Village life in Ptolemaic Egypt.pdf

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Village Life in Ptolemaic Egypt

Kerkeosiris: An Egyptian Village in the Ptolemaic Period by Dorothy J. CrawfordReview by: J. Gwyn GriffithsThe Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Nov., 1974), pp. 249-251Published by: Cambridge University Presson behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/708814.

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2/4

THE CLASSICAL REVIEW

249

many

of E. Kunze's articles on

booty-dedications

in

the

Olympiaberichte

old

relevant

information;

more

glaringly, chapters

i and

12

(and

another

passage

on

the

phalanx

on

p.

31)

omit

any

mention of H. L.

Lorimer'sfunda-

mental article in B.S.A. xlii (1947), 76-138. The passage on possibleconnec-

tions

between

military history

and the issue of

coinage

on

pp.

13-I4

might

have

mentioned

R. M.

Cook's

paper

in

Historia

vii

(1958), 257-62.

On

p.

147

it

is

stated

that 'We are not told how

many

examples

are

preserved'

(sc.

of the

hoplite

shield,

and

by

the

present reviewer).

True;

but

if

the

implication

is

that

there

may

not be

enough

evidence to

generalize

about

dimensions,

it would

have been

fairer to

acknowledge

that

in

my

text

and notes

I

referred to over

seventy

examples

and

fragments altogether.

But

I

would not

wish

in

any

way

to

detract

from

the

quality

of

this

book,

which to

an

unusual

degree

combines

exacting

attention

to

detail with

a

genuine

grasp

of

the

whole historical

perspective.

University

f

Edinburgh

A. M.

SNODGRASS

VILLAGE LIFE IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT

DOROTHY

J.

CRAWFORD: Kerkeosiris:An

Egyptian

Village

in

the

Ptolemaic

Period.

(Cambridge

Classical

Studies.) Pp.

xv+239;

3

pls., I map.

Cambridge:

University

Press,

I971.

Cloth,

?5'25.

KERKEOSIRIS

was

a small place in the southern

Fayfim

with perhaps

1,5oo

inhabitants towards the

end of the second

century

B.c.

The

papyri,

as

some-

times

happens, provide

a

big

coverage

for this small

place,

thus

happily

reversing

the trend

of

many

historical sources.

Dr.

Crawford,

as

a

result,

is

able

to

conduct an

elaborate

survey

of

the

social,

economic,

and

religious

life

of

the

people.

She

successfully

emulates

Rostovtzeff's

study

of

the

Zenon

archive,

and whereas she

is

duly

cautious about

projecting

the

system

as a

possible

norm for the whole

of Ptolemaic

Egypt,

in

several

respects

such a

process

s

well

justified.

The little

world

of

the

Fayfim

peasants

thus assumes a

wider

signifi-

cance.

Parallelsfrom both Ancient and Modern

Egypt

are adduced in the

study

of

various

aspects

of life on

the

land,

especially

of

its

administrative

ordering.

The

extent to which

Ptolemaic

Egypt

was

carrying

on earlier

systems

is

naturally

a

question

that

often

recurs,

and

in

connection

with the

land

survey

wise

use is

made

of the Wilbour

Papyrus;

it

is

pointed

out

(p.

6)

that 'there

are

many

parallels

between

the

two

texts

of

this

papyrus

and

its

Ptolemaic

successorsand

it

forms a

clear

example

of the

way

in

which the Greek

conquerors

of

Egypt

took

over

the

existing

administration of the

country.'

(For

'Greek'

read

'Macedonian'.)

Lands

belonging

to the

temples figure prominently

in

the

Wilbour

Papyrus,

and

temple

scribes were therefore

nvolved

in

mensuration

and

administration,

a fact which

agrees

with the

emphasis

placed

by

Aristotle

on the

priestly

contribution

to

the rise

of

geometry

in

Egypt.

This could well

have been

mentioned

in

the discussionon

p.

7;

compare

my

own comments in

C.R.

ii

(=

lxvi)

[1952],

10-11.

Categories

of land

are

carefully analysed.

The

exact nature

of

the

'concessional

land'

termed

y-

d'v

a'iaEL

remains

problematic,

and

it is

suggested

that 'the

explanation probably

lies in

the

translation of

an

unknown

Egyptian

land

category'

(p.

