Politeuma

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The Politeuma ( Greek  πολίτευμα ), the citizenry (bourgeois body), stands in the Hellenistic world for semi-autonomous organizational structures of ethnic minorities in a polis . Numerous studies on this topic deal specifically with the independent local government of Jews in the Diaspora .

Politeia and Politeuma

The term Politeuma was used differently in terms of time and space. However, it does not have the wide range of meanings of Politeia ( πολιτεία ), which can also mean citizenship, but also civil rights, state constitution, state administration, state etc. and is also the title of Plato's ideal state . Since the rights of citizens initially only related to their own polis, the cooperation of several polis made the Isopoliteia (( ἰσοπολιτεία )) necessary, which meant the legal equality of citizens in the participating cities while maintaining the independence of their cities.

According to Aristotle , Politeuma is to be understood as all citizens of the state, the Politeia, who take part in the decision-making bodies and thus primarily in the people's assembly and the courts - that is, " active citizenship ".

Politeuma also appears in the New Testament - but only once. Paul writes to the Philippians: ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει - our home is in heaven or a little closer to the usual meaning of Politeuma: the kingdom in which we are citizens ...

During his campaign in Asia Minor, Alexander the Great wrote to the people of Chios : “ The Politeuma in Chios should be the people. “( Πολίτευμα δἐ εἶναι ἐν Χίωι δῆμον ). So he demanded the establishment of a democratic constitution.

In the Seleucid Empire , its founder Seleukos I Nicator (approx. 358–281 BC) granted citizenship to the Jews in his capital Antioch and in the cities he founded in Asia and Syria - at least that is how Flavius ​​Josephus , who here from Politeia speaks.

In order to integrate the minorities of different compatriots in the multiethnic empire of the Ptolemies , they were granted partial self-administration and their own jurisdiction in the form of politeumata. In Egypt, for example, there were semi-autonomous self-governments of the Boioters , Idumeans , Jews , Cilikians , Cretans , Lycians and Phrygians .

In addition to these ethnic Politeumata, there were very different organizations that referred to themselves as Politeuma in inscriptions:

  • In three of the numerous inscriptions in the temple complex of Zeus Panamaros in Stratonikeia (Caria) from the time of 200 BC. BC to 300 AD, with which all participants in the Heraien thank the generous priesthood, stands “ the Politeuma of women ” instead of “ all women ”.
  • A stele from 93 AD from a temple district in Philadelphia ( Fayum Oasis ) commemorates the renovation work of a Politeuma, who was obviously a cult community of the goddess Isis Sachypsis.
  • A votive stele from 112/111 or 76/75 BC. From Alexandria for Zeus Soter and Hera Teleia comes from a Politeuma of soldiers of unspecified origin.
  • Several grave stelae from the second century BC were found near Sidon . Found. Of the eight steles mentioned by their donors, four were erected by the respective Politeuma of the home community. B. from the association of citizens living in Sidon who came from Termessos .

For these organizational categories, but also for the ethnic Politeumata listed above, examples of inscriptions can be given that do not use the term Politeuma, but other expressions such as B. κοινόν (Koinon / community) or σύνοδος (Synodos / association). From the name alone, therefore, one cannot infer a fundamental difference between Politeuma and other types of organization. It can be assumed, however, that ethnic self-governing bodies with special jurisdiction could only exist on the basis of decrees of the rulers in the Diadochian empires, that is, they were constructions under constitutional law. Such documents have not yet been found. (For the problem of differentiating between private associations and associations under public law in military associations, see M. San Nicolò.)

Jewish Politeumata in Ptolemaic Egypt

When investigating which civil rights were actually given to the Jews in the Ptolemaic (and Seleucid) Empire, one encounters inaccuracies in the extensive historical works of Flavius ​​Josephus. Even the letter to Aristeas , which mentions a Politeuma in Alexandria , as a rather poetic work, has no indisputable evidential value. Given the quality of the many-cited sources, it is therefore not surprising that there was a controversial discussion in research as to whether there actually were Jewish politeumata in the sense of local self-government in the Hellenistic diaspora.

On the one hand there was Emil Schürer's view that the Jews of Alexandria had had Alexandrian citizenship and yet they formed “ an independent communal association in or next to the rest of the city, similar to Cyrene .” At this point, Schürer quotes Strabon's statements on the independence of the Jewish community of Alexandria, which Flavius ​​Josephus reproduces: An entire district of Alexandria is reserved for this people. You had at your peak a ethnarch , "which ruled the people, holding court and for the fulfillment of obligations and compliance with the regulations provides as the Archon of an independent city."

In 1985, A. Kasher again emphasized the existence of Jewish Politeumata in the capital Alexandria and in the Egyptian Chora during the Hellenistic and Roman times, but said that the Jews neither had nor aspired to the Alexandrian citizenship. In interpreting Flavius ​​Josephus, he assumed that the latter regarded the terms Politeuma and Politeia as synonymous and understood the equality of Polis and Politeuma in Alexandria in connection with the Edict of Claudius under Isopoliteia ( ἴσης πολιτείας παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων ). In his argument, Kasher also refers to the grave inscription of Abramos from Leontopolis , which says that the deceased was a political arch ( πολιτάρχης ) from two places and served for the whole people ( ἐθνικῆ ). He rates the Jewish community of Leontopolis as a Politeuma.

