ALEXANDRIA
possible subjects -- fresh ideas are welcomed
1. The foundation of Alexandria
The foundation of Alexandria is the subject of many legends – these are in themselves quite interesting, and revealing. At the same time we can compare what we know about real-life city foundations by Alexander and by other Hellenistic monarchs.
2.
The topography of Alexandria
Several ancient
writers tell us what Hellenistic and Roman Alexandria looked like. Long these
texts have been the main sources to reconstruct its topography, as modern
Alexandria was built on top of the ancient city and excavations remained scarce.
Slowly this has been changing: we can now glimpse ancient Alexandria through
many incidental finds and very recently McKenzie has even published an overview
of the development of the architecture of the city.
Provide an overview
of our knowledge on the topography of the city. How do textual and
archaeological sources relate to each other? What kind of city is Alexandria in
relation to other Mediterranean cities?
3.
Aegyptiaca Alexandrina
One of
the most exciting insights of the recent underwater discoveries in the bay of
Alexandria is that the city probably looked much more Egyptian than was
previously thought. The group of distinctively Egyptian material culture found
has been labeled Aegyptiaca Alexandrina
by Paolo Gallo, one of its discoverers.
Introduce
this group of statues and other monuments. What about (problems with regard to)
their interpretation? What do literary sources tell us about the Greek or
Egyptian outlook of the city? How do text and archaeology relate with regard to
this issue?
Take the articles by Gallo (published in the series Alexandrina) as your point of departure together with the exhibition catalogue Egypt’s sunken treasures.
4. The Pharos, the lighthouse of Alexandria
Alexandria's most famous piece of architecture was its stupendous lighthouse. It can be studied at several levels: as one of the marvels of the ancient world (and for as long as it remained standing), and as a practical piece of engineering, i.e. as a lighthouse. What it actually looked like can be deduced from ancient imagery; recently, many remains have been recovered.
5. The Sarapeion
The case of Sarapis
has for long attracted attention because the god seems to have been created ex
novo by the early Ptolemies and could soon be encountered everywhere around
the wider Mediterranean. Already in the Roman period the question on the origin
of Sarapis was debated; our main sources (Tacitus and Plutarch) are all
centuries later. In Antiquity it was generally believed that Sarapis was the
Greek form of the old Egyptian god Osiris-Apis, who was traditionally venerated
in Memphis. The Greek form or interpretation of this god was thus not created by
the Ptolemies out of the blue. It was through the early Ptolemies, however, that
the god acquired his new Mediterranean image and popularity. For ‘their’ god
they built one of the most important Alexandrian sanctuaries; this has recently
been archaeologically re-investigated.
How does
Sarapis relate to Ptolemaic self presentation? What do literary sources tell us
about the god? What kind of archaeological evidence is available? What did the
Alexandrian Sarapeion look like?
For Sarapis the communis opinio is now P. Borgeaud, Y. Volokhine, 'La formation de la légende de Sarapis: une approche transculturelle', Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 2 (2000) 37-76.
For the Alexandrian Sarapeion take the articles by McKenzie as your point of departure.
6. The Palace Quarter:
Library
Royal patronage gave Alexandria its famous library and its Mouseion, an 'Institute for Advanced Study'. The history of both is interesting in itself, but also as an illustration of how Hellenistic court life was conceived.
7. Caesareion & obelisks
Amongst the best known landmarks of Alexandria were two obelisks: one standing, one fallen. Both have now been removed: one is in Central Park, NY, the other is at The Embankment in London (Cleopatra's needle). Everything about these monuments is interesting: their origin, their Alexandrian history and their subsequent removal to elsewhere – with all attendant ideology.
8. Burial at Alexandria
The best-known dwellings in Alexandria are the dwellings of its dead. Several necropoleis have been known for a long time, but new ones have recently been added. It would be worthwhile to compile an overview of what there actually is.
See the book by Venit and the accounts of recent excavations published by the Centre d'Etudes Alexandr.
9.
The Persephone tomb of the Kom el-Shoqafa necropolis
The so-called
Persephone tomb II in the Kom el-Shoqafa necropolis in Alexandria dates to the
first and second centuries AD. Two superimposed registers show an Egyptian
funerary scene with Anubis and other Egyptian mortuary deities (above) and the
Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone (below). Each register shows the style
appropriate to its subject and, to quote Venit, “in a parallelism that is
breathtakingly original, the myth in each register restates the theme of the
other in parallel tripartite form as each presents a myth of death and
resurrection specific to its own culture.”
Describe the
tomb and the necropolis. Who was buried here: a Greek or an Egyptian and how to
explain the parallelism? How do style and identity relate in Alexandrian tombs?
Take the recent monographs by Venit and Riggs as your point of departure.
10.
Hadra vases: Greeks on the move?
