Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict

Nine: Intercommunal Conflict During Late Antiquity

Nine Intercommunal Conflict Duri. Late Antiquit.y The people [demos] in general are an inflammable material, and allow very trivial pretexts to foment the flame of commotion, and not. in th least degree that of Alexandria, which presumes on its numbers— chiefly an obscure and promiscuous rabble—and vaunts forth its im pulses, with excessive audacity. Accordingly, it is said that everyone who is so disposed may, by employing any casual circumstance as a means of excitement, inspire the city with a frenzy of sedition, and hurry the populace in whatever direction and against whomsoever he chooses. n this way the historian Evagrius explains the outbreak of vio­ lence leading up to the murder of Chalcedonian patriarch Pro­ terius in 457. Evagrius's biting denunciation of the Alexandrians mimics a long­established topos of classical literature which extends from early imperial times down past the Arab conquest. Indeed, his comments parallel those of the upper­class Roman di­ lettante who penned the Historia Augusta almost two centuries ear­ lier, asserting that the Alexandrians, "like madmen and fools, are led by the most trivial matters to become highly dangerous to the commonwealth."1 278 I Intercommunal Conflict By employing this hackneyed description of the Alexandrians, secular and ecclesiastical historians alike side­stepped the social complexities of the great Egyptian metropolis. The use of this topos excused them from having to come up with any sort of real explana­ tion for the turmoil that occasionally shook the city. It should be evident by now, however, that the Alexandrians were not frenzied madmen, but rather the inhabitants of a richly textured urban environment. These Alexandrians tended to organize themselves in identifiable ethno­religious communities and articulated their de­ sires to imperial officials according to the rational protocols of a late antique language of power. Having examined the day­to­day real­ ities of life in Alexandria, we can safely demure from the judgment of the Exposition author that "the city and its region are entirely incomprehensible."2 Real understanding requires the patient re­ construction of an urban setting, which, even then, can elude our best efforts to "see" the city in a manner approximating that of the ancients. If we are to avoid the shopworn categories used by the ancient commentators to interpret the city to their fellows, it is necessary to sketch out the basic contours of social life in late antique Alex­ andria, This is accomplished most effectively by first introducing the major players in this urban drama, and seeking to understand the internal structure and leadership of each major ethnoreligious community. Still, a continuous narrative of the city's history across the late antique period may tend to distort Alexandrian social dy­ namics, as it may draw the historian toward an easy reductionism. In the pages that follow, I would like to examine three case studies of intercommunal conflict during this era. Each episode has been chosen for its ability to serve as a flashpoint that illuminates urban social relations. Although these episodes span a period of not quite a century and a half, they embrace a pivotal epoch in the straggle for cultural hegemony among the city's ethnoreligious communities. The events chosen are not, in themselves, the most famous incidents of Alexandrian history during this period, like the conflict over the Serapeum in 391 or the rioting that followed the deposition of the patriarch Dioscorus in 451. Yet, they are poten­ tially more revealing of the city's intercommunal history. Attention 279 Alexandria in Late Antiquity 280 to matters of local topography and to the wider context of imperial politics will facilitate our understanding of each episode, and will allow us to see the violence of each incident on its own merits and not according to some innate predisposition of the Alexandrians, The Alexandrian Riots of 356 and George of Cappadocia In late June of 346, Gregory of Cappadocia died in Alexandria after a long Illness.3 As the Imperial appointee to the patriarchate of Alexandria, Gregory had persecuted the followers of Bishop Ath­ anasius and had generously rewarded his fellow Arians within the city during the six years of his tenure on the throne of Saint Mark. Gregory was not a successful promoter of the Arian cause i n Alex­ andria. Indeed, the growth and viability of the Arian community was largely the work of Gregory's countryman, Philagrius, who, as a veteran praefectus Aegypti...