DOCSLIB.ORG

PDF Download the Hellenistic Age Ebook

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
PDF Download the Hellenistic Age Ebook THE HELLENISTIC AGE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Peter Thonemann | 176 pages | 01 Jul 2016 | Oxford University Press | 9780198759010 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom The Hellenistic Age PDF Book Pollitt, Jerome J. Further information: Decadence and Degeneration. The Stoics were pantheists. Borders Cities capital and co-capital Extreme points Place names. Though victorious, he was forced to retreat due to heavy losses, hence the term " Pyrrhic victory ". Sparta remained independent, but it was no longer the leading military power in the Peloponnese. Theaters have also been found: for example, in Ai-Khanoum on the edge of Bactria , the theater has 35 rows — larger than the theater in Babylon. Athens, Sparta and most cities in the Greek mainland did not see much religious change or new gods with the exception of the Egyptian Isis in Athens , [] while the multi-ethnic Alexandria had a very varied group of gods and religious practices, including Egyptian, Jewish and Greek. Armies of the Hellenistic period differed from those of the classical period in being largely made up of professional soldiers and also in their greater specialization and technical proficiency in siege warfare. Though the Nabateans originally worshipped their traditional gods in symbolic form such as stone blocks or pillars, during the Hellenistic period they began to identify their gods with Greek gods and depict them in figurative forms influenced by Greek sculpture. Further ruin was brought to Greece by the Roman civil wars, which were partly fought in Greece. The New York Times. The era of Hellenistic Greece was the period when Greece language and culture spread throughout the Mediterranean world. The kingdom of Colchis , which later became a Roman client state, received Hellenistic influences from the Black Sea Greek colonies. Alien Wisdom: The Limits of Hellenization, pp. The most avid collectors of Greek art, however, were the Romans, who decorated their town houses and country villas with Greek sculptures according to their interests and taste. As mentioned by Peter Green , numerous factors of conquest have been merged under the term Hellenistic period. As a result of the confusion in Greece at the end of the Second Macedonian War, the Seleucid Empire also became entangled with the Romans. The trends of Hellenization were therefore accompanied by Greeks adopting native ways over time, but this was widely varied by place and by social class. Octavian took the name Augustus and became the first Roman emperor. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. Concurrently, increased commercial and cultural exchanges, and the greater mobility of goldsmiths and silversmiths, led to the establishment of a koine common language throughout the Hellenistic world. They made huge donations to museums and zoos and they sponsored libraries the famous libraries at Alexandria and Pergamum, for instance and universities. The Hellenistic Age Writer Shipley, Graham. A whole class of petty officials, tax farmers, clerks and overseers made this possible. Borders Cities capital and co-capital Extreme points Place names. The struggles with Rome had left Greece depopulated and demoralised. Bahrain: A Travel Guide. Antigonus now had the effective support of his brilliant son Demetrius — , known as Poliorcetes, or Besieger, who ousted the other Demetrius and restored the democracy and eventually the League of Corinth; he was hymned with divine honours and given the Parthenon as his palace. The separation of the Indo-Greek kingdom from the Greco-Bactrian kingdom resulted in an even more isolated position, and thus the details of the Indo-Greek kingdom are even more obscure than for Bactria. For the moment Antipater was confirmed in authority in Macedon and Greece. While it may have been a deliberate attempt to spread Greek culture or as Arrian says, "to civilise the natives" , it is more likely that it was a series of pragmatic measures designed to aid in the rule of his enormous empire. Bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer. According to Peter Green, these cults did not produce genuine belief of the divinity of rulers among the Greeks and Macedonians. Several smaller kingdoms were established at various times, in Hellenistic Greece. The Bithynians were a Thracian people living in northwest Anatolia. Cicero was educated in Athens and Mark Antony in Rhodes. Cassander had her put to death, while keeping Rhoxane and Alexander IV under his protection—or guard. Demetrius fled to central Greece with his mercenaries and began to build support there and in the northern Peloponnese. The scholars at the libraries in Alexandria and Pergamon focused on the collection, cataloging, and literary criticism of classical Athenian works and ancient Greek myths. Retrieved Hellenistic art is richly diverse in subject matter and in stylistic development. The focus on the Hellenistic period over the course of the 19th century by scholars and historians has led to an issue common to the study of historical periods; historians see the period of focus as a mirror of the period in which they are living. Initially Rhodes had very close ties with the Ptolemaic kingdom. Abundant traces of Hellenism continued under the Parthian empire. Between and B. