Paper short abstract:

Aiming the preservation of “pure Greek culture” in a supposedly “degenerated environment”, the Roman administration of Egypt imposed a series of rules to establish a cultural purge. The Gnomon of Idios Logos was in charge of the supervision and punishment of any transgressions.

Paper long abstract:

After the Roman conquest of Egypt by Octavian Augustus, the country underwent a radical social reformulation. Aiming the preservation of "pure Greek culture" in a supposedly "degenerated environment", the Roman administration of Egypt imposed a series of rules to establish some sort of cultural purge. The Gnomon of Idios Logos (Office of Special Issues) was in charge of the supervision and administrative punishment of any transgressions.

However, how to explain that Roman perception of a Greek-Macedonian cultural degeneration? Why Greeks in Egypt never considered themselves less Greeks under their own eyes? This is a debate on the process of formation of a cultural identity and the way the 'Other' interact with such construction.

Thus, the list of rules for the right behavior dictated by the Gnomon of Idios Logos will be used as key-point to promote a debate on the Roman look over the Hellenistic civilization developed in Egypt.