Ptolemaic Egyptian History

Wrw-en-Keftw : ipotesi ed argomenti per la presenza minoica nell'Egitto della XVIII Din. Università Ca'Foscari, Venezia, 2012.

by Tiziano Fantuzzi

Alexandria and the Moon: Addenda et Corrigenda

by Chris Bennett

Second revision uploaded 19 March 2012.

The attached file contains additions and corrections to Studia Hellenistica 52. Most notably it corrects a significant... more The attached file contains additions and corrections to Studia Hellenistica 52. Most notably it corrects a significant error in the calendrical analysis of two letters of Antiochus III in Appendix C.2.

Updates will be issued from time to time as necessary.

The Reign of Berenike IV

by Chris Bennett

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 160, (2007), pp. 211-214 (JSTOR)

Co-authored with Mark Depauw of the University of Leuven

Revises the exact chronology of Berenice IV based... more Co-authored with Mark Depauw of the University of Leuven

Revises the exact chronology of Berenice IV based on more recent readings of ostraca and papyrological evidence.

The Chronology of Berenice III

by Chris Bennett

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 139, (2002), pp. 143-148 (JSTOR)

A number of problematic double-dated papyri with the formula year 2=1 are best explained by assigning them to the... more A number of problematic double-dated papyri with the formula year 2=1 are best explained by assigning them to the accession year of Ptolemy XII. The year 2 date then belongs to Berenice III, which implies that she was a coregent with her father Ptolemy IX in the final year of his reign.

Arsinoe and Berenice at the Olympics

by Chris Bennett

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 154, (2005), pp. 91-96 (JSTOR)

The new Posidippus epigrams give considerable information on Olympic and Nemean victories of Arsinoe II and a... more The new Posidippus epigrams give considerable information on Olympic and Nemean victories of Arsinoe II and a Berenice, almost certainly the daughter of Ptolemy II. A chronology is proposed for both sets of victories, which can be related to the succession politics of Ptolemy the Son.

Three Notes on Arsinoe I

by Chris Bennett

in A. K. Eyma & C. J. Bennett (eds.), A Delta-Man in Yebu (Parkland FL, 2003) 64-70 (GoogleBooks)

It is argued that something we think we know about Arsinoe I – the likely identity of her mother – is in fact not... more It is argued that something we think we know about Arsinoe I – the likely identity of her mother – is in fact not known. It is next argued that an old dispute – whether she was the mother of Berenice II – has been settled correctly, but for the wrong reason. Finally, it is argued that one of the inscriptions held to refer to her allows us to estimate the date of her exile.

Drusilla Regina

by Chris Bennett

The Classical Quarterly New Series, Vol. 53, No. 1 (May, 2003), pp. 315-319 (JSTOR)

Drusilla, wife of Felix, a freedman of Claudius who became procurator of Judea, is described by Tacitus as a... more Drusilla, wife of Felix, a freedman of Claudius who became procurator of Judea, is described by Tacitus as a granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra. It is proposed instead that she was a great-granddaughter, daughter of Ptolemy of Mauretania, probably by Julia Urania, who may have had connections to the dynasty of Emesa.

The Children of Ptolemy III and the Date of the Exedra of Thermos

by Chris Bennett

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 138, (2002), pp. 141-145 (JSTOR)

IG IX I2 I 56, the base of an exedra found at Thermon, the religious center of the Aetolian League, names six children... more IG IX I2 I 56, the base of an exedra found at Thermon, the religious center of the Aetolian League, names six children of Ptolemy III, including two sons known from no other source. It is usually dated towards the end of his reign, but it includes the princess Berenice, who died in 238. On the assumption that it predates her death, a birth chronology of the children can be reconstructed.

Cleopatra V Tryphæna and the Genealogy of the Later Ptolemies

by Chris Bennett

Anc. Soc. 28 (1997) 39-66 (subscription required)

Argues for an alternate genealogy of the later Ptolemies based on the same data as conventional reconstructions. Major... more Argues for an alternate genealogy of the later Ptolemies based on the same data as conventional reconstructions. Major proposals are: (a) Cleopatra V can be identified with the anonyma daughter of Ptolemy X and Berenice III (b) Ptolemy XII can be identified as the son of Ptolemy IX who was eponymous priest in 109, whose mother was, nominally, Cleopatra Selene ; his "illegitimacy" was because his biological mother was Cleopatra IV, whose marriage to Ptolemy IX violated dynastic norms (c) Cleopatra Selene was the mother of Ptolemy XI.

