Lucio Del Corso and Antonio Ricciardetto present papers on Greek culture in Ptolemaic Egypt, focusing on the Fayum. The volume comprises three sections: “Images and Space”, on sculptural representations and topography of the Fayum; “Ethnic Interactions”, on relations between Greek settlers and Egyptians in documentary papyri; and “The Literary Experience”, on literary papyri, especially the uses of literature beyond Alexandria. The collection does not attempt to synthesize Hellenistic-Egyptian culture in the Ptolemaic period, but provides a snapshot of different contemporary approaches. The papers are consistently of high quality, offering new insights in their respective subfields. The audience is specialized: authors assume familiarity with the historical and cultural backgrounds, and the methods particular to their subfields (art history, archaeology, papyrology, and the like). As it is not possible to address every chapter in this review, I focus on three especially engaging papers. A complete list of titles and authors appears at the end of this review.
Stéphanie Wackenier (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) contributes “Bilingualism and Translation in the Early Ptolemaic Administration”, examining how documentary papyri from the 3rd century illuminate bilingualism in the lower ranks of the Ptolemaic administration. Wackenier’s focus on scribes is incisive, given the difficulty of recovering the relations of documents to their originators (autograph, dictated, translated, etc.). Noting the linguistic content of the papyri may be ambiguous (bilingual archives and documents may reflect the work of different scribes), Wackenier begins with scribal habits: Egyptian-trained scribes used a brush, Greek-trained scribes a pen. Thus, Greek documents written with a brush or Demotic documents written with a pen indicate a scribe writing in his non-native language. The nature and context of the document can develop this intuition. For example, examining TM (Trismegistos) 554, a private letter from Ptolemaios to Achilles, beginning in Greek but switching to Demotic, Wackenier concludes that Ptolemaios was a biliterate Egyptian. The personal nature of the letter suggests Ptolemaios was both scribe and author, and the additional information provided in Demotic supports the inference from the use of a pen throughout that the letter was written by a single scribe. Wackenier applies the framework to the partially unpublished Dionysodoros Dossier. The Dionysodorus Dossier is a collection of papyri in Greek and Demotic from the office of Dionyosoros, the oikonomos of the Polemon district in the Fayum; while some of the papyri have been published, Wackenier has identified further unpublished papyri in the Sorbonne inventory that belong in this collection. Greek documents in the dossier written with a brush again imply an Egyptian scribe who was biliterate in Greek. A final look at draft documents with brush-written Greek, corrections, and abbreviations suggests biliterate Egyptian scribes translating petitions from native Egyptians. This supports and develops our picture of early Ptolemaic administration: Higher levels were filled by Greeks, but lower levels relied on Egyptian scribes; Egyptian scribes who learned Greek bridged the gap and might hope for advancement. Wackenier’s argument is carefully made and persuasive, reinterpreting published papyri and adducing unpublished papyri to create a coherent model of how Egyptian scribes interacted with the Greek-speaking administration.
Natascia Pellé’s chapter, “Greek Historiography in Hellenistic Egypt”, examines papyri of the historiographers dated to the Hellenistic period, with a view to discerning the usage of historical writing under the Ptolemies. Pellé examines papyri of historians not represented in the manuscript tradition in the first half of the chapter, identifying as popular themes local history, the campaigns of Philip and Alexander, and political debates, possibly excerpted for use as rhetorical exercises. In addition to subject matter Pellé discusses the scribal hands (letter forms, orthography, corrections, punctuation) and what they can tell us about the likely purposes and uses of these texts: The historical texts appear to have ranged from library copies to private copies used by historians. Texts including punctuation suggest use in rhetorical training, reinforcing the selection of excerpts noted above, and suggesting a revision of the received consensus that associates the rise of interest in rhetoric with the Roman period. The second half of the chapter examines papyri of the historians preserved in the manuscript tradition, which are perhaps most striking for their paucity, with two fragments of Herodotus (from a single original roll), two of Thucydides, and none of Xenophon. Consequently, no recurring themes in subject matter can be identified, but the examination of the scribal hands indicates that these were high-quality copies, likely intended for libraries. Again, the histories of the papyrus rolls are at least as illuminating as their contents; these copies seem to have been used until they fell apart, when, in some cases they were re-used to record other works, and then were finally recycled as cartonnage, suggesting the cultural prestige they brought to their owners. The chapter as a whole presents less of a sustained argument, and more of a catalog of the papyri and any potentially relevant information, but it does contribute to the sense, argued more explicitly by Del Corso, that literary pursuits were part of the self-presentation of local elites throughout Ptolemaic Egypt, just as literary patronage was for the rulers in Alexandria, and that “Callimachean” philology was not confined to the capital.
