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[QUOTE]Originally posted by ausar: [QB] Chapter 32 Jews and other immigrants in Late Period Egypt J.D. Ray The University of Cambridge Egypt acted as a magnet for immigrants during most periods, but this is particularly true of the centuries beginning with the Twenty-sixth Dynasty and continuing to the end of Ptolemaic rule. Such newcomers were attracted by the potential wealth of the country, which was in marked contrasts to conditions in the Aegean of in much of the rest of the Near-East. In general, a pattern emerges of slow but steady assimilation to the culture, and even the religion, of the immigrants' new home. The Ionians, for example, are attested early [witness the new inscription from Priene published by Masson and Yoyotte 1988, pp. 171-80]. However, if we consider the well-known Curse of Artemisia [+UPZ I 1], which dates from 311 B.C., we find that although the language of this text is Ionic Greek, the text can be transposed phrase for phrase into Demotic; indeed, it can almost be described as an ancient Egyptian text written in Greek. Another interesting example is given in the early[fourth century ?] papyri published by Zaghloul, where the affairs of an ibis-cult in Middle Egypt are in the hands of a man named Ariston[3 rest]. It is hard to imagine a more Egyptian occupation. The Carians, closely associated with the Ionians, show a similar pattern of Egyptianization. Graffiti left by Phoenician pilgrims at Abydos show the same features, and from a large but amorphous community of Aramaic speakers in Egypt we have the Carpentras stele [Grelot 1972, no. 86], which is not only an Egyptian funerary prayer to Osiris, but even contains Egyptian words [nb m3 'ty, hsyw] transliterated into Aramaic. This too can be seen as an ancient Egyptian text, in spite of its language. The now-notorious Amherst papyrus may represent a highly-developed example of this tendency; in many ways this text foreshadowed the though-world of later Greco-Egyptian magic. The principal exception to this pattern of assimilation is the case of the Jews. These are known mainly from the archives at Elephantine, but have also left traces of their attitude in the books of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and in the story of Joseph, the archetypal history of an immigrant made good. The reasons for Jewish separateness are complex: one may suggest tighter family structure, the maintenance of links with the homeland, and possibly the codification of Jewish scripture. Certainly in late period Egypt Zeus could become Amun, and Thoth Hermes, but the Jewish God remains itself. Ionians and Phoenicians turned into Ionomemphites and Phoinikaigyptioi, but the Jews never became other than Ioudaioi. Page 273 Life in a Multi-Cultural Society: Egypt from Cambyses to Constantine and Beyond Edited by Janet H. Johnson [/QB][/QUOTE]
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