The volume offers a timely (re-)appraisal of Seleukid cultural dynamics. While the engagement of Seleukid kings with local populations and the issue of "Hellenization" are still debated, a movement away from the Greco-centric approach to the study of the sources has gained pace. Increasingly textual sources are read alongside archaeological and numismatic evidence, and relevant near-eastern records are consulted. Our study of Seleukid kingship adheres to two game-changing principles: 1. We are not interested in judging the Seleukids as "strong" or "weak" whether in their interactions with other Hellenistic kingdoms or with the populations they ruled. 2. While appreciating the value of the social imaginaries approach (Stavrianopoulou, 2013), we argue that the use of ethnic identity in antiquity remains problematic. Through a pluralistic approach, in line with the complex cultural considerations that informed Seleukid royal agendas, we examine the concept of kingship and its gender aspects; tensions between centre and periphery; the level of "acculturation" intended and achieved under the Seleukids; the Seleukid-Ptolemaic interrelations. As rulers of a multi-cultural empire, the Seleukids were deeply aware of cultural politics.

Im Jahr 30 v. Chr. eroberte Octavian, der spatere Kaiser Augustus, AEgypten. Er setzte seinen Freund, den Dichter und Feldherrn Gaius Cornelius Gallus, als ersten Prafekten uber die neue Provinz ein. Nach der Niederschlagung einheimischer Aufstande im Suden AEgyptens und der Sicherung der Grenze nach Nubien weihte Gallus 29 v. Chr. auf der Nilinsel Philae eine dreisprachige Stele, die agyptische, griechische und roemische Bild- und Texttraditionen verbindet. Das vorliegende Buch ist das Ergebnis eines mehrjahrigen Projektes der AEgyptologie und Alten Geschichte zu diesem Siegesmonument. Der hieroglyphische, lateinische und griechische Text ist auf der Basis einer neuen UEberprufung des Originals ubersetzt und ausfuhrlich kommentiert. Damit liegt eine wichtige historische Quelle zum Beginn der roemischen Herrschaft uber AEgypten erstmals in einer zuverlassigen Gesamtausgabe vor.

This festschrift contains some two dozen papers on variegatedtopics from the field of papyrology and epigraphy in Graeco-Roman Egypt. The studies deal with aspects of regional administration, the economy, contract law, antique literary works, temple consecration, the legal status of women, Greek vocabulary and Christian Egypt. The papers include both new publications of papyri and more in-depth studies of previously published texts. The book is of particular interest to papyrologists, epigraphers, ancient historians and Egyptologists.

A commentary and historical analysis of a trilingual synod decree by Egyptian priests, in honour of Ptolemy III and his family. The 'Kanopos-Decree' refers to two texts, united as one, and comprising of the resolutions passed by an Egyptian synod in 238 B.C., in honour of Ptolemy III and Queen Berenice II and the deceased princess Berenice, in Kanopos (near Alexandria), dedicated to. In accordance with the will of the synods, inscriptions of the decree were to be made in all Egyptian temples in Hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. This work is a historical analysis of the most important document of the early period of Ptolemy. The basis thereof is an evaluation, in the form of annotated sections, treating all three languages equally. Central to the evaluation are: the analysis of a description in the decree, of how the danger of an imminent Egyptian famine was overcome, on the one hand. And, using the decree, ruler worship, introduced to the Egyptian temples by the priests, is analysed on the other. Finally, this work demonstrates the obvious intention of the priests who wrote the decree, to bind the king and his family into the religion of the Egypt; this was to be achieved by granting the Regent the status of an Egyptian god in the course of regular festivals and perpetuating the apotheosis of the deceased daughter Berenice.