient location from which to administer foreign territorial interests, and neither was it a likely site for a capital having substantial foreign economic and commercial activity. Nevertheless, even later when the Ptolemaic state established its spiritual centre at Alexandria, serving as a kind of Greek counter-weight both to Ancient Egyptian culture and to other Greek centres such as Athens, Memphis continued to be the ruler's official residence. Probably this was because the Ptolemaic rulers wished to continue the Ancient Egyptian tradition of the Pharaoh as the ruler of two united lands, Upper and Lower Egypt, a title first attributed to Menes at the dawn of Egypt's ancient history. They therefore continued in a tradition inaugurated by Alexander and were crowned at Memphis.
H›lbl shows that the ancient Memphis priesthood and the new Ptolemaic dynasty co-operated with each other to preserve and strengthen the state from the very beginnings of Ptolemaic rule. This important fact, sometimes downplayed in histories of the Egyptian Graeco-Roman period, meant that successive rulers attended the ancient new year festival at Memphis, the sanctuary's high priest performing the appropriate rituals before the statues of dead Ptolemaic kings in the temple precincts, and thereby underlining the close inter-relation of Greek rule and Ancient Egyptian religion.
"Once the ruler had died," H›lbl writes, "his ritual deification followed in accordance with ancient tradition in the temples of the dead. Among these was the east temple within the Serapeion of Memphis, which had been built by Nectanebo II on the eastern end of the dromos opposite the gallery of Apis. At least from the time of Ptolemy II, the statues of the deified Ptolemies were placed there, next to the statues of the living Apis and other gods."
In his book, H›lbl covers the political and religious history of the three centuries prior to the Roman conquest of Egypt. He writes with authority on Egyptian religion and archaeology using the latest papyrological and archaeological sources, and his book includes some of the most up-to-date findings by scholars in several fields. While unquestionably a book for professional historians of the period, the lay public will undoubtedly gain much from reading A History of the Ptolemaic Empire, particularly with regard to understanding how Ancient Egyptian religious traditions were adapted and carried on by the country's new Greek rulers.
Reviewed by Jill Kamil
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