On the part of the critics, for example, after an examination of extensive source material, G. Lüderitz ultimately only saw the existence of Berenike's Politeuma , today's Benghazi , as certain. This body, mentioned in two honorary decrees , whose 7 or 9 archons are named, he classified, however, only as an aristocratic Jewish bule ( βουλή ), i.e. not as the totality of the Jews of the city. B. Wander summarized the findings of Lüderitz published in 1994: " Thus a terminologically secured Jewish Politeuma became a phenomenon of historiography, but by no means of history ."

In the meantime, the existence of an autonomous self-governing body of the Jews in Ptolemaic Egypt could be clearly proven by the analysis of the documents of the Jewish Politeuma of Herakleopolis ( Gau capital in Upper Egypt ), which were published in 2001. T. Kruse confirms that these documents had a " tremendous impact " on scholars engaged in research into Hellenistic Judaism. The study is based on 20 texts obtained from mummy cardboard, which are now kept in the papyrus collections of Heidelberg, Cologne, Munich and Vienna. They concern the everyday judicial practice of the Politeuma, whose leadership was held by a college of archons chaired by a politarch. The college was responsible for both the palate metropolis and the settlements in the Gau. The papyri of the Politeuma of Herakleopolis thus also confirm the existence of the political office, which is mentioned in the grave inscription of Abramos from Leontopolis.

After the discoveries in the Egyptian Chora , the question of whether there was a Jewish Politeuma there is hardly a question for the metropolis of Alexandria. There is widespread agreement that the Jewish population did not have Alexandrian citizenship in either Ptolemaic or Roman times. " Strictly speaking, the Jewish community was a city, a politeia, in the city with practically the same powers as that of the Alexandrians. " In this regard, too, only a papyrus discovery had clarified.

Politeumata as an integrating form of organization of the Ptolemies

The inscriptions that testify to ethnic Politeumata primarily name the ethnic group concerned, mostly their settlement area and possibly also the official title of the body. In some cases, they also give an indication of a possible military background for the Politeuma. In contrast, the above-mentioned 20 papyri from the legal correspondence of the Jewish Politeuma of Herakleopolis are much more informative .

On the grounds that during the Ptolemaic period the Jews had no different legal and social status than the immigrants of other ethnic groups, P. Sanger sets up the working hypothesis that all other ethnic politeumata of the hierarchically structured empire had the same rights as the Jewish politeuma. He provides reasons why the (non-ethnic) Politeumata of Sidon do not go back to the Seleucids, but also to the Ptolemies and thus " the organizational form politeuma is a creation of the Ptolemies ", possibly dating back to the 3rd century BC. Goes back. As the reason for the introduction of the Politeumata, Singer sees the need to integrate the numerous immigrants, primarily mercenaries from the Alexander Empire, who settled in subjugated Egypt, into the Ptolemaic power structure. By recognizing the legal and cultic peculiarities of an ethnic minority and sanctioning the competencies of their senior officials, they become “ an institutionalized part of the kingdom ”. The members of the Politeuma could feel like native citizens instead of foreigners in “their” neighborhood, especially if they made up the majority of the population there. The solidarity with her new home town results in a willingness to perform for the state, from which the state in turn can benefit.

Flavius ​​Josephus mentions an early example of the esteem for the Jews and the achievements expected in the Ptolemaic state . The oldest Jewish diaspora communities in Libya therefore go back to Ptolemy I (305 - 285 BC). He is said to have settled Jews from Alexandria in Cyrene and other cities in Eastern Libya in order to have this area of ​​his empire better under control.

It should be noted that the “integration of minorities” in this historical epoch was not based on our current understanding of general human rights . Successful integration meant creating the feeling of an ethnic minority to be on an equal footing with the privileged class of the "Hellenes", that is, not to belong to the common people of the subjugated Egyptians. Belonging to the class of the new masters of Egypt speaks for example from Papyrus 1 of the documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis. This is about the complaint by a Jew for insult by "one of the harbor residents" - obviously a non-Jew. The port area belonged to the area of ​​responsibility of the archons of the Politeuma, which possibly owed its creation to the fortress built there with a Jewish commanders and possibly also a Jewish team. The plaintiff confidently describes the members of the Politeuma as πολῖται (citizens), a designation that otherwise only the citizens of the Greek cities of Alexandria, Naukratis and Ptolemais wore. The other residents are ἀλλόφυλοι (foreigners, from a different tribe).

