xviii

2005-10-21T22:37:00.000+02:00

Although the Demotic documents we have do not represent all parts of Egypt, yet they uncover many aspect of social, religious and economic life in the greatest Ancient Egyptian city and in its neighboring villages. In fact, we now have among these documents what tells us about rental and selling of land and houses. We have also obtained documents about mortgages, wills, dispute cases, tax receipts, offerings, jobs, marriage and divorce documents and documents about establishing religious entities as well as insurance documents for real estate and individuals.

These documents have indirectly revealed to us the crafts, clergy and government jobs present in Ancient Egypt at that time. We have been able to reach such information through what we came to know about the owners of these documents ant their jobs. In addition to this, proper names present in these documents were all intermixed with names of gods which enabled us to know which gods had been prominently worshipped in these cities.

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It is astonishing that despite the immoral lifestyle of Ptolemy IV he had good traits that cannot be ignored. After his return from the Syrian land, we find him giving a lot to the clergy and the Egyptian temples. He also kept erecting temples all over the country in a noticeable way to please the Egyptians. We also find that he glamorized the worship of the god Dionysus specially that on one side he was the god of wine and on the other he approximated the god Osiris for Egyptians. In addition to this, during his reign, the power of the clergy kept increasing to the extent that they mandated the use of the Egyptian language in writing official documents and translating them into Greek, something which had never been done before in the official documents of the Greeek. Finally, we find that Ptolemy IV annually recruited clergy for worshiping Ptolemy I and made him an official god as well as his wife Berenice in a similar fashion to what was being done for Ptolemy II and his wife Arsinoe II. Moreover, Ptolemy IV was a writer and poet. He has written fiction and poetry which he dedicated to Homer, the father of Greek poets. In any case, history stands puzzled towards the conflicting stories that have reached us about this ruler. In conclusion, he has combined an immoral lifestyle together with one full of religion, science and art.

In any case, his age is considered to be a turning point in the history of Egypt. For it was in his age that patriotic emotions came to life in the souls of the Egyptian people whom rejected being controlled all along their history except in cases of falling under extreme pressure.

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Nevertheless, the victory that the Egyptians have accomplished in the battlefield inspired feelings of patriotic dignity in them and gave them confidence in themselves, specially when we know that all the power and control had been in the hands of foreigners and that the Egyptians had no say or control. They were hard workers working hard in order for the fruits of their hard labor to be reaped by foreigners who have proved to be cowards in the battlefield. Due to all this, Egyptians started rebelling against the Ptolemaic rule and declaring their disobedience. This first started at the Delta were there were still some decedents of past pharaohs whom circumstances have forced to stay in the shades. Those are the ones that led the disobedience and established a government for themselves in the heart of the Delta. The war of rebellion continued between the Egyptians and the Ptolemies with unfading flames. The rebellion then spread to Upper Egypt. We will see later on how the Egyptians have made kings for themselves who were Egyptians and how they held titles of kings and wore the clothes of pharaohs. During that time, Ptolemy IV and his close circle were powerless before such rebellion. Nevertheless, he did not cease to indulge in his sensual pleasures in an unprecedented manner as we have mentioned earlier. He continued wasting himself on such forbidden sensual pleasures until his death in the arms of his concubines. What made matters worse was that his wife Arsinoe III who lived all her life distanced from him and from the throne was assassinated as a result of conspiracy by Agathoclea the first concubine of the king. Her assassination left bitterness and sorrow in the hearts of the people of Alexandria whom avenged her death as we shall see later on.

In any case, Ptolemy IV died leaving the throne to his young child whom Arsinoe had gave birth to not long before her death.

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Indeed, it appears that peace negotiations between the two parties had failed because Egypt had rejected all the demands of Antiochus and hence he kept preparing for invading Egypt which in turn secretly prepared for fighting its enemy. Egypt was training an Egyptian army in Alexandria at that time.

Antiochus actually did go forward with his troops till the Egyptian border camping near Rafah where the Egyptian army was on high alert ready to fight a decisive battle. it was of good fortune for Ptolemy IV that his minister had made soldiers of a group of brave Egyptians training them on the best systems available to fight in this war. He did so after realizing that the mercenary soldiers cannot be depended upon in a war such as this one. He did so while it had been forbidden that Egyptian soldiers be joining the army because the Polemics did not trust them nor did the Egyptians trust them. Despite of that, they were recruited and trained out of necessity in order to defend their homeland regardless of any concerns. The Egyptian soldiers showed great bravery and courage in the battlefield during the battle of Rafah which took place between the two parties bringing victory to the Polemic army in 217 BC. This decisive battle resulted in the recapture of Ptolemy IV for Empty Syria and other lands on the Syrian shores. After his victory, Ptolemy occupied Syria itself and was welcomed by its people. He then returned back to Egypt brining back with him all the statues of gods which the enemies had put their hand on in the past during their wars, by this he pleased the group of clergy.

