Читать онлайн "Jews and Greeks in ancient Cyrene" - Эпплбаум Шимон - RuLit

The extensive emigration proceeding from Cyrenaica at the beginning of the hellenistic epoch,[317] also indicates that there were impoverished elements among the Cyrenean population from whom the emigration proceeded. Most of the Cyreneans recorded in Egypt in this period are humble people of few means — simple soldiers, owning small kleroi,[318] who had left no property in their mother-country. Their organized community (πολίτευμα) in Egypt was less esteemed from several points of view, than the other foreign communities, and most of its members were cleruch and ἐκ τῆς ἐπιγονῆς, i.e. of the second generation of military settlers. But there was also a small group of officers and government officials of Cyrenean birth.[319] The Cyreneans were, after the Macedonians, the largest contemporary group of Greek immigrants into Egypt, and certainly the largest community derived from one state. This was doubtless largely caused by Cyrene’s geographical proximity to Egypt, but it should not be disassociated from the condition of Cyrene herself. Alexander’s conquests had opened new sources of livelihood, new posts, occupations and fields of investment to the impoverished Greek populations, thus furnishing a temporary alleviation of their distress. This applied equally to the Greeks of Cyrenaica.

In 308 or 301 Magas, the natural son of Ptolemy the First, seized control of Cyrene,[320] In a year that appears to have fallen between 278 and 274, when his stepbrother Ptolemy II Philadelphus succeeded to the Egyptian throne, Magas seceded from his father’s kingdom and became an independent monarch. Apparently out of fear of Arsinoe, Ptolemy II’s queen, he signed a treaty with Antiochus I of Syria and married his daughter Apamé. A little later he quitted Cyrene to fight a war against Ptolemy,[321] having strengthened the walls and acropolis of the city,[322] but was forced to return by the outbreak of a Libyan rising in his rear.[323] Not long afterwards, having become reconciled to Philadelphus, Magas betrothed his daughter Berenice to Philadelphus’ son, the future Ptolemy III Euergetes.[324] Magas ruled for the rest of his reign without wars,[325] dying somewhere about 250.[326] His widow, being of the Seleucid dynasty, put aside Berenice’s betrothal with Ptolemy III, and brought to Cyrene Demetrius “the Fair”,[327] son of Demetrius Poliorketes, to marry her. Demetrius, however, was killed by Berenice herself;[328] she was thus able to realize her marriage to Ptolemy III, and to bring about the reunion of the kingdoms of Egypt and Cyrene (circa 246). In the Adulis inscription Libya appears among the countries subject to Ptolemy Euergetes.[329] Cyrenaica remained united with Egypt until 163/2 B.C.

Although Magas does not seem to have struck coins in his own name, but always in that of Ptolemy I or of Berenice I,[330] there is no doubt that in Cyrene itself he bore the title of king, and this is evidenced by two inscriptions, one from Cyrene[331] and one from her port of Apollonia;[332] he is also called “king” in the treaty which he signed with the Oreioi (Ὄρειοι) of Crete.[333] His fame and power as ruler are testified to by the inscription of the Indian King Asoka, which mentions his name together with those of other hellenistic kings of his time (251 or 248).[334]

With the establishment of Ptolemaic rule Cyrenaica made her real entry into the Hellenistic world, which had been subject to such decisive political and economic changes since the conquests of Alexander. Various factors prevented the Ptolemies from behaving towards Cyrene as they had behaved towards Egypt. Cyrene was the home of a preponderantly Greek population; the natives were divided between complete assimilants to Greek culture, and half-nomadic cultivators living at a primitive standard. Here the conquerors did not face an ancient alien culture both deep-rooted and religious in its manifestations: there was no wealthy and powerful clergy consolidated by generations, which required both appeasement and supervision. Towards the Greek cities, potential sources for the building of a civil service, a more moderate and cautious approach nevertheless was required on the part of the royal government; the sturdy democratic spirit of their broad masses obliged a special attitude, and sometimes also suppression. In consequence Ptolemaic rule in Cyrene did not on the one hand involve racial antagonism between rulers and ruled as in Egypt, nor was there need to engage systematically in the hellenization of the subject population. On the other hand from the beginning the Greek character of the country restricted the building of a consistently etatistic regime like that of Ptolemaic Egypt, nor did there exist in Cyrene that dependence on the control of Nile irrigation which had formed the basis of centralized government in Egypt for thousands of years.

Accordingly it is highly improbable that Ptolemy I saw the Cyrenaic region as “spear-won earth” (δορόκτητος χώρα), or that broad tracts fell into his hands as his personal possession immediately, for the concept of royal land no longer existed in the country. Ptolemy had gained control of Cyrene initially by a compromise and by making regulations such as could ensure his power, and it may be surmised that he reached similar accommodations with the other towns of the territory, respecting their internal autonomy. The political character of the country was such, that the series of revolts that preceded the final consolidation of Ptolemaic power there would not fundamentally have modified the necessity of such arrangements. Yet the hand of the rulers was perceptible in the economic sphere: between 308 and 3°4 the Cyrenean coinage undergoes modification, and silver, previously rare, becomes abundant.[335] The city’s coins persist in all three metals between 304 and 290, under Magas’ rule, while the royal issues figure side by side with them in gold and bronze. But towards 290 approximately Cyrene’s gold issues disappear, and her bronze coins follow in 277.[336] As to the internal institutions of city-government, if they are preserved, Ptolemy’s strategos is resident in the city,[337] doubtless subsequently replaced by Magas himself, and under Ptolemy III and his successors, by the king’s deputy. At the end of the 2nd century B.C., under Euergetes II or Ptolemy X Soter, an inscription evidences that royal orders concerning Cyrene’s affairs were transmitted simultaneously both to the city authorities and to the royal officials appointed over the towns (οἱ ἐπὶ τῶν πόλεων τεταγμένοι).[338] The courtesies were observed but the king’s word was final.

The degree of internal liberty of the cities no doubt depended on the nature of the ruler. It may be observed that the constitution of Ptolemy Lagos, although directed only to Cyrene, nevertheless includes an instruction that affects the other cities of the country, to wit, the clause relating to the granting of citizenship to men of various origins who had settled in new settlements of the countryside.[339] In this connection must be considered the problem of the invitation of the philosophers Ecdelus and Demophanes, who were summoned from their city of Mantineia, apparently between the years 250 and 220,[340] in order to reform the constitution of Cyrene. The character of their measures is unknown, nor are the circumstances of the invitation recorded. We only know that the reformers were devoted to Greek liberty. It is possible that a connection should be seen between their reforms and the Cyrenean coins of Magas inscribed with the word κοινόν (federation),[341] but many scholars have rejected the connection.[342] It has also been conjectured, on the evidence of the letters Δημ — inscribed on some contemporary issues, that the settlement was arrived at under the patronage of Demetrius the Fair when he was Berenice’s husband, but as no detailed information of the episode has been preserved, no decision can be made, nor can we know how to interpret the reform or the Koinon. As to the relationships between the Ptolemies and the cities of Cyrene, although the legend κοινόν overstruck on Magas’ coinage seems to hint at some revolutionary event, even had the cities risen against his successors, expelled them[343] and formed a league among themselves, — no record of the episode has survived in contemporary history.