After the death of Alexander the Great, the empire was divided resulting in a series of kingdoms stretching from the Adriatic to Afghanistan. The kingdom of Ptolemy centred in Egypt and the new capital city Alexandria lasted the longest and had the greatest effect on the popular imagination.
The Greek population of Egypt played an important role in the development of literature and the arts in Rome, Greek-speaking soldiers and sailors left Egypt to fight under Roman standards, and athletes from Egypt came to dominate the Greek athletic circuit.
After the glory days of the Great Library, the Ptolemies, and Cleopatra, what really happened to the Greeks of Roman Egypt?
Monash University’s ancient history lecturer, Andrew Connor will answer these questions and more in a seminar at the Greek Centre on Thursday.
Thanks in large part to the dry climate of the Egyptian deserts, more information surrounding daily life in Roman Egypt is available to scholars today than any other period or place in the ancient world. Connor, an ancient historian and papyrologist specialisaing in the Ptolemaic and Roman period in Egypt, will draw from this information and the many examples that exist to answer questions surrounding the Greek-speaking population of Roman Egypt: What did it mean to be Greek in Roman Egypt, and what was life like for the Greek population?
The free seminar takes place on Thursday 22 March at the Greek Centre (mezzanine, 168 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, VIC) at 7.00 pm. For more, visit greekcommunity.com.au
