ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the use of analogy and anthropological theory in the discussion of migration and identity in the Hellenistic world is a communication technique as much as it is a strategy that grants historical insight. It introduces a Hellenistic immigrant community, the Cyrenaeans in Egypt, and explores how different forms of evidence give us insights into diverse experiences and pathways of migration, among migrants from a single point of origin. Cyrenaeans, like people from other Greek states, are found in Hellenistic Egypt at all levels of society, from villagers to royalty. Reviewing the immigrant lives of Berenike, Kallimachos, Apollonia, Aristomachos, Eirene or Petesouchos reveals the variations and commonalities in immigrant experiences in Hellenistic Egypt. Hellenistic royal families do not offer a valid model for population movement lower down the social scale, but they do indicate the important role marriage had in mobility and migration – a phenomenon much considered in studies of modern population movement.
