honor. Several streets in Alexandria bore the name of Arsinoe II accompanied by a
cult epithet (Arsinoe Basileia, Elee ̄mo ̄n, Teleia, Chalkioikos, Karpophoros, Nike ̄,
So ̄zousa... ). They were probably so designated (up until the Roman period) because
of the presence of a small sanctuary dedicated to the divinized queen (Fraser
1972:1.237). But we know practically nothing about the places in which the royal
cult was officially celebrated, nor about the nature of the ceremonies. Ptolemy IV had
built a newSe ̄main the center of the city designed to replace that of Ptolemy I, a
monument which incorporated, besides the tombs of Alexander and the first Lagids,
a space intended for cult use. It has yet to be found. The cult ceremonies were
probably of the Greek type, with sacrifices and processions. An Alexandrian decree
about the cult of Arsinoe prescribes that the inhabitants should sacrifice ‘‘in front
of their house, or on their roof, or in the street along which the canephore passes.’’
They could sacrifice ‘‘whatever they wanted,’’ with the exception of a billy-goat or a
nanny-goat (P.Oxy. 2465, 2.1).
It is difficult to estimate the religious significance of the dynastic cult. The desire to
see a god embody himself in living form is undoubtedly one of the new characteristics
of religious life in the hellenistic age. We need only think of the Athenians invoking
Demetrius Poliorcetes, ‘‘We see you, you are not made from wood or stone, you are
real... ’’ (anonymous ithyphallic hymn atFGrH76 fr. 13). In this sense the king
could easily appear, according to the formula of theenteuxeis(the complaints and
requests addressed to the kings of Egypt) as the ‘‘common savior of all.’’ But we also
know that the Alexandrians failed neither to criticize their rulers nor to adorn them
with insulting nicknames. When the imperial cult was installed at Alexandria in the
age of Augustus, the temple built by Cleopatra VII being transformed into
the Kaisareion, it was modeled on the royal Ptolemaic cult and had, as the Ptolemaic
cult had done, an overtly political purpose. But it is even more difficult to estimate the
impact of that cult, the documents bearing upon it being few (Heinen 1995).
In the Ptolemaic era, in parallel with the Greek-style dynastic cult, an Egyptian-
style royal cult was also celebrated. This was associated in the principal temples with
that of the local gods. This cult was already in place for the benefit of Arsinoe II and
became generalized thereafter. Various decrees of the synods, from Ptolemy III to
Ptolemy V, prescribe that honors should be paid to the kings in each temple of the
land (Clarysse 1999). The kings themselves are, furthermore, often depicted on
Egyptian temple reliefs, where they are shown exercising their cultic function, in
the image of their predecessors. This fiction endured into the Roman period, to the
profit of the emperors, the new pharaohs.
Jews and Christians
The Alexandrian religious system was characterized by the coexistence of divine
images and cultic practices, and this system even succeeded in incorporating, for
several centuries, monotheistic religions. Alexandria was home to an important
Jewish community, from at least the period of Ptolemy I. Protected by the Lagids,
its members do not appear to have encountered difficulties in the practice of their
religion (Me ́le`ze-Modrzejewski 1981). The translation of the Pentateuch into Greek,
probably realized in the course of the second century BC, perhaps shows the kings’
262 Franc ̧oise Dunand