Hellenistic History

The article has hypothesized the city of Demetrias in Thessaly to have been founded in the late 290s BC by Demetrius Poliorcetes together with his son and heir, Antigonus Gonatas. This hypothesis is grounded on the basis of the fact that inscriptions from the city refer to its heroized founders-ktistai in plural, although without specifying their names (however, in literary sources just Demetrius Poliorcetes acts as the sole founder of Demetrias named so after him). The common cult of Poliorcetes and Gonatas as the ktistai could have been established either by the latter or by the citizens of Demetrias.

En 30 av. J.C., le royaume des Lagides tombait aux mains de l’Empire romain, entrainant avec lui le dernier bastion du monde hellénistique. Depuis, la dernière reine d’Égypte, Cléopâtre VII, porte un masque  plus grand que nature, que chaque siècle a remanié à sa façon. Jeune princesse, elle fut témoin des atrocités qui suivirent le retour de son père Ptolémée XII Aulète à la tête du pays. Sa sœur ainée ainsi que son entourage furent assassinées, tandis que des troupes étrangères s’installaient à Alexandrie qui n’avait jusque là jamais connu d’occupation étrangère. Il est facile d’imaginer les leçons que la princesse tira de cette crise lorsqu’elle devint reine à son tour. Célèbre amante de César et d’Antoine, Cléopâtre avait constamment un homme dans sa vie privée et publique. Cléopâtre était-elle le simple pantin des ambitions de ces partenaires romains ou bien un monarque hellénistique authentique qui avait uniquement à cœur les intérêts de l’Égypte? Lequel des deux partis a fait de l’autre son instrument et au service de quelle cause? Différentes preuves laissent croire que ces relations se rapprochaient plus de la réciprocité mutuelle que d’une dépendance à sens unique, une tendance qui s’affirmera à mesure que la reine gagnera en expérience. Trois axes marqueront ce style de gouvernement d’une maturité remarquable : Cléopâtre voulait accroitre sa popularité auprès de la population locale, mettre de son côté une force militaire romaine qu’elle savait vain d’affronter directement et éliminer à tout prix ses rivaux au trône d’Égypte.

This paper gives the first die-study (86 tetradrachms and 31 drachms) for the silver Hellenistic coinage of Tenedus (Tenedos) with the types "Janiform's head/ Double axe". Tetradrachms have been struck with c. 25 obverse dies (there are 21 different obverses for 86 coins) and this is put into perspective with other mints of the mid-second century (Aegeae, Lebedus, Smyrna are less productive; Kyme and Myrina are by far more). The traditionnal dates given for this coinage ('after 189 BC' or '2nd-1st c. BC') are severely revised through the study of weights and overstrikes (on Thasian type tetradrachms). The bulk of this coinage looks to belong to the first decades of the 1st c. BC and a connection with the Mihtridatic wars is not to be excluded.

This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach combining research methods in history and political science to propose that the fundamental cause of Rome’s entry into and later domination of the Greek world was its reaction to a series of geopolitical developments in the Mediterranean region around the years 219 – 188 BCE. The thesis contends that the dominant paradigm in current scholarship on Roman imperialism assigns too much value to the internal structures of Roman society and consequently overlooks the importance of developments in the interstate system, in which the Roman state was a participant.

Following Alexander’s unexpected death in 323, his subordinates waged constant warfare for the next four decades to divide the spoils of his vast empire. By the 280s, these wars subsided, and an unstable balance of power emerged in the east Mediterranean, between the Antigonid, Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties.

This balance of power shattered seventy years later due to a sudden decline in Ptolemaic power, caused by a massive native uprising in Egypt, chronic domestic maladministration and a series of unfortunate coincidences. Ptolemaic collapse triggered what political scientists term a power-transition crisis, as it motivated the Antigonid and Seleucid rulers to launch aggressive wars with the aim of capturing Ptolemaic territory. Their aggression threatened the independence of minor Greek states, which attempted to recreate a tripolar balance of power in the region by appealing to Rome for intervention in the crisis.

With the Roman defeat of the two great dynasties and the collapse of the third, a new interstate system emerged in the Mediterranean: hegemony under the government of the Romans.

This course offers an introduction to the history of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to the end of the Hellenistic Age (roughly the 16th to the 1st centuries BCE), drawing on both source materials and modern works. This is a student-driven seminar based on a balance of lectures, readings, and in-class discussions on the societal, religious, and political developments of the Greek world in antiquity. Students will become familiar with the Bronze, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and early Roman periods of Greek history.

