6.9.2021 at 17.15 (UTC+3)
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/63640571500?pwd=eVcyTTJuY2JuUmRaSU1PVGsxMndw…
Meeting ID: 636 4057 1500
Passcode: 478268
Stefan Stefanov (Sofia University): Graecoromana in Aegyptis
After the conquest of the Achaemenid empire by Alexander and the wars of the Dioadochi following his death, in 305 BC the relations of Egypt with the Greek-speaking world and her place in it enter a third phase after the second one that has begun several centuries earlier with the (re)introduction of Greek populace probably at Daphnae in the Eastern Delta through the mercenaries of pharaoh Psammetichus I (ca. 664–610 BC), itself preceded by the first one – close to a millennium prior, during the Egyptian New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC). The newly formed Ptolemaic Kingdom proved to be a fertile ground for many interactions, borrowings, and reconstitutions of ideas between Greeks and Egyptians. A far clearer expression of those interactions appears at the fullest with the final transformation of the Hellenistic world into the Greco-Roman one after the battle of Actium (31 BC). This fourth phase sees the emergence of the sixth and final written form of the Egyptian language in what is known today as Coptic. Our goal will be to show the results the centuries of (in)direct Greco-Egyptian contacts. The borrowings that will be discussed are multidirectional, not only lexical for example. This type of more general approach could be useful not only for Egyptological, and Coptic studies but also for several insights on the history of the Greek language and for examining the influences of the Greek culture on the very many people groups in the greater Mediterranean world and beyond, before Alexander, and after him.
Stefan Stefanov has BA in Classics and MA in Classical literature and culture from Sofia University. During both programmes he took classes in Sanskrit and Ancient and Classical literature of India. Currently he finishes his PhD in Greek and Indian literature, and MA in Arabic studies. He is self-taught in the field of Egyptology and Coptology. His main interests are in Ancient Mediterranean civilisations and intercultural relations in the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman world. Since 2011 he has been teaching Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit in different establishments.