内容説明
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.
メディア掲載レビュー
This thoroughly revised edition of a masterpiece of historical writing examines with precision and verve the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis in the period between Alexander and Augustus... She is especially sensitive to the syncretic, sometimes cacophonous, metropolitan life produced by a population drawn from throughout the Mediterranean basin, and by the confrontation of classical civilization itself on the verge of cultural upheaval, as Roman power gradually eclipsed Greek prestige and influence--with a civilization that reached back millennia. The result is a meticulous, vivid portrait of a profoundly foreign world. -- "The Atlantic [A] masterful analysis of the surviving evidence for ancient Memphis. -- John F. Oates, American Journal of Philology [T]his book greatly enhances understanding of Egyptian history in the Ptolemaic period and the author is to be congratulated on her skill in welding the disparate sources into such an attractive whole. -- Amelie Kuhrt, History [A] book of utmost importance to all readers interested in ancient civilizations... Thompson's concentration on the Hellenistic period provides a penetrating study of all aspects of this city from the time of Alexander to Augustus. -- C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Choice
