As diverse as Ptolemaic society in reality was, the picture disseminated abroad was very one-sided. It was a Greek-orientated picture of superlatives which the Ptolemaic dynasty presented to its Greek and Macedonian rival kings. They presented themselves as the wealthiest of dynasts; they employed the best Greek scholars and scientists; and they disposed of the greatest Greek library and the most impressive Greek architecture. The Egyptians came into the picture only as the providers of rich resources: the Egyptian countryside was praised because of its ‘‘general excellence, in that it is well suited to provide for the security and greatness of an empire,’’ including the blessings of the Nile, the great number of Egyptian cities, and the density of the population (Diodoros 33.28b). As soon as they got to Alexandria foreign visitors got the picture: they confronted the Pharos or great lighthouse, one of the wonders of the Ancient world, dedicated by the Greek Sostratos of Knidos, and flanked by colossal statues of the Ptolemaic royal couples represented as rulers of the wealthy land of the Nile (Empereur 1998b). The Ptolemies seized any opportunity to display their wealth ‘‘at times pushed to the level of megalomania’’ (Holbl 2001: 92). Ptolemy II was considered the richest man of his time, and Ptolemy III was the most generous benefactor after an earthquake hit the colossus of Rhodes in 227 bc. Some of their successors in the more turbulent second century bc could still afford the epithet Tryphon, ‘‘Luxurious.’’ The Greek dynastic cult and its festivals were a perfect vehicle to display wealth and power. The Ptolemaieia, a four-yearly festival of the dynasty, became a weapon in the arena of world politics since most Greek states were invited (Thompson 2000b). The Ptolemies also created an ‘‘image of power’’ with agonistic successes, using sports as a propaganda tool all over the Greek world (Remijsen 2009). However, Ptolemaic opulence was not always able to impress the Romans, faithful to their sober mos maiorum. When Scipio Aemilianus, the destroyer of Carthage, and his fellows came to Alexandria and were welcomed by Ptolemy YIII ‘‘with a great reception and much pomp,’’ they were ‘‘scornful of his extravagance as detrimental to both body and mind’’ (Diodoros 33.28b). Kleopatra VII raised the Egyptian image of luxury to new heights when she seduced Mark Antony at Tarsos, but that was only a foretaste of what awaited him at Alexandria.
The Ptolemaic dynasty lived in Alexandria which was not always considered part of the country, as was well understood by the Romans who created the province of ‘‘Alexandria and Egypt.’’ Founded on 7 April 331 bc, it was under construction for years, hence the derisive Egyptian name Rakotis or ‘‘Construction Site’’ (Chauveau 2000: 57). The city enjoyed a favorable climate and established through a web of canals the perfect connection between the Eastern Mediterranean basin and the Nile. Alexandria eclipsed Memphis as the seat of government, surpassed Athens as the cultural metropolis, and became the most important city of the Eastern Mediterranean, only to be superseded after many centuries by Constantinople. The sumptuous royal quarter or Brucheion, expanded by the successive monarchs, harbored the Sema or funerary complex of Alexander and the Ptolemies as well as the Museum. This Center of Excellence was one of the most prestigious institutions, and it housed the greatest scholars of the Hellenistic world. Here Eratosthenes of Cyrene calculated the circumference of the earth and the distance to the moon; here Aristarchos of Samos announced that the earth orbits around the sun; here writers like Theokritos of Syracuse and Kallimachos of Cyrene wrote their poems. The latter also compiled the Pinakes, a catalogue of all the works in the Library which was for centuries the largest in the world, the library of Pergamon being its only competitor. Original works of the great authors were bought, and translation of books in other languages were also made, like the Septuagint, the oldest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, supposedly composed by 70 scholars. For the first time critical editions of classical texts were made, particularly of Homer’s epics. The Greek scholars of the Museum were linked to the royal court by their court titles, such as ‘‘Friend of the King,’’ and the scholar who was appointed main librarian participated in the education of the prince. Arsitarchos, who produced some 800 books, raised Ptolemy VIII and later Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator. When the latter was murdered by the former, Aristarchos left Egypt for Cyprus followed by at least two of his disciples. There is, though, no evidence of a persecution of scholars by the king, as often suggested. Ptolemy VIII continued the policy of his predecessors, and the Museum remained a Center of Excellence (Horster 2010).
Only one successful export product derived from Egyptian religion: the cult of Sarapis, worshipped in the Greek-style great Serapeum at Alexandria (Hornbostel 1973). The first Ptolemy thought the highly popular Memphite Apis-bull, honored as Osiris-Apis or Sarapis after his death, a perfect god for the new dynasty, provided that he was adapted to Greek tastes. Sarapis formed a couple with Isis which supplanted the ancient couple Osiris and Isis.
The early Ptolemies were proud of their innovative projects, the most impressive being located in the Egyptian countryside. The Fayum, called by the ancient Egyptians ‘‘the lake’’ (Phiom, hence the Arab name), is a large depression in the desert, watered by the Bahr Yusuf (Joseph’s Canal). In the Middle Kingdom a large-scale reclamation project made parts of the lake and the marshland available for agriculture and settlement. In the early Ptolemaic Period, new large-scale irrigation projects gained more land under the direction of new officials and Macedonian engineers, like Kleon and Theodoros who have left us their archive (Lewis 1986: 37-45) and who followed Greek precedents (Thompson 1999). The cultivated area was almost tripled, and Ptolemy II proudly renamed it after his wife the ‘‘Arsinoite Nome.’’ He replaced the old twofold division of the area by a three-part division into merides called after their first administrators (Vandorpe 2004). Several new settlements were founded, and old villages were renamed (Clarysse 2007b; Mueller 2006). Greeks and Macedonians serving in the Ptolemaic army settled there and were rewarded with a parcel of land. The minister of finance under Ptolemy II, Apollonios, was even donated a domain of 2750 ha, where new crops, like poppy for oil production, were tried out. His estate manager Zenon has left us the largest archive of Graeco-Roman Egypt, amounting to 2,000 papyri (Pestman 1981; Orrieux 1985; Clarysse-Vandorpe 1995). In the wake of this great agricultural expansion, a new town, Philadelphia, was founded, harboring a residential area for elite members, like Diotimos, the Vice-Minister of Finances whose costly villa boasted a replica of the mosaic floor of the women’s baths in the Alexandrian palace. Not surprisingly, therefore, Philadelphia proudly hosted foreign embassies. However it was not only Greeks who were settled in the new area. Egyptians were also transferred from parts of Lower or Middle Egypt, e. g. Oxyrhyncha was founded by people from Oxyrhynchos in the Nile Valley.
World History