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! After the death of Menander c. Further inland was the Illyrian Paeonian Kingdom and the tribe of the Agrianes. Demetrius now turned his attention to Ptolemy, defeating his fleet at the Battle of Salamis and taking control of Cyprus. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. It can be argued that some of the changes across the Macedonian Empire after Alexander's conquests and during the rule of the Diadochi would have occurred without the influence of Greek rule. The Forgotten Revolution. He also brought Persian and other non-Greek peoples into his military and even the elite cavalry units of the companion cavalry. History at your fingertips. After the battle of Actium, the entire Hellenic world became subject to Rome. The Hellenistic Age Reviews The stage was set for a confrontation between Lysimachus and Seleucus. In art history terms, however, a new relationship of painter and patron had begun…. Only one play, Dyskolos , survives in its entirety. Hellenistic monarchies were closely associated with the religious life of the kingdoms they ruled. Kingdom of Seleucus I Nicator. Xanthippus reformed the Carthaginian military along Macedonian army lines. Callimachus was extremely influential in his time and also for the development of Augustan poetry. Journal for the History of Astronomy. Greece topics. There was a temple to Serapis , the Greco-Egyptian god. Pyrrhus then turned south and invaded Sicily but was unsuccessful and returned to Italy. They believed that all is in the hands of God; indeed, God is all. Colonial education and class formation in early Judaism: a postcolonial reading. Epirus was a northwestern Greek kingdom in the western Balkans ruled by the Molossian Aeacidae dynasty. It led to a steady emigration, particularly of the young and ambitious, to the new Greek empires in the east. Portraits became more realistic, and the obverse of the coin was often used to display a propagandistic image, commemorating an event or displaying the image of a favored god. As far as the Indian subcontinent, Hellenistic influence on Indian art was broad and far-reaching, and had effects for several centuries following the forays of Alexander the Great. However, Athens had now lost her political freedom, and Hellenistic philosophy is a reflection of this new difficult period. Between and B. The major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Hellenistic Culture People, like goods, moved fluidly around the Hellenistic kingdoms. Further information: Hellenistic Judaism and Hasmonean dynasty. But see the critical reviews by Mott Greene, Nature , vol , no. Culture and Anarchy. Retrieved 4 December The death of Alexander the Great in B. They made huge donations to museums and zoos and they sponsored libraries the famous libraries at Alexandria and Pergamum, for instance and universities. The Hellenistic Age Read Online Orontid Armenia formally passed to the empire of Alexander the Great following his conquest of Persia. The hellenization of the Nabateans occurred relatively late in comparison to the surrounding regions. Journal for the History of Astronomy. In the Treaty of Apamea which ended the war, Antiochus lost all of his territories in Anatolia west of the Taurus and was forced to pay a large indemnity of 15, talents. There are representations of unorthodox subjects, such as grotesques, and of more conventional inhabitants, such as children and elderly people Impressive scientific innovations were made in Alexandria where the Greek Eratosthenes computed the circumference of the earth, Archimedes calculated pi, and Euclid compiled his geometry text. The "Brihat-Samhita" of the mathematician Varahamihira says: "The Greeks , though impure, must be honored since they were trained in sciences and therein, excelled others Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries. See also: Indo-Greek religions. In spite of this shift, Hellenistic philosophy continued to influence these three religious traditions and the Renaissance thought which followed them. Pergamum, Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, and Trapezus are few of the cities whose reputations have survived to our day. People List of ancient Greeks. Hellenistic poets now sought patronage from kings, and wrote works in their honor. Demetrius conquered most of Greece and secured Macedonia in , but he was ousted in by Lysimachus in alliance with King Pyrrhus of Epirus — History Geography. But internecine conflict continued, notably through the Pyrrhic War between Rome and Epirus, the invasion of Thrace by Celtic peoples, and the dawn of Roman prominence in the region. The worship of dynastic ruler cults was also a feature of this period, most notably in Egypt, where the Ptolemies adopted earlier Pharaonic practice, and established themselves as god-kings.