Monson - From the Ptolemies to the Romans

Andrew Monson

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, So Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU , UK

www.cambridge.org

Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107014411

This book is an expanded and revised version of my Ph.D. dissertation defended at Stanford University in June 2008. My deepest thanks go to my advisor Joseph Manning for introducing me to Ptolemaic history and for guiding me into the profession. In formulating my own arguments, his scholarship and our many exhilarating discussions played an essential role. Walter Scheidel has been a perpetual source of provocative ideas and advice, which have encouraged me to build and expand on the original concept of my dissertation. Besides being an inspiring teacher, Ian Morris indelibly influenced my thinking about the aims and methods of history writing. He and Walter Scheidel organized graduate seminars and conferences on empires and state formation that made me appreciate the value of cross-cultural comparisons. The whole Stanford community furnished an extraordinarily creative and stimulating environment for graduate study in ancient history. Along with those already mentioned, another key contributor to Stanford's intellectual life, Josiah Ober, gave me insightful comments on several chapters of the dissertation. To these four members of my Ph.D. committee and to Stephen Haber, who served on my defense committee, I extend my sincere gratitude.

In addition to Stanford University and its faculty, several organizations and individuals afforded me opportunities to carry out research on this book. Todd Hickey and the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri furnished a welcoming and stimulating environment during my frequent visits to Berkeley. A fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) enabled me to study with Karl-Theodor Zauzich and Gnter Vittmann at the University of Wrzburg in 2005/2006. I thank them for sharing their immense knowledge of the Demotic sources, which helped me identify new material for writing about the Egyptian agrarian economy. The Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy in Munich granted me a two-month Jacobi fellowship in 2007 sponsored by the Jacobi and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. The ideal working conditions there allowed me to make rapid progress on my dissertation, for which I thank Christof Schuler and Rudolf Haensch.

Since 2008 I have had gracious colleagues in the Classics department at New York University, who have shielded me from burdensome duties and created a convivial atmosphere. Above all I would like to single out Markus Asper, Joy Connolly, David Levene, and Michael Peachin for their support and encouragement. The Classics department at Tel Aviv University kindly hosted me as a visiting scholar in summer 2009 thanks to Jonathan Price, who helped make the arrangements. Moreover, I wish to acknowledge the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation along with my hosts, Andrea Jrdens and Joachim Quack, for a fellowship in Heidelberg to begin a new project growing out of this book, which has enabled me to insert a few final corrections.

The generosity of my friends and colleagues has been indispensable. Roger Bagnall read the entire dissertation after it had been submitted and provided several pages of valuable feedback. In response to his remarks many sections of the book were expanded and rearranged, which has enhanced the clarity of its core argument. I would also like to thank my copy editor Andrew Dyck and the two anonymous reviewers for Cambridge University Press, who read the earlier drafts meticulously, made helpful suggestions, and saved me from a number of errors. Charikleia Armoni, Philip Brown, Daniel Hoyer, Dominic Rathbone, and Dorothy Thompson read earlier versions of certain sections and gave me useful comments. Others shared with me information and forthcoming work, in particular, Katherine Blouin, Ruey-Lin Chang, Thorolf Christensen, Roger Flower, Saskia Hin, Michael Jursa, Brian Muhs, Wolfgang Wegner, and Uri Yiftach-Firanko. To acknowledge by name the numerous people with whom I had the pleasure of discussing my work and from whom I received assistance would be impossible, but they should know that I am grateful.