“At the Limits of Hellenism: Egyptian Priests and the Greek World”

FAIN: FT-55263-07

Ian Strachan Moyer
Regents of the University of Michigan (Claremont, CA 91711-4434)

This project is an exploration of the ancient history and modern historiography of cultural exchange between Greeks and Egyptians in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and the early Roman empire. Beginning with the second book of Herodotus’ “Histories”, I examine four texts that represent key encounters between the Greek world and Egyptian priests, the cultural and intellectual élite of Egyptian civilization. In drawing on both Greek and Egyptian sources, and engaging with contemporary anthropological and post-colonial studies, I rethink received models and narratives of cross-cultural interaction and identity in antiquity.

Associated Products

Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism (Book)
Title: Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism
Author: Ian S. Moyer
Abstract: In a series of studies, Ian Moyer explores the ancient history and modern historiography of relations between Egypt and Greece from the fifth century BCE to the early Roman empire. Beginning with Herodotus, he analyzes key encounters between Greeks and Egyptian priests, the bearers of Egypt's ancient traditions. Four moments unfold as rich micro-histories of cross-cultural interaction: Herodotus' interviews with priests at Thebes; Manetho's composition of an Egyptian history in Greek; the struggles of Egyptian priests on Delos; and a Greek physician's quest for magic in Egypt. In writing these histories, the author moves beyond Orientalizing representations of the Other and colonial metanarratives of the civilizing process to reveal interactions between Greeks and Egyptians as transactional processes in which the traditions, discourses and pragmatic interests of both sides shaped the outcome. The result is a dialogical history of cultural and intellectual exchanges between the great civilizations of Greece and Egypt.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.cambridge.org/9780521765510
Primary URL Description: Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism at Cambridge University Press
Secondary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/711959865
Secondary URL Description: WorldCat entry for Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780521765510
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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