Jewish and Greek Communities in Egypt

Jewish and Greek Communities in Egypt
Author: Najat Abdulhaq
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2016-02-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857727958

In the years following Nasser's rise to power, the demographic landscape and the economy of Egypt underwent a profound change. Related to the migration of diverse communities, that had a distinguished role in Egyptian economy, from Egypt, these shifts have mostly been discussed in the light of postcolonial studies and the nationalisation policies in the wider region. Najat Abdulhaq focuses instead on the role that these minorities had in the economy of pre-Nasser Egypt and, by giving special attention to the Jewish and Greek communities residing in Egypt, investigates the dynamics of minorities involved in entrepreneurship and business. With rigorous analysis of the types of companies that were set up, Abdulhaq draws out the changes which were occurring in the political and social sphere at the time. This book, whilst primarily focused on the economic activities of these two minority communities, has implications for an understanding analysis of the political, the juridical, the intellectual and the cultural trends at the time. It thus offers vital analysis for those examining the economic history of Egypt, as well as the political and cultural transformations of the twentieth century in the region.

The Greek Exodus from Egypt

The Greek Exodus from Egypt
Author: Angelos Dalachanis
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781789208351

From the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, Greeks comprised one of the largest and most influential minority groups in Egyptian society, yet barely two thousand remain there today. This painstakingly researched book explains how Egypt’s once-robust Greek population dwindled to virtually nothing, beginning with the abolition of foreigners’ privileges in 1937 and culminating in the nationalist revolution of 1952. It reconstructs the delicate sociopolitical circumstances that Greeks had to navigate during this period, providing a multifaceted account of demographic decline that arose from both large structural factors as well as the decisions of countless individuals.

The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt

The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt
Author: Alexander Kitroeff
Publisher:
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2019-03-22
Genre: Egypt
ISBN: 9789774168581

"Magnificent."--Robert L. Tignor, Princeton University The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt is the first account of the modern Greek presence in Egypt from its beginnings during the era of Muhammad Ali to its final days under Nasser. It casts a critical eye on the reality and myths surrounding the complex and ubiquitous Greek community in Egypt by examining the Greeks' legal status, their relations with the country's rulers, their interactions with both elite and ordinary Egyptians, their economic activities, their contacts with foreign communities, their ties to their Greek homeland, and their community life, which included a rich and celebrated literary culture.

Diaspora

Diaspora
Author: Erich S. Gruen
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2009-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674037991

What was life like for Jews settled throughout the Mediterranean world of Classical antiquity--and what place did Jewish communities have in the diverse civilization dominated by Greeks and Romans? In a probing account of the Jewish diaspora in the four centuries from Alexander the Great's conquest of the Near East to the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 C.E., Erich Gruen reaches often surprising conclusions. By the first century of our era, Jews living abroad far outnumbered those living in Palestine and had done so for generations. Substantial Jewish communities were found throughout the Greek mainland and Aegean islands, Asia Minor, the Tigris-Euphrates valley, Egypt, and Italy. Focusing especially on Alexandria, Greek cities in Asia Minor, and Rome, Gruen explores the lives of these Jews: the obstacles they encountered, the institutions they established, and their strategies for adjustment. He also delves into Jewish writing in this period, teasing out how Jews in the diaspora saw themselves. There emerges a picture of a Jewish minority that was at home in Greco-Roman cities: subject to only sporadic harassment; its intellectuals immersed in Greco-Roman culture while refashioning it for their own purposes; exhibiting little sign of insecurity in an alien society; and demonstrating both a respect for the Holy Land and a commitment to the local community and Gentile government. Gruen's innovative analysis of the historical and literary record alters our understanding of the way this vibrant minority culture engaged with the dominant Classical civilization.

The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry

The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry
Author: Joel Beinin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2023-11-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 052092021X

In this provocative and wide-ranging history, Joel Beinin examines fundamental questions of ethnic identity by focusing on the Egyptian Jewish community since 1948. A complex and heterogeneous people, Egyptian Jews have become even more diverse as their diaspora continues to the present day. Central to Beinin's study is the question of how people handle multiple identities and loyalties that are dislocated and reformed by turbulent political and cultural processes. It is a question he grapples with himself, and his reflections on his experiences as an American Jew in Israel and Egypt offer a candid, personal perspective on the hazards of marginal identities.

The Jews in the Greek Age

The Jews in the Greek Age
Author: Elias Joseph Bickerman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1988
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674474901

A history of the Jews in the Greek age, charting issues of stability and change in Jewish society during a period that ranges from the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great in the fourth century, until approximately 175 B.C.E. and the revolt of the Maccabees.

Visualizing the Afterlife in the Tombs of Graeco-Roman Egypt

Visualizing the Afterlife in the Tombs of Graeco-Roman Egypt
Author: Marjorie Susan Venit
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2016
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1107048087

This book explores the visual narratives of a group of decorated tombs from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (c.300 BCE-250 CE). The author contextualizes the tombs within their social, political, and religious context and considers how the multicultural population of Graeco-Roman Egypt chose to negotiate death and the afterlife.

Oxford Bibliographies

Oxford Bibliographies
Author: Ilan Stavans
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre: Hispanic Americans
ISBN: 9780199913701

"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.

The Cairo Genizah and the Age of Discovery in Egypt

The Cairo Genizah and the Age of Discovery in Egypt
Author: Rebecca J. W. Jefferson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2022-01-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1788319664

The Cairo Genizah is considered one of the world's greatest Hebrew manuscript treasures. Yet the story of how over a quarter of a million fragments hidden in Egypt were discovered and distributed around the world, before becoming collectively known as “The Cairo Genizah,” is far more convoluted and compelling than previously told. The full story involves an international cast of scholars, librarians, archaeologists, excavators, collectors, dealers and agents, operating from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and all acting with varying motivations and intentions in a race for the spoils. Basing her research on a wealth of archival materials, Jefferson reconstructs how these protagonists used their various networks to create key alliances, or to blaze lone trails, each one on a quest to recover ancient manuscripts. Following in their footsteps, she takes the reader on a journey down into ancient caves and tombs, under medieval rubbish mounds, into hidden attic rooms, vaults, basements and wells, along labyrinthine souks, and behind the doors of private clubs and cloistered colleges. Along the way, the reader will also learn about the importance of establishing manuscript provenance and authenticity, and the impact to our understanding of the past when either factor is in doubt.