Migration Patterns from Palestine to Egypt in Ptolemaic Times

• Autores: Sylvie Honigman
• Localización: Ancient society, ISSN 0066-1619, Nº 52, 2022, págs. 171-205
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The present article examines the migration patterns from Palestine to Egypt in Ptolemaic times, and delves into several issues. First, the regional case-study refines the accepted chronology of migration to Egypt; while the migratory fluxes originating in the Greek Mediterranean sharply declined after the mid-third century, movements from the region under discussion continued thereafter. At the same time, the article argues that the prevailing economic activity in each of the sub-regions comprising Palestine determined both the demographic importance of their migratory fluxes and their place of resettling within Egypt, explaining why Ioudaioi and (to a lesser extent) Arabes were prominent among migrants of all origins resettling in the Fayum. Third, archaeological evidence from Judea and Idumea relating to the third century BCE suggests that the prevailing migratory pattern from these regions to Egypt involved village communities resettling together, not individuals. This would indicate sociological continuity between these early waves of migrants and those who from the reign of Ptolemy VI on were granted the status of politeuma, lending support to the view that politeumata were first installed under this reign and not earlier.