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2013, R. Strootman, ‘Babylonian, Macedonian, King of the World: The Antiochos Cylinder from Borsippa and Seleukid imperial integration’, in: E. Stavrianopoulou ed., Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices, and Images (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013) 67–97.
I argue that the Seleukid rulers were not the ‘chameleon kings’ of the older literature, who passively adapted their monarchy to supposed local "traditions"; I argue instead that the Seleukids actively negotiated with local elites, and that local customs changed as a result of this, even as these were still presented as ‘traditional’. Conventional scholarship holds that in the third century BCE, the Seleukid dynasty controlled the various populations of their empire by respecting indigenous ‘traditions’. This paper takes issue with the alleged passivity of the Seleukids and the conceptualization of 'Near Eastern' culture as coherent, static and traditionalist. I focus on the famous Antiochos Cylinder from Borsippa, a document that is often foregrounded as evidence for the early Seleukids’ willingness to adopt the role of ‘traditional’ Babylonian kings. Using globalization theory and Richard White's notion of Middle Ground, I argue instead that the indigenous monarchy outlined by the Cylinder is in fact the innovative result of negotiations between a 'global' imperial elite and a local priestly elite, who cooperated to their mutual benefit. The Cylinder thus reflects neither a top-down imposition of imperial ideology on so-called ‘subalterns’, nor the bottom-up instruction by native experts on how to be a good Babylonian king. The Cylinder instead offers us a unique insight into the dynamics of internal power changes that took place in Babylonian cities after the Macedonian conquest, when priestly families in alliance with the imperial dynasty were able to reassert the supremacy of the central sanctuaries, and hence of their own political dominance.
Journal of Ancient History
The Inception of the Seleukid Empire - JAH (2017) 5(1): 1-252017 •
The paper looks at the fragmentary cuneiform evidence from the initial years of Seleukos' rule at Babylon, to explain how Macedonian authority was imposed in Mesopotamia after Alexander the Great's death. Beyond military might and sheer opportunism, the consolidation of Seleukos' rule in Babylon was achieved through careful negotiations of privileges and guarantees with the local temple elites. This relationship of mutual recognition was reinforced through the composition and propagation of prophetic Babylonian accounts that were meant to interpret a period of dynastic crisis as the cosmic unfolding of a divine plan, manifested through the decisive success of Seleukos.
2020 •
The paper examines the cuneiform evidence from sixth-century Babylonia (and beyond) for information on the form and aims of Neo-Babylonian imperial rule over its western provinces. While new texts, which hitherto have not been considered in this context, can be brought to bear on the issue, direct evidence from these provinces is still scarce. These documents will thus be supplemented by drawing on the rich information concerning state institutions and resource extraction in the imperial centre. It is argued that in the first half of the Neo-Babylonian period, until ca. 585 BCE, Babylonian imperial rule in the western periphery can be conceptualized primarily as a straightforward exploitative tributary regime. From about the mid-reign of Nebuchadnezzar onwards, however, there is a shift towards a more sustainable resource extraction through the creation of stable pockets of Babylonian presence in the periphery. This diachronic shift was meant to steady and organize the initial ad hoc Babylonian approach. These measures, however, did not prevail, and the chaotic years which followed the 43 years reign of Nebuchadnezzar illustrate the fragility of the relatively short-lived Babylonian imperial age.
A. Archi (ed.), Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Rome, 4–8 July 2011: 251–266.
2015 Innovation and tradition in the sphere of Neo-Assyrian officialdom2012 •
Modern ideas about European identity have profoundly informed the historiography of the Hellenistic World. Thus, the Seleukid Empire (c. 312/11-64/3) has been rendered a product of "Classical" civilization, an "Oriental" state, and of course an empire "between East and West". In these simplifications, Greece is usually seen in opposition to a more or less amorphous (Near) East, where the latter has recently been presented as essentially static through the emphasis on the continuity and pureness of alleged indigenous culture during the Hellenistic period. The West by contrast is conceptualized as either more dynamic and more advanced than the East, or as intrusive, oppressive and colonialist. This paper reviews the various ways in which a modernist East-West dichotomy has distorted historical interpretations of the Hellenistic world. The conventional equation of the Seleukid Empire with a European nation state by ascribing to it such modern features as official borders, average population density, a capital, an impersonal centralized administration, and so forth, is also discussed. As a new avenue of research, it is proposed to see ancient empires not as rigidly structured “states” but as dynamic, negotiated enterprises and flexible networks of personal relations centered on the dynasty and the court, and thereby to hook up with the Imperial Turn in World History. Written in 2011; revised version 2012. Unpublished: peer reviewers' reactions to this paper were so hostile that I decided to see it as unpublishable in an academic journal (though times may now have changed in favor of a more nuanced view of culture and identity in the so-called Hellenistic World), as well as a more inclusive view of Classics and Ancient History, one in which the Near East, Iran, and Central Asia/India, as well as East Africa, are no longer viewed as peripheral to the Ancient World.
R. Strootman, 'Hellenistic court society: The Seleukid imperial court under Antiochos the Great, 223-187 BCE', in: Jeroen Duindam, Tülay Artan, Metin Kunt eds., Royal Courts in Dynastic States and Empires: A Global Perspective (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011) 63-89.
The Seleucid Imperial Court under Antiochus III the Great (2011)2011 •
I argue that the Seleukid Empire transformed from a system of direct control through appointed governors, mostly Macedonians, into a system of indirect rule through independent vassal rulers, mostly Iranians. The central idea is, that the original elites to whom imperial rulers delegate power and give land, eventually become independent from the central power, and may even turn against it; this compels imperial rulers to look for new allies, often beyond the established court circles. The conflicts accompanying the accession of Antiochus III reveal that Hellenistic kings were not automatically in control of their own court societies. Even though Antiochus initially succeeded in rearranging the social composition of his court, he later ruled primarily through favorites who were outsiders within the society of philoi: Macedonians, defectors from rival courts, refugees from the Greek mainland, a Carthaginian outlaw, and a queen. Despite his military successes, Antiochus moreover was forced to acknowledge the rising power of autochthonous aristocracies and the progressively independent position of governors, especially in Central Asia. The king reacted by expanding an already ongoing process of indirect rule through local dynasts and thereby managed to keep the Seleucid Empire together and even expand its borders. The vassal kings were fitted into the imperial superstructure through dynastic marriages and the cohesive facilities of the court, which they or their envoys visited on specific festive and ceremonial occasions. The new arrangements found expression in Antiochus' use of the title Great King.
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