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Published Yearly for the Brown University Department of History Alumni History Newsletter Contents Chair’S Letter
    VOLUME 22 FALL 2008 I 1 Published Yearly for the Brown University Department of History Alumni history newsletter contents chair’s letter . inside front cover faculty books . .2 new faculty . .5 faculty activities . 6. undergraduate program . .16 graduate program . .20 NEWSLETTER A Word From The Chair Greetings from the Department of History. Readers of last year’s Newsletter will recall that Peter Green House was on the move, relocating a few hundred feet to the corner of Angell and Brown. That move has now been completed and we have settled back in our offices, a bit weary for the move, but grateful that we now have six new offices on the ground floor and a better view of campus. And now we can boast that we inhabit an award winning building, as acknowledged by the Providence Preservation Society. The additional space is especially appreciated because we have new faculty. Jorge Flores earned his degree in the History of the Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion from the New University of Lisbon and has taught at the University of Macau. He is associate professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and History, and specializes in the Portuguese expansion in Asia. Françoise N. Hamlin did her graduate training at Yale and taught at the University of Massachusetts before coming here as assistant professor of Africana Studies and History. Professor Hamlin studies the history of the civil rights movement in the United States, with an emphasis on understanding the role of gender. Finally, Tracy Steffes arrived at Brown from the University of Chicago, where she recently completed her dissertation, “A New Education for a Modern Age: National Reform, State-building, and the Transformation of American Schooling, 1890-1933.” Her teaching record includes courses at the University of Chicago, Denison University, and at Indiana University-Northwest.
    [Show full text]
  • How 'Great' Was Alexander?
    Historical Site of Mirhadi Hoseini http://m-hosseini.ir ……………………………………………………………………………………… IRANIAN HISTORY: POST-ACHAEMENIDS How ‘Great’ Was Alexander? By: Professor Ian Worthington1[1] (University of Missouri-Columbia) Why was Alexander II of Macedon called 'Great'? The answer seems relatively straightforward: from an early age he was an achiever, he conquered territories on a superhuman scale, he established an empire until his times unrivalled, and he died young, at the height of his power. Thus, at the youthful age of 20, in 336, he inherited the powerful empire of Macedon, which by then controlled Greece and had already started to make inroads into Asia. In 334 he invaded Persia, and within a decade he had defeated the Persians, subdued Egypt, and pushed on to Iran, Afghanistan and even India. As well as his vast conquests Alexander is credited with the spread of Greek culture and education in his empire, not to mention being responsible for the physical and cultural formation of the Hellenistic kingdoms — some would argue that the Hellenistic world was Alexander's legacy.[2[2]] He has also been viewed as a philosophical idealist, striving to create a unity of mankind by his so-called fusion of the races policy, in which he attempted to integrate Persians and Orientals into his administration and army. Thus, within a dozen years Alexander’s empire stretched from Greece in the west to India in the far east, and he was even worshipped as a god by many of his subjects while still alive. On the basis of his military conquests contemporary
    [Show full text]
  • Blocking Fathers, Illicit Marriages: Continuity and Change from Sophocles to Menander