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Unfortunately, the king that came after Ptolemy III was not capable of taking charge of this great empire that was at the top of its power and welfare. Ptolemy IV (221 - 205 BC) who became king after his father Ptolemy III was from the beginning of his rule a weak king. He was a clear example in leading a corrupt lifestyle full of unethical behavior. At the first years of his rule, the bad circle of people around him were those who encouraged him on such corrupt lifestyle. By doing so, they managed to get him on their side and dominate him and they led him and the country into chaos at the end. The first of his ill deeds was came as his minister Sosibius advised him to kill his uncle, his brother and his mother. He also advised him to kill king of Asberta whom his father had let stay in Alexandria together with his mercenary soldiers. What made matters worse was that Agathocles, his minister and adviser, and his sister Agathoclea, his concubine, led by their mother have taken charge of the country. Corruption started spreading in all sectors of the country till its neighbours wanted to take its territories specially Antiochus III king of Syria and Babylon. He laid his hands on Egypt's territory in Syria then marched with his army till he reached the gates of the Egyptian border and was about to conquer it as well but the Egyptians defended it and it ended up by signing a truce in preparation for a full peace treaty. Yet Egypt did not agree on the terms of the peace treaty and prepared for war once again in order to regain Empty Syria which had been a constant cause of fight between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids since the start of the Ptolemaic rule.

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Last, but not least, on the walls of the Edfu temple were engraved details of great feasts celebrated yearly namely: the feast of crowning the holy eagle; the feast of victory and finally the feast of marriage which is the feast of the marriage of the god Horus, god of Edfu, with the goddess Hathor, goddess of the Dendera temple. These feasts were celebrated yearly. It is astonishing that the public did not participate in such prayers and feasts which were done exclusively by a special type of clergy.

Activity of Ptolemy III extended to the Fayoum area where he reclaimed its land and introduced new crops for cultivation. He also made it home for the mercenary soldiers who had fought with him in Asia. He established a new system on the lands of Fayoum by giving each soldier a piece of land to own himself and for his children after him as long as they worked in the army. By doing so, he guaranteed their remaining in Egypt under his command in case any war takes place. At that period of time, Greeks and Macedonians started marring from among the Egyptian women but on a limited scale. Their siblings sometimes had both Egyptian and Greek names at the same time.

In any case, the period of reign of Ptolemy III is considered to be the best period in the history of Ptolemaic rule in general, specially when we know that his empire had expanded deep into Asia and the Greek islands. He also became powerful and feared among the Hellenic kingdoms present at his time. The reason behind this was that the Ptolemaic kings in general preferred peace over war in many occasions.

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Ptolemy III then made internal reforms that established his name eternally in international history. He was in complete agreement with the clergy regarding such reforms, specially in the case of the calender year. Credit goes to the Ancient Egyptian clergy for correcting the calendar year making it 365 1/4 days instead of 365 days which is the calendar that Julius Caesar followed later on.

What was dearest to Ptolemy III's heart was establishing large Egyptian temples in order to please the clergy and the Egyptian people and attract them to his side. No wonder we find him starting to establish a temple for the god Horus in Edfu. This temple is considered among the most pleasant, glamorous and largest Egyptian temples. Fortunately, it has survived till this day and kept its glamour. The engravings and images in this temple still provide us with a window into Ancient Egypt enabling us to uncover many of the Ancient Egyptian worship practices that date deep back into history. In fact, all credit goes to such engravings for getting to know each and every part of the temple and the nature of each part of its rooms in an unambiguous and completely clear manner. More importantly, egyptologists were able to know the types of worship and daily prayers that used to take place in this temple after deciphering all symbols engraved on its walls. Of special note are the three daily prayers that used to take place at the temple as well as the procedures followed for such prayers. The three prayers were: the morning prayer; the afternoon prayer and the sunset prayer.

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It is highly unfortunate that what has reached us of Demotic papers about the first Ptolemaic age specially from the time of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II is so little compared to what has reached us about the Greeks. It is probable that this is due to Egyptians not having a lot of dealings outside their environment. In addition, they only documented very few of their dealings with the occupiers and may have even been restricted to what relates to farming and renting of land. As for dealings that took place between Egyptians themselves, they were many and were related to diverse fields. Such documents kept increasing from the time of Ptolemy III who started ruling Egypt in 246 BC.

