Idéologie royale et littérature de cour dans l'Égypte lagide

One cannot understand properly the royal ideology of Ptolemies exclusively through the remains of learned Alexandrian poetry, because these forms of self-representation of the monarch and his philoi are primarily intended for performance within the court, and because one must also take into account the large amount of iconographic material, the artistic and architectural products that helped the “theatrical” staging of the monarchic power, as described by historians and by the contemporary inscriptions. However, the Alexandrian poets related to the court introduced in their compositions elements of the Ptolemaic ideology, drawn from the Hellenic tradition but also from the Pharaonic one, adapted according to their own personal feelings, often diluted with a light, ironic touch and a good dose of learning. The same symbolism (but without the irony of the Hellenistic docta poesis) will inspire the poems celebrating the new master of Egypt, the Roman Emperor Augustus, as shown in the epigram SH 982. This work takes into consideration some of the latest trends in the study of Alexandrian court poetry, particularly in relation to its propagandistic value and its "bicultural" nature, and discusses how the Hellenistic monarchs are represented in court poetry, focusing especially on their ability in obtaining victory (in peace, in the Panhellenic equestrian contests, and in war - the latter symbolized by the spear) and on their justice, or ability to maintain the cosmic balance (maat, in Egyptian terms).