Callimachus (strategist)

Callimachos belonged to the highest class of Ptolemies in the 1st century BC. He was a strategist (74/73 to 39 BC) and epistrategist (62 to 39 BC) of the Thebais in Upper Egypt .

Life

Callimachus came from a long-established family in Upper Egypt, who had great influence there. The court at Alexandria is likely to have had good contacts with Callimachus, which is often mentioned in inscriptions, and awarded him the important court rank of syngeneic . He led not only the title of strategist for the Thebais, but also for the Red and Indian Seas .

A preserved decree of honor by the Amon priests and the people of Thebes for Callimachus , written in Greek and Demotic, is particularly interesting . It was chiseled into a reused royal stele from the New Kingdom from Karnak and dates from between 44 and 39 BC. Chr. And was awarded to the strategist because he was responsible for the reconstruction of Thebes after its destruction during a rebellion in the 80s BC. Very promoted, then in the 40s BC BC contributed to overcoming a famine and epidemic and finally carried out a renewal of the divine cults for the tradition-conscious southern Egyptians. For these achievements he was given the honorary title "Savior" (Soter) Thebes. Statues of Callimachus should be clearly visible in the temple of the god Amonrasonther and in other places in the city and his birthday should be celebrated with festivals dedicated to him. Usually only kings received such honors. The names of the Egyptian rulers, Cleopatra VII and her son Ptolemy XV. , are only mentioned at the beginning of the dating, but are otherwise missing. Thus Callimachus, who apparently had acted independently in the interests of Thebes because of a lack of initiative from the government headquarters in Alexandria, was venerated by its inhabitants as a benefactor instead of Cleopatra.

Late 1940s BC In the whole of Egypt there were famine and epidemics due to insufficient flooding of the Nile. Cleopatra had to try to contain these natural disasters and therefore she does not seem to have disturbed the almost royal honor of Callimachus with epithets, which in and of themselves only belong to rulers. What was more important for them was the apparently great loyalty of the strategists in Upper Egypt, such as Callimachus, who ruled semi-independently, and the maintenance of good relations with the local priesthood.

literature

Manfred Clauss : Cleopatra . Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39009-9 , pp. 41 f .
Michael Grant : Cleopatra. A biography . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1998, ISBN 3-404-61416-X , p. 144 (German first 1977).
Günther Hölbl : History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN 3-534-10422-6 , pp. 215 .
Christoph Schäfer : Cleopatra . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-15418-5 , pp. 109 f .

Remarks

^ Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (OGIS) 194 ; R. Hutmacher, The Decree of Honor for the Strategist Callimachos (Contributions to Classical Philology 17), Meisenheim am Glan 1965.

personal data
SURNAME	Callimachus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Strategist of Thebais, Egypt
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	1st century BC Chr.

[1] Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (OGIS) 194 ; R. Hutmacher, The Decree of Honor for the Strategist Callimachos (Contributions to Classical Philology 17), Meisenheim am Glan 1965.