94).

In the meantime a

fragment

of

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3/4

250

THE

CLASSICAL REVIEW

papyrus

has

emerged

from

Saqqaral

which

contains

a

further

instance of the

Greek

phrase,

without,

it

seems,

providing

new

light.

After

a

searching

look

at

'Food

and

Population'

it is

concluded

(p. 130)

that the

villagers

of

Kerkeosiris

'take their place among the lesser fed of the ancient world'. This conclusionis

based

on the

figures

for wheat and

it is

wisely

qualified

afterwards

by

the

suggestion

that wheat was

supplemented

by

other

foods,

especially

lentils

and

beans.

A

parallel

from modern

Egypt

would

have

been

apposite

here. One has

heard

it

said

more

than once

in

Cairo

that

Egypt

would

long

since have

experienced

a

Communist revolution were

it

not for the

never-failing

abund-

ance

of beans.

The section on

'Sacred

Land,

Cults

and

Temples'

begins

rather

shakily.

Animal

worship,

it is

said

(p.

86),

was

'in

its

origins

a

form of fetish

worship',

but

this involves some violence to normal

usage

since fetishism

is

applied

to

inanimate objects. If an image of an animal can become a fetish, that does not

explain

the

Egyptian

cults,

for

the

living

animals were

also,

and doubtless

primarily, worshipped.

The

statement

that

'deities would be

represented

in

human form

with

animal

heads'

is

not

always

valid;

the

Apis

bull,

for

instance,

has

a

purely

animal

form,

and the

crocodile-god

Sebek

or

Souchos,

who

was

much

venerated

in

the

Fayim,

sometimes

appears

without

any

human

ele-

ment.

Again,

it

is

said

of

the

goddess

Bubastis

(pp.

88

f.)

that

'as

the chief

deity

of

Boubastis

in

the Delta

she

is

most

probably

the cat-headed

goddess

Bastet

under another

name.' Reference

is

here made to Bonnet's

Reallexikon,

26,

who

makes

it

clear

that

it is

not

another

name

at

all:

Bubastis

derives

from

the name

of the town, Per-Bastet,'the shrine of Bastet',and the only change is the appli-

cation of

the

town's

name

to

the

goddess.

Nor

is

there

the

slightest

doubt

as to

the identification.

I hasten to add

that the

substantive

exposition

of

religious

themes

in

this

chapter

is

scarcely

affected

by

such criticisms.

Sacred crocodiles

abounded

in the cemeteries

of the

Fayim

and

these,

it

is

justly suggested,

were

'dedications

rather

than

objects

of

worship'.

More difficult is the definition of

'dedicated

land'.

It is

shown

that a

special royal

grant

was

traditionally

behind

this

category,

and

the

convincing

suggestion

is made

that

'Euergetes

II

may

have

hoped

to win further

support

in this

area of the

Fayfim

both

by

settling

Egyptian

soldiers

and

by

encouraging

the

local

gods.'

A host of

proper

names occur in these

documents,

and when

critically

examined

they

can

reveal

a

good

deal about

the ethnic

origins

of the

people

concerned;

those

which

are

theophoric

also

give

an

indication

of the

relative

popularity

of

the

gods.

Dr. Crawford

must be commended for her

courage

in

tackling

this

task. Without

claiming

personal

control

of

all the

varied

linguistic

evidence,

she

effectively

deploys

the

researches

of

Vergote,

Ranke and others.

Table

xxi

('Inhabitants

with

Egyptian

Names')

is a

useful

compilation

with

well-organized

references o

the detailed

discussions;

and the

related

chapter

on

'Nomenclature'

is a

judicious

conspectus.

If there is a

weakness,

it

is a

too

unswerving

adherence

to

Vergote's

views.

The

latter,

for

instance,

explains

Cheuris

as

'may

Horus

live';

Ranke's 'Horuslives' is

preferable.

For the name

Onnophris

Gardiner's

he

who

is in

a

permanent

state

ofwell-being'

is

accepted,

but with

a reminder

that

Euergetes

is

used

as

an

equivalent.

I

have

argued

that

both

the

Egyptian

and

the Greek evidence

points

to

the

meaning

'he

who

is

consistently

beneficent': see

my

Plutarch's

De Iside et

Osiride,

460

f.

