Gymnasia and Greek identity in Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt by Paganini, MCD

“…It is argued that the gymnasial community should be considered as a complex reality, formed by different components belonging to various levels of the social strata. (3) Educational, religious and recreational activities carried out in the premises of the <em>gymnasium</em> or strictly connected to it are taken into account to give an idea of the ‘daily life’ of the institution and of the ‘behaviour’ of its people, which was likely to be the result of a feeling of ‘shared identity’. (4) The concluding section draws the attention to the issue of identity of the people of the <em>gymnasium</em> more clearly: relation with the ‘others’ and idea of Greekness the people of the <em>gymnasium</em> had about themselves (influenced by the rulers’ policies), access to <em>gymnasia</em>, onomastics, elite classes, mixed marriages, reception of Egyptian burial methods and cults, advantage of ‘going Greek’. It is argued that, although having in the <em>gymnasium</em> the key-element for the assertion of their identity and status of <em>Hellenes</em>, the ‘Greeks’ of Egypt displayed complex patterns of mixed identities and were thoroughly embedded in the social, cultural, religious, and administrative environment of Egypt.…”