La réintégration de la Cyrénaïque dans l’empire lagide et la question des ligues

Lecture by Christelle Fischer-Bovet, Associate Professor of Classics, History, and Middle East Studies at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and 2025-2026 research-fellow at the Paris IAS as part as the international conference Les espaces lagides en Méditerranée orientale. 

Lecture in French, open to the public.

Presentation 

Organised as part of the Les Espaces Lagides (2021-) project, this symposium explores the mechanisms of power, royal ideology and cultural dynamics of the Ptolemaic territories (Cyprus, Cyrenaica, Southern Syria, Egypt) during the Hellenistic period. Bringing together international researchers at the INHA (16 October) and the Sorbonne (17 October), it questions the notion of ‘external possessions’ in order to better understand the complex relations between these regions and the Egyptian heart of the empire.

This symposium is part of a series of three workshops (2022-2024) examining Ptolemaic rule, from the construction of power (2022 and 2023, European University Cyprus, Nicosia) to its institutional changes (2024, French School of Athens, Athens, 2024). The project aims to move beyond a centralised view of the Ptolemaic kingdom to reveal the interconnections and local adaptations of the Ptolemaic model.

The focus on intermediate actors (royal family, local elites, thiases) and tools of control (currency, associative networks) offers a renewed reading of Ptolemaic imperialism, between standardisation and regional diversity.

On October, 16th, Christelle Fischer-Bovet will examine the transitional period that allowed the Cyrenaica to be reintegrated into the Ptolemaic Empire in 246 BCE. C. and challenges the idea that Ptolemy III formed a league (koinon) in Cyrenaica to consolidate his power. A comparison with other leagues suggests, on the contrary, that the Lagid imperial policy generally sought to prevent its subjects from organizing in leagues.

Full program 

October 16th, at INHA 

09.00-09.30 am -  La naissance d’un Projet
by Stéphanie Wackenier (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/Anhima), Anne-Emmanuelle Veïsse (Université Gustave Eiffel, team ACP), Panos Christodoulou (European University Cyprus, ISTÓS /Anhima)
09.30-10.00 am - L’épi tès poléôs à Chypre : représentant du pouvoir lagide ou mythe historiographique ?
by Stéphanie Wackenier (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/Anhima)
10.00-10.30 am - La réintégration de la Cyrénaïque dans l’empire lagide et la question des ligues
by Christelle Fischer-Bovet (University of Southern California, 2025-2026 research-fellow at Paris IAS)
10.30-11.00 am- Break
11.00-11.30 am- Contrôler l’espace impérial dans les premiers temps de la dynastie lagide : les membres de la famille royale comme relais du pouvoir ptolémaïque (une approche comparative entre Chypre et la Cyrénaïque)
by Maëva Portigliatti (Université Gustave Eiffel, team ACP)
11.30 am-12.00 pm - Les Ptolémées et les ressources du sol dans les « possessions extérieures » : le cas des topoi d’Anatolie méridionale
by Lucia Rossi (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/Anhima)
12.00-12.30 pm - D’Ophellas à Magas : la politique étrangère de la Cyrène lagide 
by Hugues Berthelot (Université d’Angers / TEMOS)
12.30 - 2.30 pm - Break 
2.30-3.00 pm - Ptolémée Macron, itinéraire d’un infortuné traître à son roi
by Gabriel Berenguer (Université Gustave Eiffel, team ACP)
3.pm - 3.30 pm - À la recherche du gymnase d’Amathonte : indices épigraphiques et hypothèses topographiques
by Alexandra Sideridou (Université Rennes 2)
3.30 pm - 4.00 pm - Ptolemaic Soft Power at Hellenistic Rhodes:  Agricultural, Numismatic, and Spatial Aspects in the First Half of the Hellenistic Period
by Maxwell Shiller (University of Southern California) 
4.00 - 4.15 pm - Break 
4.15- 4.45 pm - Des rois Chypriotes aux Ptolémées: la mise en place du système monétaire ptolémaïque à Chypre
by Evangeline Markou (National Hellenic Research Foundaiton, Institute for Historical Research) and Julien Olivier (Bibliothéque Nationale de France)
4.45 - 5:15 pm - Discussion

October 17th at Sorbonne 

09.00-09.30 am - Le règne chypriote de Ptolémée X Alexandre I 
by Aurélie Cuenod et Anne-Emmanuelle Veisse (Université Gustave Eiffel, team ACP)
09.30-10.00 am - Production et circulation d’amphores en territoire lagide
by Antigone Marangou (Université Rennes 2)
10.00-10.30 am - D’autres structures associatives de la sphère militaire à Chypre : le témoignage indirect des thiases
by Dan Dana (CNRS/HiSoMA, Lyon )
10.30-10.45 am - Break
10.45-11.15 am - Emilio Rosamilia
11.15-11.45 am-  L’impact de la présence lagide sur le territoire en Coelè Syrie by Sylvie Honigman (Tel Aviv University)
11:45 am -12:15 pm- De Chypre à la Thébaïde, via Naucratis ? Hypothèse sur l’origine de l’habit drapé des stratèges ptolémaïques
by Gilles Gorre (Université de Caen)
12:15-12.30 pm - Conclusion
by Panos Christodoulou (European University Cyprus / ISTÓS /Anhima)

Organisators

- European University Cyprus
- ISTÓS Research Unit, History, archaeology, heritage management
- Pantheon Sorbonne Université Paris 1
- Université Gustave Eiffel -  Team Analyse Comparée des Pouvoirs
- anhima