    Blocking Fathers, Illicit Marriages: Continuity and Change from Sophocles to Menander It is a truth universally acknowledged that the plays of Menander owe a great debt to Classical Athenian drama: connections between plays such as Aristophanes’ Cocalus and Menander were noted in didascalia, and similarly the thematic and structural similarities between New Comedy and the works of Euripides were already recognized in Hellenistic scholarship (Arnott 1972; Csapo 2000; Hunter 2011). Sophocles, on the other hand, is rarely included in this discussion of dramatic influence, more often regarded solely for his role as the pinnacle of tragic poets. It is the purpose of this paper to reanalyze possible connections between the corpus of Sophocles and that of Menander by examining both the Antigone and the Dyscolus as plays employing one of the most familiar stock characters of ancient comedy: the “blocking” father figure. This father figure—whose earliest incarnation arguably belongs to Old Comedy, such as Strepsiades from Clouds—is perhaps best known for his characterization in the plays of Greek New Comedy and their later, Latin iterations. Generally an old and intransigent father, the “blocking” figure is generically defined by his interference in the life of his young offspring; in New Comedy, this interference takes the form of intervention in the budding romance of two young lovers, whose inconvenient marriage will inevitably bring about the typical finale. This character, at first glance, may appear to be a creature created solely for light-hearted drama. Creon of the Antigone, however, whose stubborn and belligerent character has been carefully surveyed for his role within the tragedy itself (see Roisman 1996), additionally shares many features with the father of Menander’s only intact play, Knemon of the Dyscolus.
    [Show full text]
  • INTRODUCTION in the Late Fourth Century, Athens Came Under The
    INTRODUCTION In the late fourth century, Athens came under the spell of one of the more colourful and complex fi gures of her history: Demetrius of Phalerum. A dilettante who bleached his hair and rouged his cheeks, a man whose luxurious banquets were conducted in perfumed and mosaic-clad rooms, Demetrius was also a product of Aristotle’s philo- sophical establishment, the Peripatos, and a remarkably accomplished scholar in his own right. Th is erudite and urbane fi gure rose from political obscurity to rule his native city for the decade 317–307. His regime occupies a vital transitional period of Athenian history. In temporal terms, it provides the link between the classical Athens of Lycurgus and the emerging Hellenistic city of the third century. It was a time at which Athens was still held fi rmly under the suzerainty of Macedon, the dominant world power of the day, as it had been already for three decades, but the very nature of that suzerainty was being re-defi ned. For much of the previous three decades, Athens had been but one of numerous Greek states subordinated to the northern super-power by a web of treaties called the League of Corinth. By the time of Demetrius, both Philip and Alexander, the greatest of the Macedonian kings, were gone and the Macedonian world itself was fragmenting. Alexander’s subordi- nates—the so-called Diadochoi—were seeking to carve out kingdoms for themselves in Alexander’s erstwhile empire, and in the resulting confusion, individual Greek states were increasingly becoming infl u- ential agents and valued prizes in the internecine strife between war- ring Macedonian generals.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature of Hellenistic Domestic Sculpture in Its Cultural and Spatial Contexts
    THE NATURE OF HELLENISTIC DOMESTIC SCULPTURE IN ITS CULTURAL AND SPATIAL CONTEXTS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Craig I. Hardiman, B.Comm., B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Mark D. Fullerton, Advisor Dr. Timothy J. McNiven _______________________________ Advisor Dr. Stephen V. Tracy Graduate Program in the History of Art Copyright by Craig I. Hardiman 2005 ABSTRACT This dissertation marks the first synthetic and contextual analysis of domestic sculpture for the whole of the Hellenistic period (323 BCE – 31 BCE). Prior to this study, Hellenistic domestic sculpture had been examined from a broadly literary perspective or had been the focus of smaller regional or site-specific studies. Rather than taking any one approach, this dissertation examines both the literary testimonia and the material record in order to develop as full a picture as possible for the location, function and meaning(s) of these pieces. The study begins with a reconsideration of the literary evidence. The testimonia deal chiefly with the residences of the Hellenistic kings and their conspicuous displays of wealth in the most public rooms in the home, namely courtyards and dining rooms. Following this, the material evidence from the Greek mainland and Asia Minor is considered. The general evidence supports the literary testimonia’s location for these sculptures. In addition, several individual examples offer insights into the sophistication of domestic decorative programs among the Greeks, something usually associated with the Romans.
