Priests, Poets, and People: Religion as Key to Interactions with the Ptolemies

Religion in the ancient world was not like the religion of today. It was not a private spiritual practice but was instead a public one which pervaded all aspects of life. The early Ptolemaic kings, Soter, Philadelphus, and Euergetes, all made critical choices regarding religion that would fundamentally change the landscape of ancient Egypt, but their subjects were not passive receptors of these changes. The people ruled by these early Ptolemies were active agents in the political scene, making choices and wielding religious ideology in order promote their own interests when engaging with their Greco-Macedonian rulers. This thesis will look at three groups of people under the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and Ptolemy III Euergetes. First, it will examine the role of the Egyptian priesthood, who were a powerful and wealthy social class. Second it will look at the works of two poets who wrote in the Hellenistic courts, Theocritus and Callimachus. Finally, it will turn to the regular people of Ptolemaic Egypt, including a discussion on the absence of Egyptian voices during this time.