PTOLEMAIOS, A MACEDONIAN SOLDIER, ADMITS HIS GREEK ORIGIN

Another indisputable proof for the Greekness of the Macedonians and more specifically for their Greek ethnic consciousness, comes from a Macedonian himself.

Ptolemaios of Glaucias was a Macedonian soldier serving in Ptolemaic Egypt during the middle second century BC. Ptolemaios wrote a papyrus-letter to his king and queen to complain about the insults he receives by local Egyptian women because, as he claims, "he is Greek".

Here is the original text in Hellenistic Greek [1]:

βασιλεῖ Πτολεμαίωι κα[ὶ βασι]λίσσηι Κλεοπ[άτρα]ι

τῆι ἀδελφῆι θεοῖς Φιλομήτορσι χαίρειν

Πτολεμαῖος Γλαυκίου Μακεδὼν ὁ ἐν

κατοχῆι ἐν τῶι πρὸς Μέμφ[ει] μεγάλωι

Σαραπιείωι Ἀσταρτείωι ἀπὸ τοῦ ι (ἔτους).

ἀναβάντος σου εἰς τὸ Σαραπιεῖον ἐν τῶι κδ (ἔτει)

Θῶυθ β ἐνέτυχόν σοι διὰ τῆς θυρίδος διὰ τὸ

μὴ δύνασθαι προσκαταβῆναι ὑπέρ τε

Ἀπολλωνίου τοῦ νεωτέρου ἀδελφοῦ, ὅπως

φέρηται ἐν [τῶ]ι στρατιωτικῶι καὶ ὑπ[ὲ]ρ

τοῦ Ἀστ[αρτεί]ου(*) ἐν ὧι εἰμι ἐν κατοχῆι ἀπὸ τοῦπρογεγραμμ[έ]νου χρόνου, ἀξιῶν ἵνα

μηθεὶς τῶν τ[ε] ἱερέων καὶ παστοφόρων

[μη]δʼ ἄλλος ε[ἰσβι]αζόμενος ἐνεχυράζ[ηι]

[μη]δʼ ἐμὲ ὑβρί[ζ]ηι διὰ τ[ὸ] εἶναι τοὺς ἐν τῶι [ἱερ]ῶι πονηροὺ[ς] κἀμὲ(*) π[ολιο]ρκεῖν, ἕνεκα [τοῦ] Ἕλληνά με [εἶν]αι

Translation:

"To King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra, the sibling gods Philometor, greetings from Ptolemaios, son of Glaukias, the Macedonian, who is in confinement in the great Serapeum near Memphis from the 10th year.

After you went up to the Serapeum in the 24th year, on the 2nd of Thoth, I encountered you through the window because I was unable to come down due to Apollonios the Younger, my brother, so that he may be in the military and concerning the Astarte sanctuary in which I am in confinement from the aforementioned time, requesting that none of the priests or attendants or anyone else forcefully seize me or insult me because those in the sanctuary are wicked and besiege me because I am a Greek."

[1] Full papyrus - text is published here