Cleómenes de Náucratis: realidad, fuentes e historiografía

Abstract

Cleomenes of Naucratis was the first “Great man” in Hellenistic Egypt. In the sources, he appears as an ambitious, rogue governor, who may even have crossed the line of sacrilege in relation to the Egyptian sanctuaries. This paper presents a thorough analysis of the sources about Cleomenes’ activities, evaluating their objectivity. In this way, it will be possible to assess how this data could be biased due to certain political purposes (e.g. to legitimise Ptolemy’s usurpation) or prejudices, like those that the Athenians could have had after his ethically controvertible management of the famines of the 320s BCE. It is only when keeping these facts in mind that it is possible to have a well-balanced image of his role in the Egyptian satrapy during the first stages of the Hellenistic dominion of the country.