Loyalty and Dissidence in Roman Egypt
The Case of the Acta Alexandrinorum

A study of the Acta Alexandrinorum and its links to contemporary literature.

Andrew Harker (Author)

9780521887892, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 April 2008

264 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

The Acta Alexandrinorum are a fascinating collection of texts, dealing with relations between the Alexandrians and the Roman emperors in the first century AD. This was a turbulent time in the life of the capital city of the new province of Egypt, not least because of tensions between the Greek and Jewish sections of the population. Dr Harker's was the first in-depth study of these texts since their first edition half a century ago, and it examines them in the context of other similar contemporary literary forms, both from Roman Egypt and the wider Roman Empire. This study of the Acta Alexandrinorum, which was genuinely popular in Roman Egypt, offers a more complex perspective on provincial mentalities towards imperial Rome than that offered in the mainstream elite literature. It will be of interest to classicists and ancient historians, but also to those interested in Jewish and New Testament studies.

1. Introduction
2. The embassies to Gaius and Claudius
3. The Acta Alexandrinorum: Augustus to the Severans
4. The Acta Alexandrinorum: the historical background
5. Between loyalty and dissent: the Acta Alexandrinorum and contemporary literature
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Religion: general [HRA], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]