1,721,137 research outputs found
Panagiotis P. Iossif, Andrzej S. Chankowski & Catharine C. Lorber (Ed.), More than Men, Less than Gods. Studies on Royal Cult and Imperial Worship. Proceedings of the International Colloquium organized by the Belgian School at Athens (November 1-2, 2007), 2011
No full textCaneva Stefano. Panagiotis P. Iossif, Andrzej S. Chankowski & Catharine C. Lorber (Ed.), More than Men, Less than Gods. Studies on Royal Cult and Imperial Worship. Proceedings of the International Colloquium organized by the Belgian School at Athens (November 1-2, 2007), 2011. In: L'antiquité classique, Tome 82, 2013. pp. 422-424
Raccontare Zeus. Poesia e cultura di corte ad Alessandria, a partire dall’Inno I di Callimaco
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D’Hérodote à Alexandre. L’appropriation gréco-macédonienne d’Ammon de Siwa, entre pratique oraculaire et légitimation du pouvoir
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Les dieux des autres ne sont pas simplement d’autres dieux. En accord avec cette conviction, Hérodote met la divinité oraculaire libyenne Ammon de Siwa en relation avec les dieux royaux Amon de Thèbes et Zeus de Dodone. Cet article part du texte d’Hérodote pour étudier, d’une part, la diffusion et le succès religieux autant que politique de Zeus Ammon dans les traditions grecque et macédonienne des Ve et IVe siècles av. J.-C., puis pour les comparer, d’autre part, avec la signification nouvelle que le dieu acquit à l’époque d’Alexandre et de ses successeurs en Égypte, les Ptolémées.Abstract
The gods of the others are not simply other gods. In compliance with this belief, Herodotus puts the Libyan oracular divinity Ammon of Siwah in relation with the royal gods Amun of Thebes and Zeus of Dodona. This paper starts from Herodotus’ text to study, on one hand, the spread of religious and political success of Zeus Ammon in the V and IV centuries’ Greek and Macedonian tradition, before to compare them, on a second hand, with the new significance that the god acquired at the time of Alexander and his successors in Egypt, the Ptolemies
Costruire una dea. Arsinoe II attraverso le sue denominazioni divine
Full text linkpeer reviewedAfter a theoretical and methodological introduction to the study of Hellenistic ruler cults, this paper focuses on the divine names of Arsinoe II in literary and documentary sources, with the exception of the exclusive epiclesis Philadelphos. The aim of the research is to study how a new deity could be introduced within pre-existing pantheons, through the analysis of some revealing case studies concerning the creation of divine names. Particular attention is paid to the structure of Arsinoe’s double names, to her maritime denominations in association with Cape Zephyrion and to toponyms related to her cult in Alexandria
Kings and Elites in an Intercultural Tradition: From Diodorus to the Egyptian Temples
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La vie religieuse à Paphos à travers les sources épigraphiques: acteurs, espaces, nouvelles perspectives
Full text linkCet article critique analyse le volume que Jean-Baptiste Cayla a récemment consacré aux inscriptions grecques alphabétiques de Paphos, aux périodes hellénistique et impériale. Le livre constitue la publication, longtemps attendue, de la thèse de doctorat soutenue par l’auteur en 2003 sur le dossier des inscriptions alphabétiques grecques et latines de la région de Paphos (sanctuaire de Palaipaphos, ville de Nea Paphos et chōra, y compris l’îlot de Géronisos). Dans l’avant-propos, l’A. expliqu..
Il coro del re. Capo e comprimari nella storiografia e nell’epos fra IV e III secolo a.C.
