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Alexandria in Rome
Author(s): Sarolta A. Takács
Source: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 97, Greece in Rome: Influence,
Integration, Resistance (1995), pp. 263-276
Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/311310
Accessed: 21-05-2018 17:35 UTC
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ALEXANDRIA IN ROME
SAROLTA A. TAKACS*
*I would like to thank the organizers of the Greece in Rome conference, Profs.
Christopher Jones and Richard Thomas, for inviting me and giving me first the chance to
speak and now to write about some aspects of my research. I am especially grateful to
Christopher Jones, Lark DiLucia Miller, and Charles Segal for their comments and recog-
nize the editors of HSCP who were so patient with me. This article features new ele-
ments as well as components from my Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World (Leiden 1995
[Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 124]).
1 M. A. Kuzmin (1872-1936) Alexandrian Songs (concluding poem), J. E. Malmstad
and V. Markov eds. Gesammelte Gedichte I, Gedichtbdnde vor der Revolution (Munich
1977) 199. "Alas, I am forsaking Alexandria / and long shall I not see her. / I shall see
Cyprus, dear to the Goddess, / I shall see Tyre, Ephesus and Smyrna, / I shall see Athens,
the dream of my youth, / Corinth and far Byzantium / and the crown of all longings, / the
goal of all strivings-/ I shall see Rome the mighty!" (trans. M. Green, see also his
Mikhail Kuzmin Selected Prose and Poetry [Ann Arbor 1980] 333-362).
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264 Sarolta A. Taktcs
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Alexandria in Rome 265
linguistic
Some couldmisunderstanding of "Wsir-.Hp"
associate Sarapis' place was athe
of origin with welcome coincidence.
Black Sea city
Sinope, others could connect -apis with the Greek king Apis, who hap-
pened to have died in Egypt. These possible associations must have
facilitated an acceptance of Sarapis, the dynasty's protector, and bound
Macedonians and Greeks living in Egypt to their new country and the
Ptolemaic ruling family that claimed its right of succession in accor-
dance with the old and established pharaonic system. According to this
system, each pharaoh was in essence a living god. He was the embodi-
ment of Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. The Ptolemies successfully
integrated something new, Sarapis, into the dynastic ritual, which fur-
4 Ant. 6.
5 Suet. Aug. 18 and 50.
6 Tacitus Ann. 2.73 and POxy 25.2435.18-21, trans. E. G. Turner. 116F & 6FyE.6ieEvog
3ti[v Oy[ct] I [X]Gtrp6t'*toy 0*BGct t , gv rp6rtov 6ic .6[v] [ii]po ccId Kt[ to]trlv
rpS;7 tOv IcUVIrLesttgrands
C. Maystre, Fkttvpretres
6k[p]..[iv
de Ptahtka Memphis
a] I [to]]i; t.v nt.[0v]
(Freiburg, &vtzxoTtOvot;.
Switzerland, and
G6ttingen 1992 [Orbis biblicus et orientalis 113]) and D. J. Crawford, J. Quaegebeur,
W. Clarysse, Studies on Ptolemaic Memphis (Louvain 1980 [Studia Hellenistica 24]).
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266 Sarolta A. Takdcs
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Alexandria in Rome 267
Christus (Tiibingen 1985 [IstForsch 36]). In addition, B. Virgilio, Gli Attalidi di Pergamo
(Pisa 1993 [Biblioteca di Studi Antichi 70]).
12 An emperor's immediate predecessor did not need to be a diuus. See M. Hammond,
The Antonine Monarchy (Rome 1959) 203-204; L. Ross Taylor, The Divinity of The
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268 Sarolta A. Takdcs
Roman Emperor (Middletown 1931); and S. R. F Price, "Between Men and God: Sacri-
fice in the Roman Imperial Cult," JRS 70 (1980) 28-43.
13 A. D. Nock, CAH 10 (Cambridge 1934) 489.
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Alexandria in Rome 269
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270 Sarolta A. Takdcs
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Alexandria in Rome 271
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272 Sarolta A. Takdcs
29 P. W. van der Horst, Chaeremon, Egyptian Priest and Stoic Philosopher (Leiden
1984 [EPRO 110]).
30T. Adam, Clementia Principis (Stuttgart 1970 [Kieler Historische Studien 11])
41-45; R. Turcan, Sineque et les religions orientales (Bruxelles 1967 [Collection Lato-
mus 91]); and P. Grimal, "Le De Clementia et la royaut6 solaire de N6ron," REL 49
(1971) 205-217.
31 H. P. L'Orange, "Nero's Cosmic Hall," in Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic
Kingship in the Ancient World (Oslo 1953) 28-34 and J.-L. Voisin, "Exoriente sole
(Su6tone Ner 6). D'Alexandre ' la Domus Aurea," in L'Urbs. Espace urbain et histoire
(Rome 1987 [CEFR 98]) 509-543.
32 Like Caligula Nero is termed vo; "Hto; (SIG 814, 34-35) and Antiphilus Anth.
Pal. 9 178:
nently "AXtE,
on Rhodes for ic napcx
whose a6v (plyyo;
freedom ,CxiVe
Nero pleaded NEpov. Helios featured most promi-
successfully.
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Alexandria in Rome 273
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274 Sarolta A. Takdcs
38 For the dating see G. Wissowa, Religion und Cultus der Romer (Munich 1902) 353
and A. A. Barrett, Caligula (Manchester 1989) 220-221.
39 11.30 and 26.
40 SIRIS 377 = CIL 12 1263 = VI 2247 = ILS 4405 = ILLRP 159.
41 10.25-27.
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Alexandria in Rome 275
apeum (18-22: 6 &0 Kl'pto; I Ki[ou]p Eofi- e XOev i t [6]paSx P p6ov iv rnappqtoXfi I E
[......] .t(xV Ei9X 1p(aXrtov .n rto lX0apaxioo6 Ei;t [0] ilrt laIKO[V.....] V ta 8F & Klt
-r0v ztIt41v yv6orl &v &varXp199 ^6....] ]... a a "& rtav;ar).
46 Suet. Tit. 5.3.
47 On travels of principes see H. Halfmann, Itinera principum (Stuttgart 1986 [Heidel-
berger althistorische Beitrage und epigraphische Studien 2]).
48 HA, S 17.4.
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276 Sarolta A. Takdcs
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
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