Memphis under the Ptolemies / Dorothy J. Thompson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thompson, Dorothy J., 1939- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ptolemaic dynasty, 305 B.C.-30 B.C.

Ptolemaic dynasty.

Ptolemaic dynasty,-305 B.C.-30 B.C.

Memphis (Extinct city)--Civilization.

Memphis (Extinct city).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (372 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2012]

Summary:

Drawing on archaeological findings and an unusual combination of Greek and Egyptian evidence, Dorothy Thompson examines the economic life and multicultural society of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis in the era between Alexander and Augustus. Now thoroughly revised and updated, this masterful account is essential reading for anyone interested in ancient Egypt or the Hellenistic world.The relationship of the native population with the Greek-speaking immigrants is illustrated in Thompson's analysis of the position of Memphite priests within the Ptolemaic state. Egyptians continued to control mummification and the cult of the dead; the undertakers of the Memphite necropolis were barely touched by things Greek. The cult of the living Apis bull also remained primarily Egyptian; yet on death the bull, deified as Osorapis, became Sarapis for the Greeks. Within this god's sacred enclosure, the Sarapieion, is found a strange amalgam of Greek and Egyptian cultures.

Contents:

The second city

Economic life in Memphis

Ethnic minorities

Ptolemies and temples

The undertakers

Apis and other cults

Between two worlds: the Sarapieion

Roman Memphis: an epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691140339

0691140332

OCLC:

1255224967