Hundreds of different ethnic terms occur in well over a thousand papyri, ostraca and inscriptions in Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphic Middle Egyptian in reference to around 3000 specific individuals. The precise meaning of ethnic terms is however often problematic. Ethnic terminology thus presents papyrologists, epigraphers, ancient historians and legal historians with some of the most puzzling problems of interpretation. In addition, ethnic terms are fundamental to a better understanding of a wide range of problems of social and cultural history, including immigration, ethnicity and social and cultural integration. The first ever comprehensive collection of ethnic terminology was published by the present author in his book Foreign Ethnics in Hellenistic Egypt in 2002. This volume represents an update of his original work, offering a critical collection of the sources that appeared since its publication, with an introductory study of ethnic terminology in the multilingual documentary evidence from Hellenistic and early Roman Egypt.0.

The third volume in the `Studies in Hellenistic Civilization' series contains eight essays arising from the second international conference organized by the Danish research project on the Hellenistic period in 1990. Contributors include: U Ostergard (What is national and ethnic identity?); D J Thompson (Language and literacy in early Hellenistic Egypt); J Blomquist (Alexandrian science: the case of Eratosthenes); K Goudriaan (Ethnical strategies in Graeco-Roman Egypt); A Kasher (The civic status of the Jews in Prolemaic Egypt); P Borgen (Philo and the Jews in Alexandria); C R Holladay (Jewish responses to Hellenistic culture); J P Sorensen (Native reactions to foreign rule and culture in religious literature).

Under the Ptolemies thousands of Greek-speaking foreigners were resident in Egypt: they were active in the armed forces, in the administration, in commerce. In official and notarial documents they are identified by their ethnic, i.e. their real or fictive origin outside Egypt. The present work provides a complete inventory of the ethnics, which refer to Greek city-states (e.g. 'Athenian', 'Syracusan'), but also to regions in Greece (e.g. 'Cretan', 'Thessalian') or elsewhere (e.g. 'Thracian', 'Jew'). The data are incorporated in the database of the Prosopographia Ptolemaica and offer a diversified view of the Greek presence in Egypt between 323 and 30 BC.

This book provides the first complete study of the documentation relevant to the gymnasium and gymnasial life in Egypt in the period 323-30 BC. Paganini analyses the role of the gymnasium in Ptolemaic Egypt and how it related to Greek identity in the region.

In Jewish Ethnic Identity and Relations in Hellenistic Egypt, Stewart Moore investigates the foundations of common assumptions about ethnicity. To maintain one’s identity in a strange land, was it always necessary to band tightly together with one’s coethnics? Sociologists and anthropologists who study ethnicity have given us a much wider view of the possible strategies of ethnic maintenance and interaction. The most important facet of Jewish ethnicity in Egypt which emerges from this study is the interaction over the Jewish-Egyptian boundary. Previous scholarship has assumed that this border was a Siegfried Line marked by mutual contempt. Yet Jews, Egyptians and also Greeks interacted in complicated ways in Ptolemaic Egypt, with positive relationships being at least as numerous as negative ones.

An authoritative and multidisciplinary Companion to Egypt during the Greco‐Roman and Late Antique period With contributions from noted authorities in the field, A Companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt offers a comprehensive resource that covers almost 1000 years of Egyptian history, starting with the liberation of Egypt from Persian rule by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and ending in AD 642, when Arab rule started in the Nile country. The Companion takes a largely sociological perspective and includes a section on life portraits at the end of each part. The theme of identity in a multicultural environment and a chapter on the quality of life of Egypt's inhabitants clearly illustrate this objective. The authors put the emphasis on the changes that occurred in the Greco-Roman and Late Antique periods, as illustrated by such topics as: Traditional religious life challenged; Governing a country with a past: between tradition and innovation; and Creative minds in theory and praxis. This important resource: Discusses how Egypt became part of a globalizing world in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times Explores notable innovations by the Ptolemies and Romans Puts the focus on the longue durée development Offers a thematic and multidisciplinary approach to the subject, bringing together scholars of different disciplines Contains life portraits in which various aspects and themes of people’s daily life in Egypt are discussed Written for academics and students of the Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt period, this Companion offers a guide that is useful for students in the areas of Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and New Testament studies.

Focusing on Egypt from the accession of Diocletian in 284 to the middle of the fifth century, this book brings together information pertaining to the society, economy and culture of a province important to understanding the entire eastern part of the later