In “Music, Books, and Literary Attitudes in the Zenon Archive”, Del Corso uses documents from the archive to explore the role of Greek music and literature in the education and social life of Greek settlers in Egypt. The importance of Greek literature and Ptolemaic patronage in Alexandria is well understood, but Del Corso investigates how that model of patronage was reflected on a smaller scale in the countryside. Del Corso surveys documents in the Zenon Archive that illuminate the role of Apollonios’ kitharode, Satyra. The Zenon Archive is a collection of over 2,000 documentary papyri from the office of Zenon, the household manager of Apollonios the dioiketes (finance minister) of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who retired to Philadelphia in the Fayum. Satyra was kept on Apollonios’ staff at notable expense, and performed at the civic celebration of the Demetria. Del Corso notes that a sketch of a beardless kitharode in the archive may depict her. Kitharodes were a distinctive marker of Greek culture, so Apollonios’ placing of Satyra in the local Demetria enhanced the status of the festival, likely understood as honoring Isis by the native population. This constellation of cultural vectors mirrors the Alexandrian production of Callimachus’ Hymn to Demeter. Next, Del Corso compares Apollonios’ euergetism as seen in the Zenon Archive to further documents from 3rd century Egypt (e.g., P.Hib. I 54, P.Tebt. I 208), revealing a similar mix of syncretism (building a temple of Sarapis) and distinctively Greek cultural elements (a theater, auletae), again reflecting the Ptolemaic program in Alexandria. Del Corso reconstructs further narratives from the documents in the Zenon Archive, exemplifying attitudes toward Greek paideia, the role of Greek literature in the cultural life of the provincial elites, and the circulation of books in the chora, each showing small-scale reflections of Alexandrian concerns, calling for a revision of conventional wisdom. Provincial elites like Apollonios seem to have had an interest in “Callimachean” philology on their own scale, sponsoring lectures on Homer, adorning correspondence with recherché quotes, and collecting rare books. Del Corso brings a deep knowledge of the papyri, his reconstructions of narratives from the references in the Zenon Archive are compelling, and the chapter improves our understanding of Alexandrian culture beyond the metropolis.
This volume offers substantive contributions to various subfields of material culture in Ptolemaic Egypt, fulfilling the promise of the title, refining our picture of how Greek and Egyptian cultures interacted, particularly beyond Alexandria. As representatives of the prestige culture, provincial elites advertised their status by sponsoring Hellenic events: theatrical productions, athletic competitions, musical performances, and literary recitals; and by their reading and scholarship. Egyptians hoped for advancement in the administration by learning Greek, but their native identities were not completely obscured, and they were vital to the interface between the Ptolemaic administration and broader Egyptian population. Likewise, benefactors might place a Greek veneer on religious festivals, but also accepted their interpretation in native terms by much of the population. To some extent Egyptian cultural practices also diffused into Hellenic forms, as in statuary. Perhaps predictably for a volume based on conference proceedings, some themes are well-developed, where individual contributions inform and enrich one another, particularly the chapters on bilingualism by Wacknier, Chaufrey, and Veisse, and those on books and Ptolemaic self-representation by Capasso, Meccariello, and Del Corso, while other chapters, such as Davoli’s on landscape archaeology stand alone with few connections to the rest of the volume. The volume primarily contributes to specialized discourses in papyrology and material culture but individual chapters will be of interest more broadly, especially Pellé’s contribution for historiography and Del Corso’s chapter for literature.
Authors and Titles
Greek-Egyptian Forms of Interaction in Ptolemaic Portraiture, by Elena Ghisellini
Life in the Villages of the Ptolemaic Period: Ray Oldenburg’s “This Places” Revisited in the Fayum Oasis, by Cornelia Römer
The Fayum: A Changing Landscape, by Paola Davoli
Landed Property and Neighbour Relations in Ptolemaic Egypt, by Bernard Legras
Bilingualism and Translation in the Early Ptolemaic Administration, by Stéphanie Wacknier
Greeks in the Bilingual Sureties of the Fayum (3rd c. BC), by Marie-Pierre Chaufray
Greek Petitions by Egyptians in 3rd-century BC Egypt, by Anne-Emmanuelle Veisse
The Dossier of the Agoranomoi of the Arsinoites, By Sara Marmal
Books, Authors, and the Public in the Hellenistic Arsinoite Nome: Some Considerations, by Mario Capasso
Laughs from the Mummies: Old Comedy in Ptolemaic Papyri, by Serena Perrone
Menander in the Papyri of the Ptolemaic Period from the Arsinoites, by Roberta Carlesimo
Greek Historiography in Hellenistic Egypt, by Natascia Pellé
Teaching Propaganda: Water, Food, and Power in the Livre d’Écolier, by Chira Meccariello
Fragments of a Medical Treatise on a Greek Papyrus Roll Dated to the Mid-3rd c. BC: P.IFAO grec inv. 520, by Antonio Ricciardetto and Nathan Carlig
Greek Medicine in Hellenistic Egypt: SB VIII 9860, One of the Earliest Greek Collections of Medical Recipes on Papyrus, by Nicola Reggiani
Music, Books, and Literary Attitudes in the Zenon Archive, by Lucio Del Corso