Welcome to the main page by me Travis Skowronski.

Here are some of my essays and a few helpful links.

Maps of the Hellenistic world

Link to Brilliant Scholarly Articles

Links to cool Hellenistic philosophy pages on the web.

http://cedar.evansville.edu/~ecoleweb/articles/stoici

see my essay on art under the attalids

Travis Skowronski

HST 301.

Exploratory Essay

            So there I was sitting in class discussing Ptolemaic pharaohs and their relationship with the Egyptians and Egyptian priests.  This was a snowy Tuesday in February and unlike most subjects this one caught the whole attention of the class.  We were all involved in a rather heated debate that included among other things a critique of the Catholic Church.  This was a real can of worms and I was happy to get up to my elbows in the discussion.  At first I was required to read from Green and Pollitt, plus some inscriptions from the instructor.

 My first impression was that the Ptolemaic Pharaohs tried to control the Egyptians through the native priests. After the first in class debate on the matter I was able to see the other side of the argument that they operated under their own accord as more feasible.  I wasn’t as committed to my earlier position anymore due to the input of classmates.  Their interpretations of such important objects in the center of the debate, such as the Rosetta stone, allowed me to gain a different now more undecided position. 

When the time came for me to pick a topic to develop further as a main addition to the website for the class this topic came to mind.  The reason I was interested in investigating this topic was basically because of my neutral position and interest in the religious aspect.  The polytheistic worship by the Greeks and Egyptians had interested me since grammar school.  I thought it interesting to see how these two would intertwine and connect.  Now I had the vehicle in witch to pursue this interest.  Class discussion last week also helped me ask questions on the topic.  Thanks to the external ideas I was able to keep the debate fresh in my mind.

The question remained the same for the paper as was for the debate.  I would have to have a rough idea for the next class on what my thesis or title at least would be.  I went immediately back to the texts to review what was assigned.  I then looked at the notes I took during class.  Unfortunately I was too involved in the discussion to take good notes.  I decided to talk to the professor about getting more sources.  I then went to the Internet to see what was out there on the analysis of the Rosetta stone.  Nothing much in the way of religious analysis was found.  The Rosetta stone was mostly looked at as unlocking the hieroglyphic language of the Egyptians. 

The Title I decided upon was “Ptolemaic Egypt: From Greeks to Gods” as an eye catching phrase which I though would be the best on a website that contained link based pages.  The link would be the title and the better it was, hopefully the more it would be visited.  The questions I asked myself were: How did the monarchs interact with the priests?  What was the nature of the relationship? Why was the relationship sustained as such?  How could the relationship have been different?  Why was the relationship maintained and for how long?  Is there evidence in Egyptian culture today that point to the lasting influence of the Greeks in their religion?  What is the most significant evidence used to lend credibility to both sides of the argument?  What analysis can be done to this evidence? 

The debate unfolded in front of me as I asked more questions of myself.  The next step will be to gather all the information and try to answer the questions I have posted to myself.  Following the analysis of all the evidence I will then craft a thesis to fit the analysis I have done.  The last step will be writing the paper and submitting it to the class.  I hope to illicit a response based on my findings that brings back the same interest displayed so long ago in February. 

Following the exploratory essay is my final essay that was the labor of many hard nights in the computer lab burning my retinas staring at the screen waiting for the paper to write itself.

Final Essay

Travis Skowronski

HST 301

Final Paper

Ptolemaic Egypt: From Greeks to Gods

The relationship between the Greeks in Egypt and the native peoples

Following the death in 323 B.C. of Alexander the Great, Egypt and all the other lands formerly united by the king were split apart. Egypt went to the old Macedonia general Ptolemy I. Ptolemy I and his successors ruled in Egypt for 300 years until it was taken over by the Romans in 30 B.C. Alexander made a great deal with the pharaoh (or king) of Egypt at the time in order to gain the land without a fight. The pharaoh was to gain significant wealth and still remain in some sort of power. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy I who was in opposition to several other Alexander successors wrangled the territory for himself. The Egyptian administration and bureaucracy remained in place while Ptolemy took over as head of state and church just as the pharaohs had before him. He saw the importance in Egyptian culture of the church and state relationship and wanted to preserve it. The two needed to coexist if he was going to rule for any substantial amount of time. The Ptolemaic kings needed their help in communicating to the locals but were not at any time beholden to them. The Ptolemaic kings controlled the Egyptian priests who in turn were allowed to continue to practice their religion. The Ptolemaic kings allowed the practice of the Egyptian religion because it wasn’t too far different from their own brand of polytheism. The use of the priests would also help aid them in communicating with the natives.