Ptolemy III started ruling the Egyptian Empire at the time when it appeared at it best. He continued ruling it with strength and wisdom till 221 BC. The general consensus is that Egypt reached its goriest time at the time of his reign. We find that he has extended the Egyptian Empire and succeeded in managing its internal affairs fairly well. He started his rule by adding a state to his Empire. After that, we find him carrying out the Third Syrian war in defence of his nephew’s throne. That was ended with his laying his hands on more land after making a peace treaty. After those wars, in which he found little resistance, Ptolemy III returned triumphantly back to Egypt.

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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.

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The Egyptian farmer did not own any of the land he farmed, it was all owned by Ptolemy. Egyptians actually owned nothing, except for the clergy. Even the clergy remained in the background as long as the king did not touch their own possessions, and took what the farmers produced with hard labor and gave some of it to the clergy either in the form of erecting temples or offering land for the gods in addition to what the clergy owned of vast lands which the Ptolemies have left for them free from taxes. Because of that, there was complete harmony between the Pharaoh and the clergy as long as he provided them with offerings and did not interfere with their possessions or their independence inside their temples. On their side, the clergy elevated his image in the eyes of the people by writing in this regard whenever need be. All this was on the expense of the poor farmer who spent his energy and life in farming. Despite that, this farmer barely earned his daily living expenses with with tough work due to numerous high taxes. As if that was not enough, this poor farmer had to do tough work for his master as well. We never read that any of those farmers or any of the Egyptians as a whole had reached a high ranking position in the state careers or even a middle position. All such state possessions were in the hands of foreigners from Greeks and Macedonians.

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Ptolemy II was the first to clearly grant the Egyptian clergy what they desired. He kept erecting large temples in the north and in the south of the country. He also rebuilt old temples. He was thus no different in what he has established of religious buildings than the greatest of pharaohs in their most glorious times. There is a whole chapter about the outstanding religious buildings that were established at the time of Ptolemy II. In that chapter we talk about the new temples he has erected and the ones he has rebuilt. Among the temples which he has rebuilt is the Temple of Isis. This temple has been preserved for us till this day. It is considered one of the most prised gems the Ptolemies have left us with respect to architecture, art and Ancient Egyptian religion from the pictures and symbols engraved on it.

Despite the fact that Ptolemy II has established many Ancient Egyptian temples which indicates that Egypt at that time had been experiencing a period of great wealth and that they were living a luxurious life, yet this did not apply but to the group of occupying Hellenes and the Egyptian and Greek clergy only. As for the original Egyptian people, in other words the class of farmers and laborers, they worked hard not for themselves but to fulfill the desires of the king who worried about nothing else other than gathering money to spend on his wars to extend his kingdom on neighboring countries or to spend it on his own pleasures and those of the men that surrounded him who were all foreigners. It is therefore believed that the seeds of the downfall which took place in Egypt after the Rafah battle go back to the time of Ptolemy II who had drained the energy of the Egyptians.

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Despite the acceptance of both parties for this common worship, each of them worshipped their god according to their own methods and customs which they have inherited from their ancestors.

It is well known that the position of the Ptolemies with regards to worship matters in Egypt was a sensitive one and needed a lot of skill and care in order for things to move on smoothly in the country without any clashes or confrontations taking place. Due to this we find that Ptolemy II had been alert and careful in his behavior with the two groups, despite the fact that both the Hellenes and the Egyptians had considered him a god, each group in its own way. But, the great majority of the inhabitants of Egypt being Ancient Egyptians upon which the wealth and prosperity of the country depended because they were the working labor in agriculture and industries in general, all this led to Ptolemy II to exert his effort so that they be under his command. He was not to attain this without pleasing the Egyptian clergy, for they were considered the spiritual leaders of the Egyptian population. Ptolemy II realized that the only means by which he can get the clergy on his side was to erect religious buildings and give plenty of offerings to places of worship, offerings such as lands and animals to be offered for their gods across the land of Egypt.

Actually, this was the same method that pharaohs used in all their ages and specially in the final dynasty of their reign. They have realized that securing the rule of a pharaoh on his thrown depended on pleasing the clergy by erecting buildings for worship and providing plenty of offerings.

