Agents of transmission: Egyptian priests and traditional sacerdotal lore
The thesis explores the extant evidence concerning the transmission of traditional sacerdotal lore by Egyptian priests into the wider Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. I focus on the following research questions. 1) What does the fragmentary evidence tell us about the activities of Egyptian priests concerning the transmission of sacerdotal lore? 2) What is the range of information disseminated by Egyptian priests into a Greek cultural milieu? 3) How influential was the literary output of Egyptian priests upon subsequent Greek writers? 4) Should we distinguish sharply between literary personae impersonating Egyptian priests and historical priestly individuals? 5) How do notions of the Egyptian priesthood in Graeco-Roman literature from the Hellenistic and Roman periods compare with earlier Greek literature? 6) How have modem scholars interpreted the notion of Egyptian priestly transmission and what role does this notion play in hypotheses concerning magical traditions such as characteres'l 7) How does priestly agency affect current beliefs about Greek and Egyptian cultural interaction? The thesis may be divided roughly into two distinct parts. The first, comprising chapters one to four,
West, Nick
Agents of transmission: Egyptian priests and traditional sacerdotal lore. The thesis explores the extant evidence concerning the transmission of traditional sacerdotal lore by Egyptian priests into the wider Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. I focus on the following research questions. 1) What does the fragmentary evidence tell us about the activities of Egyptian priests concerning the transmission of sacerdotal lore? 2) What is the range of information disseminated by Egyptian priests into a Greek cultural milieu? 3) How influential was the literary output of Egyptian priests upon subsequent Greek writers? 4) Should we distinguish sharply between literary personae impersonating Egyptian priests and historical priestly individuals? 5) How do notions of the Egyptian priesthood in Graeco-Roman literature from the Hellenistic and Roman periods compare with earlier Greek literature? 6) How have modem scholars interpreted the notion of Egyptian priestly transmission and what role does this notion play in hypotheses concerning magical traditions such as characteres'l 7) How does priestly agency affect current beliefs about Greek and Egyptian cultural interaction? The thesis may be divided roughly into two distinct parts. The first, comprising chapters one to four,
agents transmission egyptian priest traditional lore explores extant evidence_concern transmission traditional lore egyptian priest wider mediterranean hellenistic roman_period focus follow_question fragmentary_evidence tell activity egyptian priest concern transmission lore range information disseminate egyptian priest greek cultural_milieu influential literary output egyptian priest upon subsequent greek writer distinguish sharply literary persona egyptian priest historical priestly individual notion egyptian priesthood graeco_roman literature hellenistic_roman period compare earlier greek_literature modem scholar interpreted notion egyptian priestly transmission role notion play hypotheses concern magical tradition priestly agency affect current belief greek egyptian cultural interaction may_divide distinct part first comprising