The Thebaid in Times of Crisis - Revolt and Response in Ptolemaic Egypt

This collective volume explores societal crises in Hellenistic Egypt, focussing regionally on the Thebaid, from small-scale insurgencies to full-fledged secession. As a result of an international conference held at the Freie Universität Berlin (May 2-4, 2019), the presented case studies ask how actors - and modern scholars - of Ptolemaic Egypt shape and frame times of crisis and what traces remain thereof in the record.
As decisive moments in time, crises reveal fundamental features of societies and structure the flow of events into historically meaningful, yet potentially teleological, trajectories. In Ptolemaic historiography, from Polybius till today, the Great Theban Revolt (206-186 BCE) served as such a turning point, demarcating rise and decline. By confronting the historiographic record with independent - and yet partially unexploited - sources, such as temple epigraphy, Demotic (literary) texts, archaeological, numismatic and private documentation, the reunited studies aim at diversifying the perspectives on and in societal conflicts in Ptolemaic Egypt, in order to gain a fuller and more nuanced picture of how various actors, kings, queens, officials, and priests coped with times of crisis.

About the author

Ralph Birk, Einstein Center Chronoi, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Laurent Coulon, Collège de France / École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France.

Product details

• Assisted by: Ralph Birk (Editor), Coulon (Editor), Laurent Coulon (Editor)
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.01.2025
• EAN: 9783111607849
• ISBN: 978-3-11-160784-9
• No. of pages: 372
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 20 mm x 230 mm
• Weight: 559 g
• Illustrations: 16 b/w and 12 col. ill., 12 b/w tbl.
• Series: Chronoi
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Ptolemäer, Altägyptische Religion und Mythologie, Luxor, Revolutionen, Aufstände, Rebellionen, Unruhen, Riot, Ptolemies, Philosophy of religion, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Ancient religions & mythologies, Egyptian Archaeology / Egyptology, Ägypten (Altertum), HIS002000 HISTORY / Ancient / General, REL051000 RELIGION / Philosophy, REL033000 RELIGION / History, Egypt (Antiquity), Theben (Ägypten), Thebes (Egypt)