The
so-called Hadra hydriai are part of a
remarkable and distinctive group of Hellenistic vases that were used as cinerary
urns in Alexandrian cemetries. Often these vases bear inscriptions that provide
information about the deceased and the burial.
Describe
the group of Hadra vases as a whole and discuss some typical examples. To whom
belonged the ashes found in the vases? What information the vases provide about
Alexandrian society? Where were they made? Can other than funerary functions be
ascribed to them? How do text and archaeology relate to each other with regard
to the Hadra vases?
Take the publications by A. Enklaar as point of departure.
For Alexandrian tombs in
general see the monograph by Venit.
11.
Ptolemaic self presentation I
When the Macedonian general Ptolemy, son of Lagos, began ruling Egypt in
the late fourth century BC as the successor of Alexander the Great, he initially
was a foreigner whose kingship therefore had to be recast in a local idiom as
well. In order to imply continuity he thus had to make references to two
different pasts. In the first place to the Macedonian past, suggesting that as
the new Alexander he was entitled to rule. In the second place to the Egyptian
past, suggesting that as the new pharaoh he was entitled to do so. His
successors built this principle into an elaborated symbolic system with
repetitive structures like, for instance, the enthronisation ritual at Memphis,
where the Ptolemies were presented as pharaohs to the Egyptian priests and
people in the central hall of the great temple of Ptah at Memphis. In
Alexandria, however, the Ptolemies behaved and displayed themselves as the
Hellenistic kings of an eastern Mediterranean maritime empire.
Provide an overview of the most important historical and archaeological
sources for this symbolic system. How did it work? How did it develop? How did
it relate to the social context it was supposed to function in? Is there a
difference between text and material culture in this respect?
Take A.E. Samuel, The Ptolemies and the ideology of kingship, in P. Green (ed.), Hellenistic history and culture (1993) 168-210 as a starting point.
R.A. Hazzard, Imagination of monarchy: studies in Ptolemaic propaganda (2000).
R. Strootman, The Hellenistic royal court. Court culture, ceremonial, ideology in
Greece, Egypt and the Near east, 336-30 BCE (PhD Utrecht 2007).
12.
Ptolemaic self presentation II: Images of ancestors
Descent was an all-important factor in the identity of individual
Hellenistic kings: it determined a king’s personal charisma and legitimated
his rule, for prestige (and disgrace) was hereditary. Continuity from father to
son thus was a central claim in royal propaganda. Ancestor galleries showed this
aspect to the subjects in a very literal way. Also the Ptolemies displayed their
dynasty through ancestor galleries on prominent places.
Take Munk Højte (ed.), Images of ancestors (2002) as a general point of departure.
For the Ptolemaic ancestor galleries see S.-A.
Ashton, Petrie’s Ptolemaic and Roman
Memphis (2003) and K. Lembke,
‘Eine Ptolemäergalerie aus Thmuis/Tell Timai,’
JdI
115 (2000) 113-146.
13.
Ptolemaic self presentation III: the Tazza Farnese
The best
known, most admired ánd most problematical example of Alexandrian decorative
art is the so-called Tazza Farnese. Perhaps this was a Ptolemaic royal treasure
which came into the hands of the Romans and subsequently was passed on to the
Papacy to end up in the Farnese collection and, now, the Archaeological Museum
of Naples. Even if this really is an allegory of the fertility of the Nile, many
questions remain:
When
the piece has to be dated? Who are represented? Are there any parallels for it?
How does it relate to Ptolemaic propaganda in general? And what about
Alexandrian decorative art more in general?
Take
the article by the Leiden professor F.L. Bastet,
‘Untersuchungen zur Datierung
und Bedeutungen der Tazza Farnese,’ BABesch
37 (1962) 1-24 as your point of departure. There is a lot of recent literature.
14. The Ptolemies and
the ruler cult
If there is anything that distinguishes Hellenistic rulers amongst the Greek, it is their claim to divinity and the ruler cult which that implies. This became an example for Roman ruler cult. But neither the Hellenistic nor the Roman ruler cult is easy to understand: not its actual meaning, nor its origin. The ruler cult has Greek elements (and in Rome too there are indiginous elements), but there is also Egypt with its faraonic tradition.
1
The Ptolemaic court was not the only monarchy in the ancient world that sought to enhance its standing and secure its legitimacy by conspicuous consumption. But it certainly carried things to great heights.
16. A court literature
Amongst the arts that flourished in Alexandria – not least because of court
patronage – was also poetry. There has developed a vivid debate about the
nature of this poetry. The idea is not to analyse the Alexandrian poetic output
from a literary point of view, but to ask where politics (including cultural
politics) and poetry meet and to what end.
17.
The Ptolemaic Queens
In the Ptolemaic
dynasty female members of the royal house play an important and remarkable role.