The foundation of this course is the geopolitical history of the expanding Greek world; however, students also will engage the importance of ancient Greek culture, literature, religion, art, and gender roles. Through the investigation of texts, architecture, and archaeology, students will gain an appreciation of not just the ruling classes of the ancient Greek world, but also of the daily lives of normal Greeks and Hellenized native peoples.

Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World, A Brill Companion to Classical Studies Series Series Editor: Lee L. Brice Aims and Scope The aim of the series is to publish high-quality, useful volumes each focused on a specific topic related to warfare in the ancient Mediterranean world. Where appropriate, volume coverage should include the eastern Mediterranean, including Assyria, Persia, Anatolia the Levant, and Egypt as well as Greece and Rome. The intended audience includes scholarly specialist and non-specialist students of the ancient world. Topics already published or in process include insurgency and terrorism, dealing with defeat, food and warfare, discipline/indiscipline, and Late Antiquity. We are seeking new volume proposals on a variety of topics covering a wide range of issues and methodologies. Specific topics we are interested in include: religion, topography/geography, reception of ancient warfare, medicine/death, Persia, Hellenistic world, archaeology/material culture and warfare, auxilia, the Pax Romana, navies, and peace, but we welcome proposals on any appropriate topic.

This is a short extract (introduction) of my article in L. Picht - K. Schmidt - G. Schmitz - L. Wiggering, The Limits of Change. Was ist der Wert der beständigen Dinge? (Berlin: Neofelis 2015), 83 - 102. For more information, take a look here: https://neofelis-verlag.de/verlagsprogramm/geschichte/899/the-limits-of-change

A bronze coin of king Pylaimenes (Paphlagonia) kept at the Brussels Coin cabinet has been countermarked with the letters BA surrounded by an ivy wreath which makes immediately think to the king (Ba[sileus]) Mithridates Eupator. The last days of the history of the kingdom of Paphlagonia are evoked. Another bronze of Pylaimenes has been countermarked (British Museum) twice with monograms which both could be found on the royal series struck about the same time in Pontus and in Bithynia.

Onderzoeken naar de plaats van de vrouw in antieke steden geven aan dat het domein van de vrouwen idealiter het huis was terwijl de bewegingsruimte van mannen veel groter was. Door deze studies, die grotendeels gebaseerd zijn op het klassieke Athene, worden de polariteiten man/vrouw verbonden met die van openbaar/privé. Aan de andere kant lijken Hellenistische vrouwen een grotere mate van vrijheid te hebben genoten door de toename van gevallen van vrouwen die in het openbaar verschenen als invloedrijke koninginnen of weldoeners. De ruimten die belangrijk waren voor vrouwen in de Hellenistische periode blijven echter onontgonnen gebied. In dit artikel wordt gepoogd de plaats en positie van de vrouw in Pergamon in de tweede eeuw vóór Christus vast te stellen. De stad wordt gezien als een verkeerssysteem die richting geeft aan de behoeften van bewoners; door de aard en betekenis van de verschillende ruimten in de stad te onderzoeken, wordt de plaats van vrouwen in dit systeem duidelijker.

This paper (in Dutch) places Alexander's universalism in the context of the tradition of universal empire that was current in the Ancient Near East. It is argued that Alexander's pothos, especially his urge to reach the edges of the earth and "to go where no man has gone before", was a Greco-Macedonian rendering of a rather genuine, and age-old, ideology of empire: the claim to world unity in a single, peaceful empire protected by a single benevolent emperor. Tarn may have been right after all when he postulated that Alexander aimed at creating a "Unity of Mankind", as this was indeed a central notion in the contemporaneous Macedonian ideology and propaganda of empire.

Despite Daniel Ogden’s and Alex McAuley’s work in collecting, organizing, and rationalizing the often contradictory information delivered by the ancient sources, the Seleukid genealogy still appears to be the most complex and chaotic maze of marital relations in the Hellenistic world. This chapter offers a fresh look at the matter by approaching the royal dynasty holistically as an ensemble of familial forces, which fluidly interacted with diverse geographical and chronological contexts, rather than as a line of rulers hypothetically matched with concurrent consorts. In so doing, I will use the term dynastic politics as embracing the alliances— and ruptures— created through marriage and all that royal marriage implies: inheritance, legitimation, regency, interdynastic blood relationships, and dynastic continuity.

In 1885, a large hypogeum was discovered at the Saint-Étienne Compound, the domain acquired only two and a half years before by the Dominicans on the western slope of El Heidhemiyeh hill, about 250 m north of the Jerusalem Ottoman wall.

