The Gymnasium and Greek Identity

This chapter focuses on questions of identity more clearly and provides an analysis of its different implications, to show how the communities of the gymnasia of Hellenistic Egypt, while following traditions of Greek character, were thoroughly embedded in the socio-cultural world of the country in which they lived. It is argued that the members of the gymnasium displayed complex identities, which could encompass features deriving from various traditions; this goes beyond a simplistic interpretation and understanding of ethnicity. Beyond strict ethnic designations, Ptolemaic society also functioned in a less exclusive fashion, according to cultural definitions: the Ptolemaic category of Hellenes ‘Greeks’ was applied to people who displayed a certain degree of knowledge of Greek language and culture, not only to those who were of strict Greek ethnicity. As the prime institution of Greek cultural traditions, the gymnasium operated as the quintessential ‘association of the Hellenes’: the place where those who were willing to go Greek could express themselves as a well-defined group of people, while upholding specific aspects of Greek life. However, it is shown how the gymnasium’s members stretched over different layers of (normally) the middle and upper strata of local society and shared many features, which were foreign to Greek traditions and thought, including specific onomastic choices, religious practices, or marriage patterns. ‘Those of the gymnasium’ were fully embedded in and deeply intertwined with the local population—to the point that they essentially formed a part of it: they were the ‘Greeks’ of Egypt.

Nationalism and religion: Historical aspects of the relationship

Religion and nationalism are conventionally considered as the forces par excellence that have shaped, respectively, the traditional and modern worlds. This article presents the eclectic affinities between religion and nationalism, but it also goes beyond the historical dichotomy of religious pre-modernity versus nationalist modernity. It suggests that their relationship is not one-dimensional, rejecting the idea that nationalism is constructed solely with modern fabrics while religion only relates to the context of traditional society. Rather, it argues that the relationship between tradition and modernity is a dynamic one; this builds on a methodological framework that makes use of varied and even opposing theories of nationalism. The relationship is studied in different national and confessional contexts and eras, but it is mainly the association of Greek ethnicity/ nationalism and Orthodox Christianity that provides the empirical evidence for the theoretical argumentation.

The nostoi and Archaic Greek Ethnicity

The theme of this chapter is early Greek ethnicity. It illuminates the processes of ethnogenesis and demonstrates the implications of the relation, or rather the impressive dovetailing, between nostoi traditions and myths of Greek origins.

Looking at Foreigners in Biblical and Greek Prophecy

The article investigates the role of foreigners in biblical and Greek prophecy and shows how words against foreigners or foreign people are used to reaffirm one's own (i.e Israelite or Greek) ethnicity or group identity. Oracles against foreigners have to be located in the context of (imagined or actual) war and tend to imply salvation for the group who hears these words. Here, a few short characterizations of the foreigners are used that tend to evoke stereotypical images. Whether the knowledge of the other is historically accurate or based on concrete encounters is, however, not important for the authors of such words since the salvation of the own group is the determining feature.