Apartheid

224
[O]f genuine literary interpenetration between Greek and other
cultures there is virtually no trace. For one thing, literary translations
– as opposed to those of medical, mathematical, astronomical, or
similar practical treatises... – seem to have been nonexistent, a sure
sign of esthetic indifference. 506
This was no ordinary kind of ethnocentrism, especially at the Museum, which included
“…the first [library] to underwrite a programme of cultural imperialism to become a ‘centre
of calculation’…” and ‘an epicentre of Hellenism more Hellenic than Greece’, in the words of
Roy MacLeod, the editor of a recent collection of articles on the library. 507 With a
predominantly cultural brand of racism, the Greeks in Egypt attempted a kind of ethnic purity
that manifested itself chiefly in language, custom, culture, and thought. But already towards
the end of Ptolemaic rule the glorious reputation and the scholarly achievements of the
Museum had faded considerably.
Eventually, the word Alexandrian became a metonym for the craft of
‘editing’, for the practice of consolidating and correcting scholarship
rather than creating it – critical, custodial, preoccupied with the purity
of old forms… 508
There is perhaps nothing more conservative than elite apartheid culture. The
Hellenistic Gymnasia, schools that taught literature, rhetoric, mathematics and physical
education exclusively to Greeks, were the main breeding grounds for Greek ethnic
chauvinism, under Ptolemaic rule and later. The only language of education was Greek. Under
Roman rule, a few Egyptians and other ‘foreigners’ were also allowed to study there, but even
if they graduated, this did not mean that they would automatically gain citizen status, as was
the case for ethnic Greeks. 509 The Gymnasia intensified and widened the gap between the
Greeks and the Egyptians considerably. 510 Other schools during the Ptolemaic era were Greek
philosophical schools, which were essentially private enterprises. 511
Under Roman rule, especially after the advent of Christianity, things changed to some
extent. Church teachers during the last few centuries under Roman rule taught in Coptic as
well as in Greek, so we may safely assume that at least some Egyptians were also attending
schools by that time. Nonetheless, Christians were working with a corpus of theological and
doctrinal texts, which were originally written in Greek. Thus it appears to have remained the
dominant language in all walks of life. 512 Also, the kind of ‘education’ being offered by the
Church was hardly likely to be useful in a liberation struggle, except perhaps the ability to
read and write itself. There were, however, some additional exceptions to Greek hegemony in
the period immediately preceding the spread of Coptic, when the impending death of the
ancient Egyptian language must have been rather obvious.
506
Green 1990: 316. An important exception was the translation of the Jewish Septuagint, for which Ptolemy I
was said to have hired and housed 72 rabbis at the chief librarian’s suggestion: see Barnes 2002: 63f; Brundige:
The Library of Alexandria, no date. Yet, the translation was most probably not intended to be for the benefit of
Greeks, but solely for the many Jewish soldiers and settlers in Egypt who did not understand Hebrew. (See
Werner, Jürgen: Zur Fremdsprachenproblematik in der griechish-römischen Antike, 1992: 14.) It should also be
noted in this context that religious art was syncretized to a great extent in Egypt under Greek and Roman rule,
but chiefly for political rather than aesthetic or any other reasons. See also Chapter II.9.1, below.
507
MacLeod, Roy: Introduction: Alexandria in History and Myth, 2002: 3
508
Ibid: 9
509
Fraser 1972: 77
510 4
Walbank 1994 (1981): 120. In a kind of ‘Yellow Pages’ for Ptolemaic Alexandria, a list of people with
specialized knowledge, including practical skills, not a single non-Greek is listed. See Clauss 2003: 109f.
511
Bowman 1996 (1986): 224f
512
Ibid: 160f