"Because I am Greek" : polyonymy as an expression of ethnicity in Ptolemaic Egypt
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
"Because I am Greek" : polyonymy as an expression of ethnicity in Ptolemaic Egypt
（Studia Hellenistica, 55）
Peeters, 2016
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [393]-429)
English with some Greek and Egyptian words
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Double names have a long history in Egypt. They are already attested on
Old Kingdom funerary monuments, where concern about eternal life
required a correct identification of the deceased. When Greek and
Egyptian cultures came into contact under the Ptolemies, bilingual
polyonymy (i.e. the combination of an Egyptian and a Greek name) became
more popular. During this period, Greek ethnicity was valued as a symbol
of power and social status, and was used to create borders between the
rulers and the ruled. At the same time, however, it was a flexible
concept and this made it a useful tool for crossing the very same
boundaries it constructed.
As ethnicity became a crucial aspect of
one's identity, it is not surprising that bilingual polyonymy was well
attested among those that formed a bridge between the ruling class and
the Egyptian population: particularly military, administrative and
priestly officials. Since they moved between largely separated ethnic
contexts, combining names of different linguistic origins was a way to
negotiate their ethnic identities. Rather than serving as a reliable
source for ethnic origin, names can therefore be interpreted as an
expression of the ethnic identity of an individual in a certain space or
context.
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