Gymnasia and Greek Identity in Ptolemaic Egypt

Abstract

This is the first complete study of all the documentation relevant to the gymnasium and gymnasial life in Egypt at the time of the Ptolemies, the longest-reigning Hellenistic Royal House (323–30 BC). It analyses the diffusion, characteristics, administration, and developments of the institution of the gymnasium in Ptolemaic Egypt and its implications for the assertion of Greek identity. It shows how this institution and its people were affected by the local environment and how ‘those from the gymnasium’, the members of the most Greek institution ever, were truly embedded in the social and cultural milieu of the country where they lived: they were the ‘Greeks’ of Egypt. Thanks to the information from Ptolemaic Egypt with its papyrological sources, this work showcases the variety of concomitant features and different traditions alive and active in the Hellenistic world, thus contributing to a better understanding of the ancient world in all its complexity and vitality.