The paper noted evidence that later Ptolemaic princes were introduced as eponymous priests at about the age of 8, which has been supported by two such priesthoods that were subsequently published.

The Date of P. Tebt. I 8

by Eddy Lanciers

Ägyptisches Brot (kckc) in UPZ I 149 und die wirtschaftliche Lage zur Zeit Ptolemaios IV. Philopator

by Eddy Lanciers

Syrian wars

by Nicholas L. Wright

In Bagnall, R., Brodersen, K., Champion, C., Erskine, A. and Huebner, S. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell [forthcoming]

L’oro dei Theoi Adelphoi

by Alessandro Cavagna

in G. Zanetto, S. Martinelli Tempesta, M. Ornaghi (a cura di), Nova Vestigia Antiquitatis, Quaderni di Acme 102, Milano 2008, pp. 161-182

“Un trou au milieu de la monnaie”. Un’indagine intorno alle cavità centrali sulle monete tolemaiche in bronzo

by Alessandro Cavagna

in “Rivista Italiana di Numismatica e Scienze Affini” 108 (2007), pp. 93-120

The Rays of the Ptolemies, in Revue Numismatique 2012

by Panagiotis Iossif

P.P. Iossif & C.C. Lorber

Arsinoë II Philadelphos – a female pharaoh?

by Maria Nilsson

Shemu (15/3), 2011, 1-3

Un architetto a Rodi. Amphilochos di Laago

by Luigi Caliò

La Bibliothèque d’Alexandrie et la littérature judéo-hellénistique

by Amaury Pétigny

The place of the Jewish community in Alexandria has been many times studied and analyzed, as well as the foundation,... more The place of the Jewish community in Alexandria has been many times studied and analyzed, as well as the foundation, the organization, and the intellectual heritage of the Museion and its college of scholars. The present article aims to shed light on the relationship that the Jewish authors had with the Library. The settlement and the progressive hellenization of a diaspora, mainly arrived from the beginning of the Lagide dynasty, coincides on the one hand with the intellectual stimulation of Alexandria, and on the other hand, the creation of the Library is linked to the foundational event of the Jewish-Hellenistic culture, the translation of the Septuagint. If the influence of this translation on Alexandrian letters was limited, the likely attendance at the Library by the Jewish scholars brings a recast of the Jewish identity through the prism of the Greek thought, indirectly impacting back the Alexandrian letters.

Women in Egypt - how the status of women in Egypt changed during the Ptolemaic Period

by Nathalie Johansson

BA Archaeology and Ancient history Dissertation at University of Bristol

In chapter 18 of "Hellenistic Egypt" (2007, pp. 240-253), Jean Bingen discusses the cultural interactions... more In chapter 18 of "Hellenistic Egypt" (2007, pp. 240-253), Jean Bingen discusses the cultural interactions between the native population of Egypt and its ruling minority of Greek-Macedonians and come to the conclusion that there is not much mutual acculturation between the two. The specific aspect of society and this proposed cultural dualism of Ptolemaic Egypt that will be investigated in this dissertation is that of women and their socio-economical and legal status in society. If one briefly examines the status of women in the individual cultures in pre-Hellenistic dates, a striking difference between them stands out. On the one hand one has the Egyptian culture, where women and men are theoretically equal in the eyes of the law, and on the other is the Greek culture, where women are an object in the hands of the kyrios.
This paper aims to explore and perhaps shed light upon the obvious acculturisation that took place in Egypt during the reign of the Ptolemies, by focusing upon the status of women.

INAA of Archaeological Samples at the University of Manchester

by Jonathan Tomlinson

G. W. A. Newton, with J. Bourriau, E. B. French and A. J. N. W. Prag (A. J. N. W. Prag and J. E. Tomlinson, eds.). 2007. “INAA of Archaeological Samples at the University of Manchester”, Archaeometry 49.2, 289-299.

Bill Newton died just a few days after submitting this for the special issue of Archaeometry, marking 50 years of NAA... more Bill Newton died just a few days after submitting this for the special issue of Archaeometry, marking 50 years of NAA in archaeology. It was subsequently edited and expanded by John Prag and myself. I post it here firstly as a tribute to Bill, and secondly to provide an overview of the NAA work carried out by the Radiochemistry group at the University of Manchester from the early 1970s to the late 1990s.