After the unearthing of a second large hypogeum, only fifty metres north of Hypogeum 1, in their monumental work on the history of Jerusalem, the two eminent Dominican scholars Louis-Hugues Vincent and Felix-Marie Abel proposed to date the two burial complexes to the Hellenistic or Roman period.

This dating remained unchallenged until the survey of 1974–75, carried out by the distinguished Israeli archaeologists Gabriel Barkay and Amos Kloner, who proposed to date the two burial caves towards the end of the Judahite kingdom, on the basis of an unsystematic comparison of few architectural features with those of other tombs.

In the frame of the improved knowledge of the broad and adjacent archaeological contexts since the last study of the Saint-Étienne Compound Hypogea, between 2011 and 2014 Riccardo Lufrani carried out a detailed survey of the two burial caves, providing new and more detailed photographic, topographic, archaeological and geological documentation.

The systematic comparison of the significant architectural features of the Saint-Étienne Compound Hypogea with a consistent sample of 22 tombs in the region suggest dating the hewing of the two hypogea to the Early Hellenistic period, shedding a new light on the history of Jerusalem.

NOW IN PAPERBACK (June 2019) This is the only substantial and up-to-date reference work on the Ptolemaic army. Employing Greek and Egyptian papyri and inscriptions, and building on approaches developed in state-formation theory, it offers a coherent account of how the changing structures of the army in Egypt after Alexander’s conquest led to the development of an ethnically more integrated society. A new tripartite division of Ptole- maic history challenges the idea of gradual decline and emphasizes the reshaping of military structures that took place between c. 220 and c. 160 BC in response to changes in the nature of warfare, to mobiliza- tion and demobilization, and to financial constraints. An investigation of the socio-economic role played by soldiers permits a reassessment of the cleruchic system and shows how soldiers’ associations generated inter-ethnic group solidarity. By integrating Egyptian evidence, Chris- telle Fischer-Bovet also demonstrates that the connection between the army and local temples offered new ways for Greeks and Egyptians to interact.

Shvatanje da je antička helenistička kultura spoj ili mešavina grčke i "istočne" ili "orijentalne" kulture potiče od nemačkog istoričara Johana Gustava Drojzena (1808-1884). Inspirisan Hegelovom filozofijom, protestantskom teologijom i romantičarskim idejama Herdera, Drojzen je izneo viziju helenističke kulture kao mističkog spoja dve komponente, spoja čijim je nastankom rukovodilo Proviđenje radi ispunjenja velike svetskoistorijske misije. Ta misija bila je pripremanje antičkog sveta za pojavu hrišćanstva. Drojzen je svoja shvatanja o ovom pitanju izrazio putem teoloških kategorija. Njegove razumevanje helenizma i helenističke kulture bilo je predmet opšte kritike još krajem 19. veka i uskoro je potpuno napušteno. Uprkos tome, ideja o helenizmu kao "grčko-orijentalnoj" kulturi nastavlja da postoji u našoj popularnoj svesti, udžbenicima istorije i leksikografskim priručnicima. Ovaj rad ima za cilj da objasni poreklo tog koncepta i ukaže na probleme koje donosi njegovo zadržavanje u nastavi istorije.

This essay will explore how the mathematical culture and approaches of the Ancient Greeks compared to that of the Islamic Golden age. In particular, this essay will focus on what influenced the two respected civilisations; and how the Islamic mathematicians built upon the works of the Greeks. This will be showcased through such examples as number theory and geometry, and we will explore how they allow one to assume that both periods were alike in prosperity and prominence.

Alexander assumed the principal items of Iranian dress and Achaemenid regalia in 330 B.C. Sources agree that Alexander wore a purple Iranian chiton with white trimmings, a belt, a diadem and a tiara. Also a kind of kandys was part of the king’s attire. Elements of Iranian dress appear on artifacts from the Diadochoi period as the garb of the Macedonians.

From around 700 BCE until the first centuries CE, the Mediterranean enjoyed steady economic growth through trade, reaching a level not to be regained until the early modern era. This process of growth coincided with a process of state formation, culminating in the largest state the ancient Mediterranean would ever know, the Roman Empire. Subsequent economic decline coincided with state disintegration. How are the two processes related?

In Trade in the Ancient Mediterranean, Taco Terpstra investigates how the organizational structure of trade benefited from state institutions. Although enforcement typically depended on private actors, traders could utilize a public infrastructure, which included not only courts and legal frameworks but also socially cohesive ideologies. Terpstra details how business practices emerged that were based on private order, yet took advantage of public institutions.