There

are a few minor irritations

such as the

scrappy

mode of reference

to

x

Cf.

J.E.A.

lix

(I973),

153,

no.

59-



4/4

THE CLASSICAL

REVIEW

251

articles in

journals

and the odd forms

given

to

Egyptian

names

(e.g.

'Ramses

V'

and

'Anoubis').

On

p.

7

n.

I

'Fisher' should be

'Fischer' and on

p.

42

'Boubastos'should end in '-is'.

Wrong

accents

occur in

Ki/iat

(p.

39),

rapxetv

(P. 57),

laaocova

(p. 87), oavp'4-ratp. 95). The relative importance of the Greek

and

Egyptian

cultures is well

presented,

and

it is

recognized

that

in

matters

relating

to

the

land and

its

administration

as

well

as to

religion

it was

the

Egyptian

tradition that

prevailed.

(It

would be

instructive,

at the

same

time,

to know

how

'the

two

cultures' are

represented

in

the

stone

from

Tebtunis

figured

in

the

frontispiece.)

The

book shows

impressive

powers

of

analysis

and

a

keen

awareness,

n

studying

one restricted

place

and

period,

of the

historical

background

and

sequel.

Universityollege,

wansea

J.

GWYN

GRIFFITHS

THE

PUNIC

WARS

T. A.

DOREY

and

D. R.

DUDLEY:

Rome

Against

Carthage.

Pp.

xviii+

205;

i3

plates,

i i

maps.

London:

Secker

Warburg,

I971.

Cloth

?2-75-

THIS

book

is

the

best

thing

in a

long

time to

encourage

the

reading

of

Polybius

and

aid the

understanding

of

Livy's

Third

Decade. It

gives

a

dramatic

account

of the

Punic

Wars in

the

light

of

modern

scholarship,

as

if

the

ancient

writers

had

reappeared

to revise

their

narrative.

The

text runs

continuously,

including

comment

as

it

moves

along,

and the

reader is

carried

by

a

lucid

and

vivid

style

throughthe whole courseof events. The authorsknow their subject-matterand

the

historical

criticism

of

it,

and

they

control their

presentation.

It

provides

perspective

and

heightens

the

effect

of

the

important

events.

Where

one

may

require

information on

controversial

points,

there are

brief

notes: on

the

sources,

the rival

policies

of Rome

and

Carthage,

Hannibal's

march over

the

Alps,

and the

military

operations

of the

Second

Punic

War

in

Italy,

Spain,

Sicily

and

Greece,

and

Africa. Take

these

notes

with the

references

n

the

text,

and the

reader

is

sufficiently

in

touch with

the

critical

problems

as an

intro-

duction. The

illustrations

and

the

clever

maps

add

to the

general

impression.

In

particular,

the

description

of the

Third

Punic

War,

as

was

called

for,

is

brilliantly written.

Recommending

this

work

highly

for its

purpose

the

reviewer

may

test first

its

history

and

then

its

literary

character. The

historical

account

rests

upon

the

information

available in

the

mid

second

century

B.c.,

soundly

based

in

Poly-

bius

even

for the

earlier

events but

susceptible

to

his

comments;

any

discussion

of the

causes of

the

Second Punic

War,

as

Gelzer

showed,

is

affected

by

the

Roman

view of

Carthage just

before the

Third

Punic

War.

The

authors

give

as

fair a

balanced statement

as

the

evidence

allows. As

regards

Livy's

account

we

have

to

allow for

literary

elaboration

(e.g.

under the

hand

of

Coelius

Antipater,

with

additions

from the

later

Roman

Annalists), along

with

Livy'sown treatment.Here in

working

through

comparison

of

Livy

with

Polybius

the

authors

have

used their

good

judgement,

and their

account

will

hold its

place

in

historical

reconstruction.

On the

literary

side

we turn

to

Livy's

Third

Decade.

Hellenistic

historio-

graphy

had

defined

three

styles

of

writing,

which

the

Romans

learned:

first,

the

plain

narrative in

detail;

then

rhetorical

elaboration,

both for

circum-

stantial

description

and

for

the

characterizing

of

problems

and

persons

in


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Village life in Ptolemaic Egypt.pdf