Full text linkpeer reviewedThe paper investigates court thiasoi and banquet scenes as well as the general councils of the Macedonian army in the historiography on Alexander and the Successors and in Apollonius’ Argonautica in order to show parallels in the representation of the relations between the king and his entourage. The studied cases (Alexander in Asia; Ptolemy in Memphis; Jason in the Argonauts’ councils) allow a reappraisal of the work of the historian Cleitarchus and the poet Apollonius Rhodius and show a common portrait of the leader as primus inter pares. In epic as in historiography, the leader is chosen by the hetairoi on the ground of his outstanding leading skills and his role as a religious chief makes him play a function similar to that of a priest in a thiasos
The persea tree from Alexander to Late Antiquity: A contribution to the cultural and social history of Greco-Roman Egypt
Full text linkpeer reviewedAlthough a great number of studies has already been devoted to the topic of sacred trees in Greco-Roman Egypt, this paper aims at offering a new contribution to this debate by shifting the focus of research from the hitherto dominant interest in ancient and modern botanical classifications to the study of the socio-cultural contexts (and their diachronic changes) in which sacred trees were used in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. The analysis focuses on the case study of the tree called περσ(ε)ία / persea in Greek and Latin sources. After drawing attention to the non-complete overlap between the denomination adopted by Greek and Latin authors for this Egyptian sacred plant and its “emic” Hieroglyphic / Demotic correspondents, ἰšd and šw3b, the focus will be on patterns of continuity, innovation and re-contextualization of Egyptian religious traditions in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt and on the social actors and contexts that were involved in the use and protection of sacred plants. When approached from this perspective, the evidence on persea provides a fruitful dossier to investigate some aspects of the dialectic between continuity and transformation in cultural traditions, with particular regard to cases where traditions were adapted beyond cultural and ethnic limits. Moreover, the persea dossier enables us to discuss ancient contexts in which, for religious reasons, nature was seen as worth of being protected and preserved against the risk of extinction. This will allow us to raise some preliminary questions concerning the limits of applicability of modern environmental thinking to ancient cultures, in contexts in which the preservation of vegetal species was seen as an important value for the identity of a community, thus requiring individual and institutional commitment
Short notes on 3rd-century Ptolemaic royal formulae and festivals
Full text linkpeer reviewedThis paper gathers five short notes on the message of dynastic continuity in 3rd-century Ptolemaic history, as it was expressed through literature, papyri, inscriptions and visual evidence. While the scope of each note is to revise the reading and/or the interpretation of some specific passages, together these contributions are meant to showcase the methodological importance of a systematic, inter-medial comparative study of royal formulae in order to provide an encompassing portrait of the cultural and political dynamics in a certain historical context. The first note focuses on a literary passage of Callixeinus’ On Alexandria, quoted in Athenaeus (V.202A–B); the second deals with a dedication to Ptolemy II and Arsinoe Philadelphos in Thera (IG XII, 3 1387); the third discusses two passages respectively from the synodal decree of Alexandria (243 BC) and from a papyrus reporting a decree of salt tax exemption issued by Ptolemy II (P. Hal. 1); the fourth and fifth notes provide an improved interpretation of two inscriptions, respectively from Phoenicia (Rey-Coquais 2006 = SEG LVI 1880) and Cyrenaica (OGIS 33 = IGCyr 033700)
From Alexander to the Theoi Adelphoi: Foundation and Legitimation of a Dynasty
No full textThis book provides a cultural and social history of the rise and legitimation of the concept of dynastic continuity in the early history of the Ptolemaic Empire. The scope of the study is therefore neither to provide a general overview of third-century Ptolemaic history, nor to discuss in detail the administrative and economic structures of the Ptolemaic state. Rather, its purpose is to investigate the ways by which the first Ptolemies negotiated and constructed a representation of their power as a dynastic house aspiring to universal dominion, protected by the gods and legitimately continuing the heritage of the Macedonian and Egyptian monarchies. It is argued that they managed to do so by operating within different socio-cultural and ethnic milieus and by pursuing their strategies on a two-fold level: on the one hand, by continuously reshaping the relationship between the present events of the ruling house and its historical and mythical past, so as to adapt it to new political and cultural agendas; on the other hand, by shifting the border between the spheres of human and divine power in order to ensure themselves the legitimacy and loyalty stemming from religious thought and practice.
