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‘Persian‘ mercenaries with Egyptian traditions and Hellenizing intentions. On native soldiers in Ptolemaic Thebaid

Book Contribution - Chapter

The southern part of Egypt, known as the Thebaid, ran in Ptolemaic times from the Hermopolite or Lycopolite nome upstream to Elephantine at the southern border. This vast region with Thebes (Luxor and Karnak) and Edfu as its main centers was Hellenized at a later stage than the rest of the country. One of the Thebaid towns that produced numerous family archives on papyrus is Pathyris, located some 30 km south of Thebes. These archives belonged to people who are often labelled ‘Persians’, ‘Persian mercenaries’ or ‘Persians of the reserve (epigone)’ in Greek contracts. Who are these people? The title of this paper already presents the answer, so apparently these ‘Persian’ mercenaries are Egyptians. But why are they called ‘Persians’? In this paper I hope to lead the reader safely through the jungle of ethnics and soldier types in Ptolemaic Egypt. It is intended as a more general overview of this topic as discussed in my earlier, more detailed research and contextualized in view of the present volume.
Book: Söldner in der griechischen Welt
Pages: 197 - 207
Number of pages: 12
ISBN:978-3-515-13314-2
Publication year:2022
Accessibility:Embargoed