    [Show full text]
  • The Herodotos Project (OSU-Ugent): Studies in Ancient Ethnography
    Faculty of Literature and Philosophy Julie Boeten The Herodotos Project (OSU-UGent): Studies in Ancient Ethnography Barbarians in Strabo’s ‘Geography’ (Abii-Ionians) With a case-study: the Cappadocians Master thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Linguistics and Literature, Greek and Latin. 2015 Promotor: Prof. Dr. Mark Janse UGent Department of Greek Linguistics Co-Promotores: Prof. Brian Joseph Ohio State University Dr. Christopher Brown Ohio State University ACKNOWLEDGMENT In this acknowledgment I would like to thank everybody who has in some way been a part of this master thesis. First and foremost I want to thank my promotor Prof. Janse for giving me the opportunity to write my thesis in the context of the Herodotos Project, and for giving me suggestions and answering my questions. I am also grateful to Prof. Joseph and Dr. Brown, who have given Anke and me the chance to be a part of the Herodotos Project and who have consented into being our co- promotores. On a whole other level I wish to express my thanks to my parents, without whom I would not have been able to study at all. They have also supported me throughout the writing process and have read parts of the draft. Finally, I would also like to thank Kenneth, for being there for me and for correcting some passages of the thesis. Julie Boeten NEDERLANDSE SAMENVATTING Deze scriptie is geschreven in het kader van het Herodotos Project, een onderneming van de Ohio State University in samenwerking met UGent. De doelstelling van het project is het aanleggen van een databank met alle volkeren die gekend waren in de oudheid.
    [Show full text]
  • Pajonija Opt.Pdf
    НАРОДНА БАНКА NATIONAL BANK НА РЕПУБЛИКА МАКЕДОНИЈА OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA Издавач: Publisher: НАРОДНА БАНКА NATIONAL BANK НА РЕПУБЛИКА МАКЕДОНИЈА OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA www.nbrm.gov.mk www.nbrm.gov.mk За издавачот: On behalf of the publisher: Петар Гошев, гувернер на НБРМ Petar Goshev, Governor of the NBRM Уредник: Editor: Катерина Христовска Katerina Hristovska Автор: Author: Ефтимија Павловска Eft imija Pavlovska Превод на англиски: Translated into English: Елизабета Баковска Elizabeta Bakovska Ефтимија Павловска Eft imiјa Pavlovska (кат. бр. 1-238) (cat. nos. 1-238) Лектура на македонскиот текст: Macedonian Proof Reading: Бисера Павлеска Bisera Pavleska Конзервација: Conservation: Дијана Ванчевска Dijana Vanchevska Билјана Бозароска-Павловска Biljana Bozaroska-Pavlovska Фотографии: Photographs: Владо Кипријановски Vlado Kiprijanovski Дизајн и компјутерска обработка: Design and prepress: АРТИСТИКА, Скопје ARTISTIKA, Skopje Печат: Print: НАМ Прес, Скопје NAM Pres, Skopje Тираж: Issue: 500 500 Скопје, 2008 Skopje, 2008 ISBN: 978-9989-107-14-6 © 2008 Сите права се задржуваат. © 2008 All rights reserved. Ни еден дел од оваа публикација не може да биде No part of this book can be copied or препечатен или репродуциран на елекронски, reproduced in electronic, mechanical or механички или друг начин без писмена дозвола any other form without written consent од издавачот. of the publisher. МОНЕТИТЕ НА ПАЈОНИЈА од Нумизматичката збирка на НБРМ Ефтимија Павловска THE COINS OF PAEONIA from the Numismatic Collection of NBRM Eft imija
    [Show full text]
  • Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult
    ΑΡΣΙΝΟΗ ΕΥΠΛΟΙΑ Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult Carlos Francis Robinson Bachelor of Arts (Hons. 1) A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2019 Historical and Philosophical Inquiry Abstract Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult By the early Hellenistic period a trend was emerging in which royal women were deified as Aphrodite. In a unique innovation, Queen Arsinoë II of Egypt (c. 316 – 270 BC) was deified as the maritime Aphrodite, and was associated with the cult titles Euploia, Akraia, and Galenaië. It was the important study of Robert (1966) which identified that the poets Posidippus and Callimachus were honouring Arsinoë II as the maritime Aphrodite. This thesis examines how this new third-century BC cult of ‘Arsinoë Aphrodite’ adopted aspects of Greek cults of