The Ptolemaic-Style Polis

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter challenges common assumptions about the dearth (and death) of poleis in Ptolemaic Egypt, especially in the second century BCE. Although arguably more centralized than its Seleucid counterpart, the Ptolemaic state was also forced to cooperate with local constituencies, especially temples and their priesthoods, which made use of the terminology of civic institutions and “polis talk” to secure privileges from royal authority. With the military and ethnic organization known as the “politeuma,” the Ptolemies also compensated for the lack of poleis with ad hoc administrative structures used to welcome immigrant communities in Egypt. In addition, the three poleis of Egypt—Naukratis, Alexandria, and Ptolemais—were fully integrated into polis networks. There is evidence that Ptolemy VIII Physkon (“Potbelly”) cracked down on the population of Alexandria, but the papyri also show him founding a new polis in Egypt, Euergetis. Although it was ultimately aborted, the new city was endowed with civic institutions, especially a board of magistrates known as prytaneis.</jats:p>