Ptolemy II Philadelphus and His World (History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity)

505 Pages·2008·2.42 MB·English

by  Paul McKechnie

Ptolemy II
Philadelphus and his World
Mnemosyne
Supplements
History and Archaeology
of Classical Antiquity
Editedby
Susan E. Alcock,BrownUniversity
Thomas Harrison,Liverpool
Willem M. Jongman,Groningen
H.S. Versnel,Leiden
VOLUME300
Ptolemy II
Philadelphus and his World
Editedby
Paul McKechnie and Philippe Guillaume
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2008
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PtolemyIIPhiladelphusandhisworld/editedbyPaulMckechnieandPhilippeGuillaume.
p.cm.--(Mnemosynesupplements.Historyandarchaeologyofclassicalantiquity)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-17089-6(hardback:alk.paper)1.Egypt--History--332-30B.C.2.Ptolemy
IIPhiladelphus,KingofEgypt.I.Mckechnie,Paul,1957-II.Guillaume,Philippe.III.Title.
IV.Series.
DT92.P72008
932’.021092--dc22
[B]
2008033695
ISSN 0169-8958
ISBN 9789004170896
Copyright2008byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
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CONTENTS
Preface ................................................................. ix
Contributors ........................................................... xiii
Abbreviations .......................................................... xv
Introduction............................................................ 1
PaulMcKechnie
alpha
anewmorningopened inthelectureroom
… -
PtolemaicRoyalPatronage............................................ 9
OswynMurray
beta
fromzeusletusbegin
…
EconomicReformsintheMid-Reign ofPtolemyPhiladelphus..... 27
DorothyJ.Thompson
TheForeignPolicyofPtolemyII ..................................... 39
CélineMarquaille
ARe-ExaminationoftheChremonideanWar....................... 65
JamesL.O’Neil
TheUnbalancedRelationshipbetweenPtolemyIIandPyrrhusof
Epirus ............................................................... 91
GeoffW.Adams
OGIS 1266:KingsandContractsintheHellenisticWorld..........103
MatthewTrundle
vi contents
gamma
countlessarethelands butnoland
…
bringsforthsomuchaslowlyingegypt
-
EgyptiansintheHellenicWoodpile:Were Hekataios ofAbdera
andDiodorosSikeliotesRighttoseeEgyptintheOriginsof
Greece?..............................................................119
MartinBernal
ElephantsforPtolemyII:PtolemaicPolicyinNubiaintheThird
CenturyBC.........................................................135
StanleyM.Burstein
PietyandDiplomacyinApollonius’Argonautica......................149
AnatoleMori
MareshaintheReignofPtolemyIIPhiladelphus ...................171
AmosKloner
HerakleopolisMagnaunderPhiladelphus ...........................183
ErjaSalmenkivi
delta
howhasitnotoccurredtoanyofthe
historiansorpoetstomakemention
ofsuchenormousachievements?
PtolemyPhiladelphusandJewish Writings:Aristobulusand
Pseudo-AristeasasExamplesofAlexandrian Jewish
Approaches..........................................................193
Johann Cook
SexualityandPtolemy’sGreekBible:Genesis1–3inTranslation:
‘…ThingswhichtheyAlteredforKingPtolemy’(Genesis
Rabbah 8.11) ........................................................207
WilliamR.G.Loader
PtolemyPhiladelphus:aNewMoses .................................233
PaulMcKechnie
Philadelphus’AlexandriaasCradleofBiblical Historiography.....247
PhilippeGuillaume
contents vii
GenderingHealingbothHumanandDivine:theCaseofSirach
38:1–15...............................................................257
ElaineM.Wainwright
epsilon
andwithzeusmakeendyemuses
… ,
InnovationsinAncientGarb?Hieroglyphic TextsfromtheTime
ofPtolemyPhiladelphus............................................275
Joachim FriedrichQuack
TheProblemofthePtolemaicSiblingMarriage:aCaseof
DynasticAcculturation?............................................291
KostasBuraselis
ThroughaWoman’sEyes,andinaWoman’sVoice:Ihweret as
FocalizorintheFirstTaleofSetneKhaemwas.........................303
SteveVinson
BilisticheandtheProminenceofCourtesansinthePtolemaic
Tradition ............................................................353
DanielOgden
TheGodSerapis,hisCultandtheBeginningsoftheRulerCult
inPtolemaicEgypt..................................................387
StefanPfeiffer
Bibliography ...........................................................409
GeneralIndex .........................................................455
IndexofPassagesCited ...............................................475

PREFACE
Ptolemy II Philadelphus, king of Egypt from 282BC to 246, has hardly
received the scholarly attention which his importance in the history of
theHellenisticagewouldmerit.Aconventionalclaim,atthebeginning
of a book about Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and the conventional follow-
up would be to say that we, the authors of this volume, have now done
our part to rectify such an inexplicable lapse. But in this case the lapse
is not inexplicable. Little quoted these days, the thundering rhetoric of
W.W.Tarnis,Iinfer,stillformingassumptions:1
[Ptolemy Soter’s] son, Ptolemy II Philadelphos, was of a very different
nature.Aloneofthekingsofhistimehewasnowarrior;hisdealingswith
thewar-godhadconsistedinputtingtwoofhisbrotherstodeathingood
Oriental fashion. The prince who presided over Egypt’s age of gold was
but a sickly creature, a devotee of pleasure in all its forms, ever seeking
new pastimes and new sensations, whether among his mistresses, or in
the gorgeouspleasure-fleet thathe kept onthe Nile, orin his menagerie
of strange animals from far-off lands; one who exhausted every form
of luxury, and who, prostrated by gout, envied the simple joys of the
beggars beneath his window, even while he dabbled in search after the
elixir that should make him immortal. Extremely able, nevertheless; a
manofhighculture;thefirstdiplomatofhistime;governingEgyptwell,
from the point of view of the Macedonian ruling caste, and amassing
from it great treasures, as from a well-managed estate; distinguished
above all by the encouragement which, following his father’s example,
he gave to learning, art, and science, whereby he has made his name
famous. His own tastes seem to have been opposed to war, and the first
ten years of his reign were uniformly pacific; secure in the command of
theAegeanandthefriendshipofSparta,thereappearedtobenoreason
for his interference in Greece solong as Antigonos [Gonatas] soughtno
conquests there. In the years following 276 men may conceivably have
beguntodreamthatpeace,solonganexile,hadreturnedtotheworld.
Our task in these pages includes, but also goes far beyond, saying that
Philadelphus’kingdomwasnotaltogetherasTarn imaginedit.
In 2004 a conversation between Bridget Buxton and myself, which
arose from the task of teaching a course on Egypt and the Hellenistic
World, progressed to speculation over whether it would be possible
1 W.W.Tarn,AntigonosGonatas(Oxford,1913),216–217.