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Français
The higher status professions were also under the monopoly of the occupiers. We have not heard that during the first phase of the Ptolemaic rule any Egyptian was appointed as minister or even vice minister. In addition to that, all low professions were done by the Egyptians who did not work in the fields. Even the clergy themselves were not all living a comfortable life. Among them were groups who worked in the lowest of jobs. They also worked in farming like the occupiers. In brief, Ptolemy II viewed Egypt as his private farm from which he gave whoever he wanted and denied whoever he pleased. Ptolemy II continued with this policy until the end of his rule in Egypt. Nothing concerned him other than collecting money and expanding his empire abroad.
As for the group of occupiers, which were only a few, they had their own different life which was opposite to that of the overworked Egyptian farmer. In fact, those occupiers, the majority of which were Greeks and Macedonians, lived to a great extent unconnected to the Egyptian people. The reason behind this was their complete ignorance of the local Egyptian language. They never even tried to learn it because on one side it was a very difficult language and on the other side they were not in need of it because they were the masters who controlled the livelihoods of people like all occupiers. Moreover, Egyptians had been disconnected at that time from the rest of the world and its sciences. The occupiers also were not connected to Egyptians with regards to science. Their connection with regards to science and culture was towards their original countries.
The higher status professions were also under the monopoly of the occupiers. We have not heard that during the first phase of the Ptolemaic rule any Egyptian was appointed as minister or even vice minister. In addition to that, all low professions were done by the Egyptians who did not work in the fields. Even the clergy themselves were not all living a comfortable life. Among them were groups who worked in the lowest of jobs. They also worked in farming like the occupiers. In brief, Ptolemy II viewed Egypt as his private farm from which he gave whoever he wanted and denied whoever he pleased. Ptolemy II continued with this policy until the end of his rule in Egypt. Nothing concerned him other than collecting money and expanding his empire abroad.
As for the group of occupiers, which were only a few, they had their own different life which was opposite to that of the overworked Egyptian farmer. In fact, those occupiers, the majority of which were Greeks and Macedonians, lived to a great extent unconnected to the Egyptian people. The reason behind this was their complete ignorance of the local Egyptian language. They never even tried to learn it because on one side it was a very difficult language and on the other side they were not in need of it because they were the masters who controlled the livelihoods of people like all occupiers. Moreover, Egyptians had been disconnected at that time from the rest of the world and its sciences. The occupiers also were not connected to Egyptians with regards to science. Their connection with regards to science and culture was towards their original countries.
posted by Ashraf Al Shafaki at 6:28 AM
2 Comments:
Very interesting, I'm learning things I was not knowning.
Was I, Sahara to write :)
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