the maritime Aphrodite, creating a new derivative cult. The main historical sources for this cult are the epigrams of Posidippus and Callimachus, including a relatively new epigram (Posidippus AB 39) published in 2001. This thesis demonstrates that the new cult of Arsinoë Aphrodite utilised existing traditions, such as: Aphrodite’s role as patron of fleets, the practice of dedications to Aphrodite by admirals, the use of invocations before sailing, and the practice of marine dedications such as shells. In this way the Ptolemies incorporated existing religious traditions into a new form of ruler cult. This study is the first attempt to trace the direct relationship between Ptolemaic ruler cult and existing traditions of the maritime Aphrodite, and deepens our understanding of the strategies of ruler cult adopted in the early Hellenistic period.
    [Show full text]
  • Strepsiades, Socrates and the Abuses of Intellectualism Green, Peter Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1979; 20, 1; Periodicals Archive Online Pg
    Strepsiades, Socrates and the Abuses of Intellectualism Green, Peter Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1979; 20, 1; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 15 Strepsiades, Socrates and the Abuses of Intellectualism Peter Green N PLATO'S Theaetetus, Socrates at one point (155E) offers to help I search out the truth of some well-known thinkers' hidden opinions. When Theaetetus responds eagerly to this offer, Socrates cautions him as follows: "Take a good look round," he says, "make sure no non-initiate is listening." Ironical or not, this remark at once reminds us of the student-gatekeeper in Aristophanes' pseudo­ Socratic CPPOV'TLC'T~PLOV (143, if. 140), who informs Strepsiades that the information he is about to impart must be regarded as {J-VC'T~PLCX.l Socrates then goes on to define 'non-initiates' in this context: "These are they who think nothing exists beyond what they can grasp in their two hands and who refuse to admit that actions and origins and abstraction generally have any real substance."2 Theaetetus, agreeing, describes such persons as 'stubborn and obstinate' (CKA:'lPOVC • .• KcxL a~·'TL'Tt;'TOVC). Socrates corrects him. They are, more precisely, a{J-ovcoL, without the Muses, gross, crude, lacking in both taste and mental cultivation. There is a similar attack in the Sophist (246A-B), and later in that dialogue (259E) the Eleatic Stranger links the epithet a{J-ovcoc with an equally derogatory one: acpLAococpoC, of which perhaps the most accurate translation would be 'non- (or anti-) intellectual'. Plato's immediate object in both cases was to discredit the 1 See A.
    [Show full text]
  • Greece, the Land Where Myths Replaces Reality
    GREECE, THE LAND WHERE MYTHS REPLACE REALITY (Myths about Epirus) What is myth and what does it serve? Myth is a narrative based usually on a false story which can not be used as a replacement of history, but sometimes myth might be considered a distorted account of a real historical event. The myth does not differ much from a folktale and usually the boundary between them is very thin. Myth must not be used to reconstruct, however in the ancient society of the so called “”Ancient Greeks”” myth was usually regarded as a true account for a remote past. Surprisingly this ‘tradition’ is descended to the Modern Greeks as well. They never loose the chance to use the myths and the mythology of a remote past and to pose them as their real ethnic history. This job is being done combining the ancient myths with the ones already created in the modern era. Now let’s take a look at two Greek myths, respectively one ancient and one modern, while our job is to prove that even these myths are respectively hijacked or created to join realities not related to each other, but unfortunately propagandized belonging to a real history, the history of the Greek race. Thus before we analyze and expose some of their myths which are uncountable, we are inclined to say that whatever is considered Greek History is completely based on mythical stories, whose reliability and truthiness is deeply compromised for the mere fact that is based on myths not only by the Modern Greeks and especially philhellenes, but even by the ancient authors.
