The Thebaid in Times of Crisis : Revolt and Response in Ptolemaic Egypt

by: Birk, R. Coulon, L.

The Thebaid in Times of Crisis
Revolt and Response in Ptolemaic Egypt
Edited by: Ralph Birk and Laurent Coulon

About this book
This collective volume explores societal crises in Hellenistic Egypt, focussing regionally on the Thebaid, from small-scale insurgencies to full-fledged secession. As a result of an international conference held at the Freie Universität Berlin (May 2-4, 2019), the presented case studies ask how actors – and modern scholars – of Ptolemaic Egypt shape and frame times of crisis and what traces remain thereof in the record.

As decisive moments in time, crises reveal fundamental features of societies and structure the flow of events into historically meaningful, yet potentially teleological, trajectories. In Ptolemaic historiography, from Polybius till today, the Great Theban Revolt (206–186 BCE) served as such a turning point, demarcating rise and decline. By confronting the historiographic record with independent – and yet partially unexploited – sources, such as temple epigraphy, Demotic (literary) texts, archaeological, numismatic and private documentation, the reunited studies aim at diversifying the perspectives on and in societal conflicts in Ptolemaic Egypt, in order to gain a fuller and more nuanced picture of how various actors, kings, queens, officials, and priests coped with times of crisis.

Author / Editor information
Ralph Birk, Einstein Center Chronoi, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Laurent Coulon, Collège de France / École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France.

Frontmatter

Acknowledgements

Contents

Introduction

Ralph Birk
Rebellious Priests of Thebes?

Ralph Birk
Stratēgos Kallimachos II of the Thebaid: the Honours for a Royal Local Official in the Context of the Epigraphical Records from the Hellenistic World

Stefano G. Caneva and Stefan Pfeiffer
Lésôneis en Thébaïde : avant et après les crises

Marie-Pierre Chaufray
Les cimetières osiriens, témoins de la politique des Lagides et de ses aléas

Laurent Coulon
How Did Coins Survive the Theban Crises in the Ptolemaic Period?

Thomas Faucher
Volcanoes, Floods, and Social Unrest: The Theban Unrest in Its Social and Environmental Context

Joseph G. Manning
Arsinoe, Berenice, and Cleopatra: The ?ABC? of the Ptolemaic Ruler Cult in the Times of Crisis

Martina Minas-Nerpel
The Great Revolt 206–186 BCE in the Demotic Sources from Elephantine

Jan Moje
Native Revolts from South Thebes to North Thebes: Historical Facts and Royal Ideology According to the Priestly Decrees from Ptolemy V Epiphanes? reign (204–180 BCE)

Alexandra Nespoulous-Phalippou
Révoltes, meurtres et intrigues : L?histoire des Ptolémées d?après les parois des temples égyptiens

René Preys
La destruction des temples pendant les révoltes : un état de la question à partir de l?exemple de Médamoud

Felix Relats Montserrat
De la « Grande Révolte de la Thébaïde » aux événements de 88 : un siècle d?insurrection thébaine ?

Anne-Emmanuelle Veïsse
Der große Aufstand in der Thebais nach den Aussagen in dem Synodaldekret Philensis II

Daniel von Recklinghausen
List of Contributors

Names and Places Index

Sources Index

Res Notabiles Index

The Thebaid in Times of Crisis : Revolt and Response in Ptolemaic Egypt

by: Birk, R. Coulon, L.

• ISBN-13: 9783111607849 / 978-3-11-160784-9
• ISBN-03: 3111607844 / 3-11-160784-4
• Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2025