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What remained for Ptolemy II was to control the Hellenic group who were a mixture of Greeks, Macedonians and others who had come with Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies after him from other corners of the Hellenic land. The first step Ptolemy II took in this direction was making himself a god as Alexander the Great had done by claiming that he was a descendant of Hercules, the Greek god. At the beginning, Ptolemy II faced tough resistance from the side of the occupying Greeks and Macedonians because they were not used to worshipping persons. Yet, after great effort, he was able to reach his goal of establishing himself as a god for the occupiers. Hence, we find that he considered himself a god for the Egyptians by being a descendant of Ra, and at the same time the object of worship by Greeks, Macedonians and others who have come from the Hellenic land, settled in and controlled Egypt due to him being a descendant of Hercules. Therefore, Ptolemy II was a god for the occupiers worshiped according to their own way and a god for Egyptians worshipped on their own way. There is no doubt in that each of those two groups had their own religion and their own way of worship that followed their teachings. Due to this, we find that from the time of Ptolemy II, and perhaps before him, there had been two groups of clergy: the group of Egyptian clergy and the group of Hellenic clergy. At first, competition was high among the two groups of clergy. Ptolemy II exerted great effort to please both groups either by providing offerings or by erecting religious buildings.

The policy of the Ptolemies from the beginning was to unify the Egyptian and Macedonian Greek object of worship by encouraging them to worship a single god.

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The Ptolemies shared great skill and sound political handling of matters in integrating, if only apparently, between the occupying Hellenes and the Egyptians despite the clear differences between the two. Actually, Ptolemy II following the footsteps of his his father Ptolemy I from the beginning of his reign found that unifying the Hellenes and the Egyptians with regards to all aspects of life is impossible. Each of these two groups had its own customs and traditions which required approaching this sensitive issue with patience, care and great wisdom.

From the side of the Egyptians, Ptolemy II knew quite well from the history of the Egyptian land that no ruler was able to control it unless he was a Pharaoh from the descendants of the god Ra. The reason behind this is that the clergy as well as the Egyptian people viewed the pharaoh as a descendant of the god Ra, the first king to control Egypt. Therefore, in order to take control of the Egyptian people, the Ptolemies had to convert to the Ancient Egyptian religion and also to appear as the descendants of Ra. When they implemented this strategy, their monarchy became stable and they were able to secure their control specially that the controlling switch of the Egyptian people was in the hands of the clergy, viewed as being the strongest sector in the country having the ability to steer the whole population to whichever direction they wish at the times of peace and war. That way, Ptolemy II was able, through getting the clergy on his side, to make the farmers and all the working labor under his disposal directing them to wherever he pleased having established himself as a god to be worshiped and obeyed on earth.

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Now, one may ask what made the first Ptolemies succeed in controlling Egypt, their achieving progress inside it and extending control and their empire outside it? The answer to this question no doubt is related to two main reasons.

The first of these two reasons that the Ptolemies after stabilizing their kingdom and grip over Egypt, discovered that they do not have a single population but instead have two different populations that are not closely tied with respect to origins, religion or culture. These two peoples are the occupying Hellenic people and the helpless Egyptian people. Right from the beginning, each of those two peoples looked at the other in their own way. The Hellenic population looked at the Egyptian population from the angle of the ruling class to those being ruled or in other words the look of an occupier to those under his control; wanting to take all their physical and financial resources to increase their own wealth and live an idle well-fare life on their own expenses. On the other hand, the Egyptian population, which had only recently lost its freedom, looked at those occupiers a look full of hatred and envy. This becomes even more clear to us when we know that the Egyptian population from their early days had taken utmost care to keep their customs and traditions and have remained like that till the arrival of Islam to Egypt.

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The last stage we have reached in the past volume of Ancient Egypt is the great happenings, great reform, exciting political developments and the new social systems which had taken place at the time of Ptolemy II whose age is indeed considered an age of welfare and success both inside and outside the Egyptian state in accordance to the hopes of his family and himself and also in accordance with the hopes of the occupying Hellenic population.

Indeed, in the days of this ruler, Egypt has apparently reached a level in agriculture, commerce and industry which it had never reached before in the days of its greatest pharaohs in all its ancient history. Egypt's occupation expanded in Asia, the Ega Sea and the Nubian lands to reach further than the greatest of pharaohs dreamt of. There is no wonder in this, for all conditions were ready for Ptolemy II to reach what he has reached of power, wealth and control upon ascending the throne of Egypt. His father Ptolemy I has left him a stable and great empire both inside and outside Egypt. It is apparent that he followed in the footsteps of his father and went a long way in accordance with his plan in financial and scientific progress which made his age an example for welfare and worldwide control which he enjoyed among neighboring Hellenic kingdoms, which surrounded him at that time in history of the modernised world which was founded by Alexander the Great.