[ilds] NYTimes: Multiculturalism: Nothing New

[Bruce Redwine]

Billy,

I think we agree.  Very interesting comparison with Fidel Castro and his policies.  Wilford’s article in the NYT concludes with a quote from Roger Bagnall, a classical historian:  “But I very much feel that the cosmopolitan Hellenistic culture was comfortable with diversity in its surroundings . . . That’s a world we’ve lost.”  That’s the traditional view of Ptolemaic culture:  diverse, open-minded, tolerant.  Shaw’s article presents a different picture, one you acknowledge by referring to “a ruling class.” one which, in Ptolemaic Egypt, was bent of preserving its identity and hegemony.  The Greeks in Egypt were probably similar to the Brits in India and shared similar attitudes about the “natives.”  The Hellenistic Greeks were not free of prejudice, and to rave about Hellenistic cosmopolitanism is probably a distortion.  At the Durrell Celebration in Alexandria (2007), Durrell came in for this criticism from the Egyptians of Alexandria.

Bruce



On Oct 7, 2014, at 11:06 AM, William Apt <billyapt at gmail.com> wrote:

> Bruce:
>  
> Its one thing for a ruling class to foster cultural diversity but another if results in a loss of control by that class. After all, the Ptolemies did not oversee a democracy. Exclusion by racial purity and/or language is a perfect means by which to stretch tolerance as far as possible within the boundaries of absolute dictatorship. 
>  
> What about today?  The only progressive dictator I can think of is Fidel Castro. He has rigidly maintained control of but fostered a progressive, sophisticated society not by restriction on racial purity or language, but by restriction on speech and assembly.
>  
> Like the Ptolemies, Castro has stretched - even forced - tolerance as far as is acceptably possible within boundaries that do not allow his loss of control.    
>  
> BILLY      
> 
>  
> On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 11:44 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Thanks, Billy, I shall definitely see the exhibit in New York.  I wonder, however, how multi-cultural and open-minded the Ptolemaic Greeks were.  Brent D. Shaw, a Canadian historian now at Princeton, wrote an article on incest in Graeco-Roman Egypt:  “Explaining Incest:  Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt” (Man 27 [1992]).  He argues that Greeks in Egypt, particularly those in the provinces, often married their siblings.  (He supports his argument with abundant census data/records from that period.)  Why the incest?  To preserve the family fortune and to avoid contact with the “natives,” i.e., the local Egyptians.  Plutarch says Cleopatra VII was the first of her clan to speak Egyptian — prior to that all the Ptolemies spoke Greek.  Alexandria certainly had a very diverse culture, but the Greeks themselves may not have been so diversity-minded, particularly when it came to private matters.
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> 
> On Oct 7, 2014, at 6:44 AM, William Apt <billyapt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/science/when-the-greeks-ruled-egypt-highlights-the-diversity-of-cultures-in-ptolemaic-egypt.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone
>> 
>> An exhibit in New York explores Ptolemaic Egypt’s embrace of diversity.
>> 
>> From today's NY Times. 
>> 
>> 
>> WILLIAM APT
>> Attorney at Law
>> 812 San Antonio St, Ste 401
>> Austin TX 78701
>> 512/708-8300
>> 512/708-8011 FAX
> 
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20141007/314a5f82/attachment.html>