Verzetshaard Alexandrië? Een nieuwe, gedifferentieerde kijk op enkele ‘helden’ in polemische geschriften uit Romeins Egypte

The Acta Alexandrinorum are a number of fragmentary, fictitious stories about Alexandrian embassies visiting the Roman emperor that are generally interpreted as giving an Alexandrian perspective on relations with Rome. The supposedly pro-Alexandrian messages of these texts are based on the protagonists’ ‘heroic’ bold parlance, qualified by modern scholarship as ‘parrhesiastic’ and ‘patriotic’. A genealogy of this interpretation shows how contemporary scholarship has reproduced an early-20^th-century assumption. Additionally, historical evidence post-dating Musurillo’s still standard work from 1954 render his broadly accepted suggestion of the Acta Alexandrinorum’s origin in secret Alexandrian gymnasial clubs implausible. This article proposes a more differentiated approach to the so-called Acta Alexandrinorum. The conduct of the high-ranking Alexandrians featured in these acts in no way favours interpreting all texts as having a similar message. Instead, we should separate the narrative framework from the textual message. Contemporaneous Greek versions of the Oracle of the potter allow for such an approach. The Acta Alexandrinorum as historical sources can only be estimated at their true value if we are willing to revisit the communis opinio.