WAR IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD

HOW WAR SHAPED THE HELLENISTIC WORLD
The forms and content of cultural interaction ranged from setting up an
inscription with the names of the months of the Egyptian calendar in Samos,
probably to serve the needs of the members of the Ptolemaic garrison (IG
XII.6.1 218), to mixed marriages among the family members of soldiers of
different origins (see chapter 6, section 2), to the introduction of new cults.
The dedication to a Pisidian god with a Greek name (Ares Nikephoros
Euagros) somewhere in the Egyptian desert, the worship of the gods of
Samothrake in Koptos in Egypt and of Egyptian gods in Crete by Therean
and Roman officers of the Ptolemies respectively, or the cult of Artemis in
the Arabian Gulf, are only a few examples of the religious complexities to
which Hellenistic armies contributed (see chapter 8, section 2).
The impact was, naturally, stronger and more lasting in military settlements.
The new settlers from Macedonia and the Greek city states brought
new institutions (e.g., the gymnasium, athletic and musical competitions)
and cults (see chapter 8, section 2). They became accustomed to local
practices, as evidence from Ptolemaic Egypt suggests, thanks to the numerous
papyri. After a few generations, the settlers interacted with the native
population, adopted Egyptian names, and even learned the native language.
Mixed marriages became more common, and the amalgamation of Greek and
Egyptian cultural elements gradually intensified. We have already observed
this development in the family of Dryton of Crete (see chapter 6, section
2), and another example is provided by the four daughters of Ptolemaios
of Kyrene, who lived in Pathyris (ca. 147–127 BC) and adopted Egyptian
names next to their Greek one: Apollonia-Semmonthis, Ammonia-Semminis,
Herakleia-Senapathis, and Herais-Tasris (SB 4638; Launey 1987: 676;
Pomeroy 1984: 103–24).
But no matter how abundant the evidence for a multifaceted interaction
between the natives and foreign mercenaries, garrison troops or settlers
(see chapter 5, section 4), or between soldiers of different origins may be,
it cannot entirely overshadow the evidence for ethnic and cultural confrontation
triggered by war and military mobility. The assimilation of the
Macedonian King Antigonos Gonatas with the Persians by his enemies on
the eve of the Chremonidean War, his stigmatization as an enemy of Greek
freedom, and his implicit exclusion from the Hellenic world is a rather
harmless case of ethnic discrimination.
Many other cases of “ethnic stereotyping” are directly related to warfare:
the Cretans were characterized with the cliché of being “ever brigands and
pirates, not righteous” because of their raids (Anth.Gr. 7.654; see Perlman
1999), and the same activity made the Aitolians famous for their “inherent
greed, enslaved by which they always lead a life of greed resembling wild
beasts, regarding no one as a friend and everyone as their enemy” (Polyb.
4.3.1, see chapter 7, section 3), while a decree of Chersonesos refers to the
faithlessness of the Skythians which is inherent in their nature (IOSPE I 2
352). The revolt of the Maccabees in the Seleukid kingdom may not have
251