Name: JÉSSICA LADEIRA SANTANA
Publication date: 04/10/2024
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| BELCHIOR MONTEIRO LIMA NETO | Presidente |
| ERICA CRISTHYANE MORAIS DA SILVA | Examinador Interno |
| GILVAN VENTURA DA SILVA | Examinador Interno |
| HARIADNE DA PENHA SOARES BOCAYUVA | Coorientador |
| MARCIA SEVERINA VASQUES | Examinador Externo |
Summary: In this dissertation, we intend to treat how two distinct sources represent the elites of the Egyptian chora: Strabo, in Geography, Book XVII, describes this society mediated by alterity; in opposition to this view, we have the portraits and funerary masks of Faium (Middle Egypt), which present a hybrid culture forged by the elites of the 1st and 2nd centuries. The context in question is the beginning of Roman domination in Egypt, when the imperial power established alliances with the chora elites – holders of paideia and Greek speakers –, who achieved their status, and privileges and became rich. Furthermore, they took imperial symbols to chora, both in life and in the sphere of death, such as language, clothing, hair, and Greco-Roman painting techniques in portraits and funerary masks. Strabo, despite having visited the Egyptian chora, did not describe it with this plurality, but rather as the post of Alexandria, which would have all the GrecoRoman elements. Based on these discoveries, we infer our first hypothesis: Strabo segmented Roman Egypt according to Greek tradition. In this way, he represented the Delta–primarily Alexandria–as being civilized and urban, while Middle and Upper Egypt are considered uncivilized and exotic. In our second hypothesis, they focused on the chora elites, who commissioned portraits and funerary masks, which represented Egyptians and Greco-Romans together, maintaining status before the Romans, preserving autochthonous collective memory, and legitimizing power at the local level. As a theoretical contribution, we employ the concepts of Representation, by Roger Chartier (2002); Identity and Otherness, by Kathryn Woodward (2021); Frontier, by Noberto Guarinello (2010); Cultural hybridism, by Peter Burke (2003); and Death, by Norbert Elias (2012). As a methodology, we used Content Analysis, as proposed by Laurence Bardin (2011).
