Affective Relations and Personal Bonds in Hellenistic Antiquity
Affective Relations and Personal Bonds in Hellenistic Antiquity

Author: Monica D'Agostini

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2020-12-31

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1789255015

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The intense bonds among the king and his family, friends, lovers, and entourage are the most enticing and intriguing aspects of Alexander the Great’s life. The affective ties of the protagonists of Alexander’s Empire nurtured the interest of the ancient authors, as well as the audience, in the personal life of the most famous men and women of the time. These relations echoed through time in art and literature, to become paradigm of positive or negative, human behavior. By rejecting the perception of the Macedonian monarchy as a positivist king-army based system, and by looking for other political and social structures Elizabeth Carney has played a crucial role in prompting the current re-appraisal of the Macedonian monarchy. Her volumes on Women and Monarchy in Ancient Macedonia (University of Oklahoma Press, 2000), Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great (Routledge, 2006), Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life (Oxford University Press, 2013) have been game-changers in the field and has offered the academic world a completely new perspective on the network of relationships surrounding the exercise of power. By examining Macedonian and Hellenistic dynastic behavior and relations, she has shown the political yet tragic, heroic thus human side, thus connecting Hellenistic political and social history. Building on the methodological approach and theoretical framework engendered by Elizabeth Carney’s research, this book explores the complex web of personal relations, inside and outside the oikos (family), governing Alexander’s world, which sits at the core of the inquiry into the human side of the events shedding light light on the personal dimension of history. Inspired by Carney’s seminal work on Ancient Macedonia, the volume moves beyond the traditionally rationalist and positivist approaches towards Hellenistic antiquity, into a new area of humanistic scholarship, by considering the dynastic bloodlines as well as the affective relations. The volume offers a discussion of the intra and extra familial network ruling the Mediterranean world at the time of Philip and Alexander. Building on present scholarship on relations and values in Hellenistic Monarchies, the book contributes to a deeper historical understanding of the mutual dialogue between the socio-cultural and political approaches to Hellenistic history.

The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great
The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great

Author: Frances Pownall

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-01-19

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 3110622947

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Recent scholarship has recognized that Philip II and Alexander the Great adopted elements of their self-fashioning and court ceremonial from previous empires in the Ancient Near East, but it is generally assumed that the advent of the Macedonian court as a locus of politics and culture occurred only in the post-Alexander landscape of the Hellenistic Successors. This volume of ground-breaking essays by leading scholars on Ancient Macedonia goes beyond existing research questions to assess the profound impact of Philip and Alexander on court culture throughout the ages. The papers in this volume offer a thematic approach, focusing upon key institutional, cultural, social, ideological, and iconographical aspects of the reigns of Philip and Alexander. The authors treat the Macedonian court not only as a historical reality, but also as an object of fascination to contemporary Greeks that ultimately became a topos in later reflections on the lives and careers of Philip and Alexander. This collection of papers provides a paradigm-shifting recognition of the seminal roles of Philip and Alexander in the emergence of a new kind of Macedonian kingship and court culture that was spectacularly successful and transformative.

Being Alone in Antiquity
Being Alone in Antiquity

Author: Rafał Matuszewski

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-11-22

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 3110758075

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This volume aims to provide an interdisciplinary examination of various facets of being alone in Greco-Roman antiquity. Its focus is on solitude, social isolation and misanthropy, and the differing perceptions and experiences of and varying meanings and connotations attributed to them in the ancient world. Individual chapters examine a range of ancient contexts in which problems of solitude, loneliness, isolation and seclusion arose and were discussed, and in doing so shed light on some of humankind’s fundamental needs, fears and values.

A Companion to Greek Warfare
A Companion to Greek Warfare

Author: Waldemar Heckel

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-07-08

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 1119438853

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Provides a broad and deep exploration of ancient Greek and Macedonian warfare A Companion to Greek Warfare is an authoritative survey of all major areas in the field of Greek and Macedonian military history, covering diverse operational, economic, social, psychological, and cultural aspects of ancient warfare. Bringing together essays by both international authorities and young scholars, this edited volume exposes readers to alternative views and original interpretations in a host of old and new topics. Wide in scope, the book presents thematically organized chapters that explore the nature of Greek warfare, military training, discipline, and organization, the economics, pathology, and psychology of war, and depictions of war in Greek art and literature. Entire chapters deal with neglected topics such as espionage, propaganda, war crimes, emotional trauma, the role of women in warfare, Greeks in foreign service, and the armies and methods of the Greeks' and the Macedonians' opponents. Presenting a uniquely wide range of topics and contexts, this volume: Features contributions from ancient historians and scholars, including archaeologists, naval historians, and other specialists Offers broad chronological and geographical coverage, including the Bronze Age and early Greek wars, the Persian Wars, the campaigns of Alexander, and the wars in Sicily Edited by internationally recognized experts in early Greek prosopography, warfare, and military history; Macedonian warfare and military history; Greek law and customs; and the history of scholarship in the field of Greek warfare Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World series, A Companion to Greek Warfare is an important resource for instructors, students, and scholars in all fields of ancient Greek history, particularly military history, and the perfect addition to the library of any general reader with interest in ancient military history.