At the head of the new Greek Egypt was the city of Alexandria named after Alexander who founded the plans shortly after he first controlled Egypt. Ptolemy intercepted his body on the way back East and kept it in Egypt as a sign of his power.

Ptolemy assumed the title of "king" in 305 B.C. and was named Soter or savior. During this time Alexandria becomes one of the most important trade ports in the Mediterranean world. Not only that but it also developed into a very important center for Greek culture as well.

Ptolemy I Soter died in 282 B.C. of natural causes the only Diadochoi or successor to do so. Before he died he established the new cult of Sarapis as the state patron God. Sarapis linked Greek and Egyptian Gods into one multipurpose figure and "…fostered the cult of the new" (Green 85). He had to rely on the Egyptian priests to communicate to the rural, agrarian, and illiterate population. There had to be a domestic balance between the Greeks and the natives because there were considerably more Egyptians in Egypt than Greeks. At times this did not happen. Egyptians were treated as unequal and subordinate by some of the Greeks who were in control. Despite this the ruling Greeks did many things to preserve some Egyptian practices and Ptolemy II even married his own sister, which was a common pharonic practice.

Understanding the culture of the Greeks is important to understanding how they dealt with the Egyptians. Examining Alexandria, which was the cultural center of Hellenistic Egypt, it can be seen that impressionism, allegory, and social realism were the trends in thought of the day (Pollitt 250). The Greeks had a common focus and writers were "…uncramped by powerful socioethnic constraints" (Green 85). There was a trend towards looking back towards the classic past, individualism, and naturalism in Hellenistic culture especial in Alexandria because of Ptolemy I.

Ptolemy I recruited philosophers from all over the Hellenistic world in order to make Alexandria’s Library and Museum the cultural center for learning. Such philosophers included Callimachus from Cyrene and Cosan scholars to educate his son Ptolemy II.

This intellectual band enjoyed several pleasures while serving the state. They did not pay taxes on their high wages, had nice homes, and had all the free meals they could eat. This caused them to be cautious not to offend their patrons for fear of loosing all of these comforts. This caused infighting and unrest at times (Green 87). The Egyptian priests were much the same way as the intellectuals. They relied on the patronage of the state and tried best not to bring offence to them.

The Ptolemaic kings did not treat the local Egyptians with total disregard; rather they tried to incorporate several of their cultural and religious beliefs. Examining artwork done during this time Ptolemaic art has two distinct patterns (Pollitt 250). One is the standard Greek style of art and the other is an adaptation of Egyptian art. This adaptation added a little "…local charm" (250) to mainly the royal charactures. There were two types of Royal charactures. One was Greek and very highly detailed then there was a generic Egyptian form done by native craftsmen in the Egyptian Pharonic style.

Examining inscriptions from Egypt as evidence of the relationship that the Ptolemaic kings had with the native priests is a good way to gain perspective on the particular relationship of church and state. Most of the inscriptions that survive today are trilingual in Greek, Hieroglyphs, and Demotic the latter two being Egyptian. The Canopus decree is one of these inscriptions. The Rosetta stone inscribed 40 years later is also a tool used to examine the relationship. These works describe how the Ptolemaic kings were worshiped on their birthdays and Ptolemy is described as the Avenger of Egypt. Priests were to "…pay homage to the images thrice daily" (Rosetta Stone). Both were decrees passed by an assembly of priests describing the many deeds that the Greeks in Egypt had done for the state and church economically, politically, and socially.

These inscriptions were posted in the market place and the temples. Both were public places were they could be read by anyone who could read any of the three languages. Today we have no way of knowing how many of the native Egyptians were literate but it is not thought that it was a great deal of the population. Most would have to listen to the reading of the inscription. How many did that we also cannot know today.

The ancient inscriptions portray a working relationship of the priests and the Greeks. They were working in conjunction with the Greeks. The Greeks would provide them temples and seem to be protecting their religion by doing things like rescuing their sacred artifacts from the Syria in order to keep them as the mouthpiece of the state to the natives. The priests eventually started to worship the Kings just as the Greeks did as Gods while they were still alive.

As long as the priests had a good working relationship with the ruling Ptolemy then they were allowed to continue the practice of the native religion. The Ptolemaic kings did a lot of things to gain a good reputation through the priests like rescuing ancient sacred images from Persia and building new temples to worship in. The priests knew that as long as they conformed to Greek rule that they would have the favor of the Ptolemaic kings and receive the patronage they coveted for the continuation of their religion. This is just another example in the long line of the endless waltz of the separation and inclusion of church and state.

The Canopus Decree, The Rosetta Stone, and Sale of Priestly Rights all ancient

Inscriptions found in Egypt relating to the topic.

 

To read more:  Gods in Literature