On these historical characters and their functioning there are ample historical
sources. We also see the Ptolemaic queens displayed in statues, coins, gems,
etc.
Take the book by Albersmeier as point of departure.
18.
Cleoptra VII and her eastern Empire
In 34 BC a royal
Ptolemaic ritual took place, known as the Donations of Alexandria; Plutarch and
Cassius Dio provide ample descriptions. In
this public ceremony—fashioned as a coronation ritual—Mark Antony promised
Cleopatra rulership over the whole Hellenistic East. Although often thought of
as a fanciful propaganda stunt, in fact this was a serious attempt by both Mark
Antony and Cleopatra to reorganise the eastern Mediterranean.
Give a
description and interpretation of this event. Try to critically evaluate the
literary sources. What archaeological sources are there, that testify to the
changes taking place? How do text and archaeology relate?
Take Schrapel 1996 as a point of departure together with parts of the exhibition catalogue Cleopatra of Egypt. From history to myth (2001).
Cleopatra has many faces: one of them that of an Egyptian farao, the other that of a Greco-Macedonian queen. The first is usually neglected, the second has been studied, but is always in danger of disappearing behind the still other faces of this queen, in art and in popular culture.
20. The Ptolemies and the Romans
Leading up to the annexation of Egypt by the Romans after the battle of Actium is a long history of Roman involvement with all Hellenistic monarchies, of which that of the Ptolemies was for a long time the strongest. For the researcher interested in the minutiae of ancient policy making.
Set out with: Lampela, A., Rome and the Ptolemies of Egypt : the development of their political relations 273-80 B.C. (Helsinki 1998).
21.
The Alexandrian economy
Strabo
(XVII 1, 7) mentions that trading vessels travel more heavenly laden from
Alexandria to Italy than back and the popularity of Alexandrian wine is
reflected in the poetry of Horace and Virgil. Indeed Alexandria was an important
economic center in the Mediterranean. But why, precisely, was Alexandria so
rich?
What do
literary sources tell us about Alexandria as the capital of commerce? What
archaeological evidence is there to reconstruct the Alexandrian economy? What
picture emerges? How do text and archaeology relate to each other with regard to
the Alexandrian economy? And how does this evidence fit the continuing debate
about the nature of the ancient economy?
22. Governing ancient Alexandria
Who were the citizens of Alexandria and how were they governed? Was there a city council and how did this relate to the presence in Alexandria of the royal dynasty? What changed when the Romans took over?
23. The populace
There are many things to say about the inhabitants of Alexandria, but there is one thing that immediately strikes any observer: their unruliness. For centuries, the Alexandrian populace were known to be notorious troublemakers, always rioting against government, always ready for a good fight amongts themselves.
24. Cosmopolitism
Alexandria was one of the biggest towns of the ancient world, it was the capital city of Egypt from Alexander to Late Antiquity, it was a very important port and trade centre. One would expect Alexandria to be the kind of town that attracted people from far and wide. Was Alexandria indeed a cosmopolitan city and is it possible to say something about the actual composition of its populace?
25. Jews and antisemitism
One large ethnic/religious/cultural group in Alexandria that we know very well, are the Jews. They were not always made wellcome by other inhabitants of the town, whether Greek or Egyptian. Is this the town where antisemitism was invented?
26. Cults of Alexandria
Alexandria had – as any Greek polis – a religious life completely its own. Still, there are cults which Alexandria shares with other places, and there are cults which are exclusively Alexandrian. This last category merits a closer look.
27.
Alexandria and Christianity
Tradition has it that
the evangelist Mark taught in Alexandria, and it is a fact that Christianity
spread very quick to Alexandria and Egypt more in general. The earliest
church-like organisation can be dated to the second century AD. In the literary
context within which Alexandrian Christianity evolved, Hellenism was dominant,
as witnessed, for instance by Philo of Alexandria.
28. Late antique Alexandria
Alexandria flourishes for a millennium – and after that it has had its ups and downs. The first millenium of Alexandria raises questions about its vitality in a period when other parts of the empire, and especially the towns in other parts of the empire, were not in a good state at all. What is it about Alexandria (or about Egypt?) that keeps it going strong?
29. Post-classical Alexandria
There is much to say about Alexandria in the 19th and 20th centuries, and much has been said, on its sudden new urbanism, on its cosmopolitan culture (since gone), its decline and present attempts at revival. But the Alexandria of the 12-13 centuries after the Arab Conquest until the 19th-century renaissance has remained largely unknown.
30. Is th
About Alexandria we always hear that the city developed its own style, in architecture and in art. This style is readily invoked to explain Hellenistic and Roman phenomena: it goes back to something Alexandrian. But is there indeed something ‘Alexandrian’ that we can distinguish from other Hellenistic art?