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The Great Revolt

The Great Revolt. Clarysse Texts 2 & 6. Background on Great Revolt. Lasts from 206 BCE until 186 BCE After reclaiming Coele Syria from Antiochos III in the battle of Raphia , the Egyptians armed by Ptolemy IV search for native leaders to back.

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The Great Revolt

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  1. The Great Revolt Clarysse Texts 2 & 6

  2. Background on Great Revolt • Lasts from 206 BCE until 186 BCE • After reclaiming Coele Syria from Antiochos III in the battle of Raphia, the Egyptians armed by Ptolemy IV search for native leaders to back. • Two priests, Chaonnophris and Haronnophris, lead the rebellion. • Ptolemy V puts down the last of the rebels in the South in 186 BCE.

  3. Texts 2 & 6 Background and Similarities • Both are texts inscribed upon Egyptian temples • Both the texts praise Ptolemy V as a hero for defeating the rebels. • Both texts insult the character of the native rebels. • Told from the point of view of the Egyptian priests, who are in a coalition with the Ptolemaic rulers.

  4. Where did the texts come from?

  5. Why are the texts important? • The documentation of the Great Revolt is sparse because Greek historians largely refused to legitimize it. • Clarysse refers to the Great Revolt as a “hidden” war. • These decrees/inscriptions provide us with crucial information on the revolts from around the same time period as the events.

  6. Clarysse Text 2 • Hieroglyphic inscription on temple at Edfu • Details how revolts interrupted construction of a gate for the temple. • Construction starts in 206/207, and is not finished until 176 • Ptolemy V referred to as “the strong one” and “the king who chased disorder out of the country”. • Rebels referred to as “ignorant”.

  7. Clarysse Text 2 • Language of inscription mirrors that of Memphis Decree and others in its praise of Ptolemaic rulers. • Priests have interest in keeping the ruler unopposed, because this assures funding of temples. • The interruption of the building of the gate is symbolic of the interruption of the larger cycle of benefaction and praise that runs between a Ptolemaic ruler and the religious elite.

  8. Clarysse Text 6 • Demotic and hieroglyphic inscriptions (bi-lingual) found on a mammisi in Philae • Mammisi= A temple of royal birth • Goes more in depth as to the supposed crimes of the rebels. • Authored by high priests and scribes convening in Alexandria

  9. Clarysse Text 6 • Source of these accounts is from throne of Ptolemaic power and priestly cohorts. • Therefore, it is hard to dissect truth from biased accounts. • Rebels credited with everything from stealing taxes, raiding towns full of women and children, and destroying temples.

  10. Clarysse Text 6 • High priests write that these crimes were committed “in the name of anarchy”, implying that these Egyptians have no real cause or complaints. • Leader’s name “Chaonnophris”, which means “may Onnophris live” is reduced to the meaningless name “Char-Wenef” in this account. • These inscriptions are important because, despite their obvious bias, we don’t have many other sources to piece together the Great Revolt.

  11. Question Time? • ?

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