Focusing on the activity of both private and public economic actors—from Greek city councilors and Ptolemaic officials to long-distance traders and Roman magistrates and financiers—Terpstra illuminates the complex relationship between economic development and state structures in the ancient Mediterranean.

Жажда Александра Великого, влекшая его к покорению мира, не была всего лишь жаждой военной власти. Его цель была выше и грандиознее: образовать "ойкумену", общий мир. Его последователи, при всем их величии, власти и долголетии, не обладали ни харизмой Александра, ни его убежденностью в "божественном сыновстве" для объединения всех народов мира. После смерти Александра наступила полоса бесконечных войн диадохов и сменивших их преемников. Налицо была разница между эпическим временем Александра, практически живым мифом, и печальной реальностью. Переход от полисного сознания к восприятию себя жителем "ойкумены" поселил в сердцах людей того периода чувство одиночества и разобщенности, исчезала надежда на традиционные культы и богов. Людям была свойственна жажда спасения, "сотерии", освобождения от тягот и злоключений человеческой жизни, и эту жажду сопровождала жажда того, кого они называли "сотером", "эвергетом", "эпифаном" – жажда явления бога среди них. Словно осколки Александра, появлялись многочисленные "спасители", "благодетели", "явленные боги", своим огромным количеством уже свидетельствуя как о неполноте иерофании в них, как и об ожидании такой иерофании. Неверно было бы видеть в этом культе только государственный официоз, насаждаемый сверху и не находящий искреннего отклика в сердцах верующих.
Научно-богословский журнал "Христианское чтение" СПбДАиС, 2013, №3, стр. 165-234
http://old.spbda.ru/news/a-3605.html

Abile stratega, condottiero e potente sovrano, Alessandro Magno di Macedonia, eroe che percepiva se stesso alla stregua di un nuovo Eracle o di un nuovo Achille, fu, prima di tutto, un “viaggiatore”. E chi si approcci alle pagine del presente lavoro, nel quale viene ripercorsa l’intera vicenda del grande macedone ,si prepari, di fatto, a compiere un lungo e affascinante viaggio...Un’esplorazione attraverso quei luoghi in cui l’uomo Alessandro compì il luminoso percorso che lo avrebbe portato a divenire mito; aspirando costantemente, come racconta la storica Lynette Mitchell nella prefazione al libro,“...a divenire il più grande tra tutti gli eroi...”.Con pieno rigore storico, e senza concessioni alla fabula, a farla da padrone, in un racconto sostenuto da una poderosa mole bibliografica, sono i fatti “così come si svolsero”. Fatti la cui rievocazione, spogliata di facili orpelli, saprà coinvolgere e trascinare ogni lettore dentro l’antica e immortale storia (o viaggio) dell’ultimo eroe.

Roma İmparatorluğu hakimiyeti sırasında İskenderiye’de yaşayan Philo (yak. M.Ö. 25-M.S. 50), Büyük Herodes, İsa ve Paulus gibi tarihi kişilerle çağdaştır. Kendisinin zengin bir aileye mensup olduğu ve iyi bir eğitim aldığı bilinmekle birlikte, mitzvot hükümlerini yerine getiren dindar bir Yahudi olduğu kabul görmektedir. Sadece Helence bilmesi dolayısıyla kutsal metin yorumlarında Septuaginta’yı kullanan Philo, Eski Ahit ile Helen felsefesini uzlaştırmaya ve onların aynı öze sahip olduklarını göstermeye çalışmıştır. Zira kendisine göre Musa ilk filozoftur ve başta Platon olmak üzere Helen filozofları, felsefeyi ve hikmeti Musa’dan öğrenmişlerdir. Ana önermesi bu hipotez üzerine oturan Philo, Helenistik Yahudilik adıyla anılan oluşumun da en önemli temsilcisi haline gelmiştir. Ayrıca eklektik bir yazar niteliği taşıyarak, felsefe, din ve siyaset içerikli çok sayıdaki kitabı aracılığıyla sadece kendi çağdaşları ya da Hıristiyanlar arasında değil modern araştırmacılar arasında da ilgi odağı olmayı başarmıştır. Bu bağlamda Dursun Ali Aykıt’ın 2011 yılında yayımlanan Hıristiyanlığın Öncüsü Olarak İskenderiyeli Philo adlı eseri söz konusu ilginin Türkçe’deki bir yansıması olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır.

An introducion to the Seleucid Empire and its historiographical problems. Short description of the politicized discussion of the "western" versus "eastern" nature of that state. Aimed at the general reader and undergraduate students. [In Dutch]