Renata Tatomir, Some Considerations Regarding the Courts of Justice in Ptolemaic Egypt with Reference to the New Kingdom Courts, in Daniela DINCĂ, Ilona DUȚĂ, Mădălina STRECHIE (Eds.) Sub semnul legii: in honorem Dana Dinu, Receptarea antichitatii XI, Editura Universitaria, Craiova 2020, pp. 22-32 (original) (raw)

2020, Renata TATOMIR, Some Considerations Regarding the Courts of Justice in Ptolemaic Egypt with ReferencSub semnul legii: in honorem Dana Dinu, Receptarea antichitatii XI

Abstract

In 332 Alexander the Great freed Egypt from the heavy-handed Persian yoke. The Egyptians welcomed him as a liberator, thus Alexander faced no resistance from the autochthonous population. After his death, in 323 BCE, his empire was divided among his generals. Egypt was given to Ptolemy I Soter, whose descendants would give Egypt her final royal dynasty, while Alexandria became the capital of the new Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt. The country would remain under Greek rule for nearly three centuries to come (323 – 30 BCE). During this time, the Ptolemaic Dynasty set up a powerful and intricate bureaucratic system in Egypt, which could serve not only the needs of the royal house, but also dealt with the complexities resulting from an increasingly multi-ethnic society. This change in leadership impacted Egyptian society and administration and implicitly its legal system. Ptolemaic Egypt was a multicultural and multilingual society to which immigrants came from all over the Eastern Mediterranean. The Macedonians did not attempt to suppress the legal traditions of the Egyptians. The Ptolemies instituted a highly hierarchical and efficient bureaucratic system, all aspects of which ultimately served the primary goal of generating production and revenue. During the Ptolemaic rulers, Egypt consisted of two main population categories: immigrants (from the Greek and the Hellenistic world) and Egyptians. The two groups were each allowed to employ their own court system: in the dikasteria, Greek judges heard cases involving Greek immigrants; the Egyptian laokritai judged cases involving Egyptians. While during the New Kingdom the Egyptian judicial system consisted of institutions called qenbet (equating the municipal councils, the courts, and the supreme court), the Ptolemaic dikasterion was a court originally created to settle disputes among Greek immigrants in accordance with a programme laid out by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In addition, the city of Alexandria possessed its own legal system and courts Focusing on these different kinds of courts, of the Greek immigrants, and of the Egyptian natives this paper attempts to reveal some of their main characteristics.

Key takeaways

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  1. Ptolemaic Egypt established distinct court systems for Greeks and Egyptians, reflecting its multicultural society.
  2. Greek judges in dikasteria and Egyptian laokritai each served their respective populations' legal needs.
  3. The Ptolemaic bureaucracy prioritized revenue generation while respecting local legal traditions and customs.
  4. Ptolemaic law evolved without creating a comprehensive code, focusing on essential regulations for societal peace.
  5. This study contrasts the New Kingdom's judicial practices with the Ptolemaic legal structure and administration.

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References (48)

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