    [Show full text]
  • The Antigonids and the Ruler Cult. Global and Local Perspectives?
    The Antigonids and the Ruler Cult Global and Local Perspectives? 1 Franca Landucci DOI – 10.7358/erga-2016-002-land AbsTRACT – Demetrius Poliorketes is considered by modern scholars the true founder of ruler cult. In particular the Athenians attributed him several divine honors between 307 and 290 BC. The ancient authors in general consider these honors in a negative perspec- tive, while offering words of appreciation about an ideal sovereignty intended as a glorious form of servitude and embodied in Antigonus Gonatas, Demetrius Poliorketes’ son and heir. An analysis of the epigraphic evidences referring to this king leads to the conclusion that Antigonus Gonatas did not officially encourage the worship towards himself. KEYWORDS – Antigonids, Antigonus Gonatas, Demetrius Poliorketes, Hellenism, ruler cult. Antigonidi, Antigono Gonata, culto del sovrano, Demetrio Poliorcete, ellenismo. Modern scholars consider Demetrius Poliorketes the true founder of ruler cult due to the impressively vast literary tradition on the divine honours bestowed upon this historical figure, especially by Athens, between the late fourth and the early third century BC 2. As evidenced also in modern bib- liography, these honours seem to climax in the celebration of Poliorketes as deus praesens in the well-known ithyphallus dedicated to him by the Athenians around 290 3. Documentation is however pervaded by a tone that is strongly hostile to the granting of such honours. Furthermore, despite the fact that it has been handed down to us through Roman Imperial writers like Diodorus, Plutarch and Athenaeus, the tradition reflects a tendency contemporary to the age of the Diadochi, since these same authors refer, often explicitly, to a 1 All dates are BC, unless otherwise stated.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of the Hellenistic World
    Part I THE MAKING OF THE HELLENISTIC WORLD K2 cch01.inddh01.indd 1111 99/14/2007/14/2007 55:03:23:03:23 PPMM K2 cch01.inddh01.indd 1122 99/14/2007/14/2007 55:03:23:03:23 PPMM 1 First Steps 325 300 275 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 June 323 Death of Alexander the Great; outbreak of Lamian War 322 Battle of Krannon; end of Lamian War 320 Death of Perdikkas in Egypt; settlement of Triparadeisos 319 Death of Antipater 317 Return of Olympias to Macedonia; deaths of Philip Arrhidaios and Eurydike 316/15 Death of Eumenes of Kardia in Iran 314 Antigonos’ declaration of Tyre; fi rst coalition war (Kas- sander, Lysimachos, and Ptolemy against Antigonos) 312 Battle of Gaza; Seleukos retakes Babylon 311 Treaty ends coalition war 310 Deaths of Alexander IV and Roxane I From Babylon to Triparadeisos The sudden death of the Macedonian king Alexander, far away from home at Babylon in Mesopotamia on June 10, 323, caught the world he ruled fully unprepared for the ensuing crisis. Only two of the men who founded the dynas- ties of kings which dominated the history of the Hellenistic world were even present at Babylon when he died, and only one of them was suffi ciently promi- nent among the offi cers who assembled to debate the future to be given an independent provincial command: Ptolemy, now in his early forties, was appointed to distant Egypt (though with Alexander’s established governor, Kleomenes, as his offi cial deputy). Seleukos, also present at Babylon, but some K2 cch01.inddh01.indd 1133 99/14/2007/14/2007 55:03:23:03:23 PPMM 14 PART I THE MAKING OF THE HELLENISTIC WORLD ten years younger, became cavalry commander in the central government, a post which under Alexander had been equivalent to the king’s deputy but now was envisaged as being purely military.
    [Show full text]