Discussed evidence comprises Greek and Egyptian sources, literary and documentary texts, iconographic and archaeological evidence from the Macedonian conquest of Egypt under Alexander to the ascension of Ptolemy III Euergetes. Whenever possible, a new, encompassing evaluation of old evidence has gained new impetus from the intensive analysis of newly published sources. Secondly, the complex cultural and social factors operating in the construction and legitimation of the Ptolemaic dynasty have been discussed by drawing on the contribution of up-to-date scholarship in cultural and religious history as well as in sociology. The rooting of Ptolemaic power in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean is studied as the movement from the immediate but unstable right of conquest established by Alexander, and subsequently claimed by the satrap Ptolemy, to the development of a mature and coherent system of power practices and representations.
The structure of the book is meant to provide readers with a chronological and thematic discussion ranging from Alexander’s conquest of Egypt to the first years of Ptolemy III. However, the six chapters that constitute this study can also be read separately as they are conceived as the monographic treatment of major moments or aspects of the cultural, political, and religious history of the early Hellenistic period.
Chapter 1 deals with the premises of Ptolemaic power in Egypt by focusing on the time of Alexander’s conquest. The implications of Alexander’s sonship to Zeus Ammon in propaganda and in religion are reviewed by drawing attention to the plurality of audiences (Macedonians, Greeks, Egyptians) for which this motif was conceived and used.
Chapter 2 discusses the conflicting patterns of legitimation in the age of the Successors and how Ptolemy exploited them in his rise from satrap to king. Some seminal moments of Ptolemy’s career are re-examined: the acquisition of Alexander’s corpse as a source of embodied legitimacy; the interactions between the leader and pre-existing Macedonian and Egyptian elites as they appear in assembly scenes of Greek historiography and in the hieroglyphic Satrap stele; Ptolemy’s help to the Rhodians against Antigonus and Demetrius and the entanglement between royal charisma and religious honours.
Chapter 3 focuses on the figure of Dionysus in Ptolemaic religion and culture from a twofold perspective. Firstly, the chapter provides an innovative analysis of the religious and ideological role of Dionysus in Ptolemy II’s Alexandrian procession described by Callixeinus of Rhodes. Secondly, it aims at offering a contribution for a reappraisal of the figure of Dionysus, of his cults and of the role of his figure within the larger context of the Ptolemaic Empire in the third century BC.
Chapter 4 discusses the patterns of divinization of Arsinoe II within the royal couple through the most complete documentary dossier collected thus far on the subject. Rather than constituting the aim of the research, the debate concerning the chronology of Arsinoe’s death and divinization has provided the rough framework for a new investigation of how the image of a solid royal couple was invented and spread in religious life and in propaganda. Diachronic developments in the configurations of the dynastic couple are traced through Greek and Egyptian evidence and discussed in relation to the changing of political agendas during the reign of Ptolemy II.
Chapter 5 studies the contribution of Ptolemy III to the construction of Ptolemaic dynastic continuity through old and new evidence, notably by providing fresh observations concerning the recently published decree of Alexandria (243 BC) for the understanding of Ptolemaic royal festivals in general and, more in particular, for the history of the festival Ptolemaia in the second half of the 3rd century BC.
Chapter 6 breaks with chronological continuity to trace, through literary and documentary evidence from the Roman period, the development of the tradition envisaging Alexander’s body as a talismanic relic protecting the city of Alexandria. The purpose of this epilogue is to provide a methodological essay of interpretation of cultural traditions in the longue durée, when patterns of continuity developed under the Ptolemies were separated from their original context of diffusion and consequently were re-used to shape the civic identity of Alexandria within the new and broader framework of the Roman Empire.
Although focus on the construction of a dynasty as a sequence of legitimate, kindred holders of monarchic power makes Ptolemaic kings and queens the central object of this study, it is argued that sovereigns cannot be considered as the sole holders of the initiative in the political, ideological and religious processes relating to the construction of royal and dynastic imagery. On the contrary, it appears that social agents other than the holders of supreme leadership not only reacted to top-down stimulation, but they also constructed, for their own use, representations of the monarchs that interacted with the message issued by the central power. From this perspective, therefore, dynastic continuity results from the intertextual combination of a variety of ideological and religious motifs stemming from different agents and occasions of communication
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