Making and Unmaking Ancient Memory
Making and Unmaking Ancient Memory

Author: Martine De Marre

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-04-20

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1000572269

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Making and Unmaking Ancient Memory explores the way in which ancient Greeks and Romans represented their past, and in turn how modern literature and scholarship has approached the reception and transmission of some aspects of ancient culture. The contributions, organised into three sections – Political Legacies, Religious Identities, and Literary Traditions – explore case studies in memory and reception of the past. Through studying the techniques and strategies of ancient historiography, biography, hagiography, and art, as well as their effectiveness, this volume demonstrates how humanity has inevitably conveyed memory and history with (sub)conscious biases and preconceived ideas. In the current age of alternative facts, fake news, and post-truth discourses, these chapters highlight that such phenomena are by no means a recent development. This book offers valuable scholarly perspectives to academics and scholars interested in memory, historiography, and representations of the past in the ancient world, as well as those working on literary traditions and reception studies more broadly.

The Routledge Companion to the Reception of Ancient Greek and Roman Gender and Sexuality
The Routledge Companion to the Reception of Ancient Greek and Roman Gender and Sexuality

Author: K. R. Moore

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-22

Total Pages: 749

ISBN-13: 1000626199

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This Companion covers a range of receptions of ancient Greek and Roman gender and sexuality. It explores ancient representations of these concepts as we define them today, as well as recent perspectives that have been projected back onto antiquity. Beginning in antiquity, the chapters examine how the ancient Greeks and Romans regarded concepts of what we would today call "gender" and "sexuality" based on the evidence available to us, and chart the varied interpretations and receptions of these concepts across time to the present day. In exploring how different cultures have "received" the classical past, the volume investigates these cultures’ different interpretations of Greek and Roman sexualities, and what these interpretations can reveal about their own attitudes. Through the contributions in this book, the reader gains a deeper understanding of this essential part of human existence, derived from influential sources. From ancient to modern and postmodern perspectives, from cinematic productions to TikTok videos, receptions of ancient gender and sexuality abound. This volume is of interest to students and scholars of ancient history, gender and sexuality in the ancient world, and ancient societies, as well as those working on popular culture and gender studies more broadly.

Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period
Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period

Author: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-01

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1351797441

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Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period is a cutting-edge exploration of ancient queenship and the significance of family politics in the dysfunctional dynasties of the late Hellenistic world. This volume, the first full-length study of Kleopatra III and Kleopatra Thea and their careers as queens of Egypt and Syria, thoroughly examines the roles and ideology of royal daughters, wives, and queens in Egypt, the ancient Near East, and ancient Israel and provides a comprehensive study of the iconography, public image, and titles of each queen and their cultural precedents. In addition, this book also offers an introduction to the critical concept of the ‘High Hellenistic Period’ and the maturation of royal female power in the second century BCE. Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period is suitable for students and scholars in ancient history, Egyptology, classics, and gender studies, as well as the general reader interested in ancient queenship, ancient Egypt, the Hellenistic world, and gender in antiquity.

The Intellectual Climate of Cassius Dio
The Intellectual Climate of Cassius Dio

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2022-03-07

Total Pages: 524

ISBN-13: 9004510516

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This volume addresses the intellectual and political contexts that produced Cassius Dio's (c. 160–c. 230 CE) massive and indispensable synthesis of Roman history. Contributors examine the literary influences, cultural identity and political ideologies of this much read but enigmatic author.

The Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great
The Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great

Author: Daniel Ogden

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-12-31

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 1108887422

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Has any ancient figure captivated the imagination of people over the centuries so much as Alexander the Great? In less than a decade he created an empire stretching across much of the Near East as far as India, which led to Greek culture becoming dominant in much of this region for a millennium. Here, an international team of experts clearly explains the life and career of one of the most significant figures in world history. They introduce key themes of his campaign as well as describing aspects of his court and government and exploring the very different natures of his engagements with the various peoples he encountered and their responses to him. The reader is also introduced to the key sources, including the more important fragmentary historians, especially Ptolemy, Aristobulus and Clitarchus, with their different perspectives. The book closes by considering how Alexander's image was manipulated in antiquity itself.