It is unclear whether the Politeumata might have even older oriental roots. Because the Persians already maintained a military colony in Elephantine , which housed mercenaries of various origins. The correspondence found in the Aramaic language attests to the existence of a Jewish religious community with its own temple and traditions. (The temple had existed before the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses II and was not destroyed by him.)

literature

  • Patrick Sänger : The Ptolemaic organizational form politeuma: An instrument of rule for the benefit of Jewish and other Hellenic communities , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-16-156883-1 .
  • T. Kruse: The Jewish politeuma of Herakleopolis in Egypt. On the method of integrating ethnic groups into the Ptolemaic state. In: V. Dementyeva, T. Schmitt (ed.): People and democracy in antiquity (= Bremen contributions to antiquity. Volume 1). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, pp. 93-105.
  • J. Cowey, K. Maresch (ed.): Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis (144 / 3–133 / 2 BC): Papyri from the collections of Heidelberg, Cologne, Munich and Vienna. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-531-09948-5 .
  • G. Lüderitz: What is the Politeuma? In: J. van Henten, P. van der Horst (eds.): Studies in Early Jewish Epigraphy. Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09916-6 , pp. 183-225.
  • A. Kasher: The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. The Struggle for Equal Rights. Mohr, Tübingen 1885, ISBN 3-16-144829-4 .

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karen Piepenbrink : Concepts of political order in the Attic democracy of the fourth century BC Chr .: a comparative study of the philosophical and rhetorical discourse. Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07848-7 , p. 70.
  2. ↑ Phil 3.20  EU , Zurich Bible 2007, p. 318.
  3. ↑ Phil 3, 20, Zürcher Bibel 1977, p. 258
  4. ^ Gerhard Pfohl : Greek inscriptions as evidence of private and public life. Heimeran, Munich 1965, No. 107.
  5. ↑ Chios text from the TELEMACO project of the University of Bologna ( Memento of the original dated May 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.telemaco.unibo.it
  6. ^ Flavius ​​Josephus, Contra Apionem , II 39.
  7. Jump up ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae , XII 3: 1.
  8. ↑ J. Cowey, K. Maresch (ed.): Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis , introduction pp. 6-7.
  9. ^ G. Lüderitz: What is the Politeuma? , Pp. 196-199.
  10. ^ G. Lüderitz: What is the Politeuma? Pp. 189-196.
  11. ^ G. Lüderitz: What is the Politeuma? Pp. 201-204.
  12. ^ M. San Nicolò, Ägyptisches Vereinswesen at the time of the Ptolemies, first part: Die Vereinsarten ( Munich contributions to papyrus research and ancient legal history , volume 2, 1st part) 2nd edition, Beck, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-406-01702 -9 , p. 198
  13. ^ Emil Schürer: History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. III, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1909, p. 82.
  14. ^ Emil Schürer: History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. II, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1886, p. 514.
  15. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae XIV, 7: 2.
  16. ^ A. Kasher: The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. P. 10
  17. ^ A. Kasher: The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt , p. 279.
  18. ^ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae , XIX 280–285.
  19. ^ A. Kasher: The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt , p. 281.
  20. ↑ Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (CPJ) , vol. III, edited by V. Tcherikover, A. Fuks and M. Stern, 1530 a.
  21. ^ G. Lüderitz: What is the Politeuma? P. 221.
  22. ↑ B. Wander: God-fearing and sympathizers: Studies on the pagan environment of diaspora communities. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-16-146865-1 , p. 25.
  23. ^ J. Cowey, K. Maresch (ed.): Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis
  24. ^ T. Kruse: The Jewish politeuma of Herakleopolis in Egypt. P. 95.
  25. ↑ Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis .
  26. ^ T. Kruse: The Jewish politeuma of Herakleopolis in Egypt. P. 98.
  27. ^ Walter Ameling : The Jewish community of Leontopolis according to the inscriptions. In: M. Karrer, W. Kraus, with the collaboration of M. Meiser (Ed.): The Septuagint - Texts, Contexts, Lifeworlds . International conference organized by Septuaginta Deutsch (LXX.D), Wuppertal 20. – 23. July 2006. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149317-1 , pp. 117-133, especially p. 128.
  28. ^ A. Kasher: The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. P. 262.
  29. ^ J. Cowey, K. Maresch (ed.): Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis. Introduction pp. 8–9.
  30. ^ H. Bell: Jews and Christians in Egypt. Oxford University Press, London 1924, pp. 10-16.
  31. ↑ P. Singer, The politeuma in the Hellenistic world of states: A form of organization for the integration of minorities , Chapter 3. New perspectives
  32. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Contra Apionem. II 44, (Greek and English, PACE)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / pace.mcmaster.ca  
  33. ↑ J. Cowey, K. Maresch (ed.): Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis , p. 35
  34. ^ T. Kruse: The Jewish politeuma of Herakleopolis in Egypt. Pp. 99-101.
  35. ↑ T. Kruse, The fortress Herakleopolis and the conflict in the Ptolemaic empire , in: A. Jördens, JF Quack (ed.), Egypt between internal conflict and external pressure. The time of Ptolemy VI. to VIII . International Symposium Heidelberg September 16-19, 2007 ( Philippika. Marburg Antiquities Treatises , Vol. 45), Harrasowitz, Wiesbaden 2011, pp. 255–267.
  36. ↑ J. Cowey, K. Maresch (ed.): Documents of the Politeuma of the Jews of Herakleopolis , introduction p. 22
  37. ↑ A. Joisten-Pruschke , The religious life of the Jews of Elephantine in the Achaemenid period ( Göttinger Orientforschungen , series: Iranica ), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05706-6 , p. 68.