Cultural Perceptions Of Violence In The Hellenistic World

Violence had long been central to the experience of Hellenistic Greek cities and to their civic discourses. This volume asks how these discourses were shaped and how they functioned within the particular cultural constructs of the Hellenistic world. It was a period in which warfare became more professionalised, and wars increasingly ubiquitous. The period also saw major changes in political structures that led to political and cultural experimentation and transformation in which the political and cultural heritage of the classical city-state encountered the new political principles and cosmopolitan cultures of Hellenism. Finally, and in a similar way, it saw expanded opportunities for cultural transfer in cities through (re)constructions of urban space. Violence thus entered the city through external military and political shocks, as well as within emerging social hierarchies and civic institutions. Such factors also inflected economic activity, religious practices and rituals, and the artistic, literary and philosophical life of the polis.

Violence had long been central to the experience of Hellenistic Greek cities and to their civic discourses. This volume asks how these discourses were shaped and how they functioned within the particular cultural constructs of the Hellenistic world. It was a period in which warfare became more professionalised, and wars increasingly ubiquitous. The period also saw major changes in political structures that led to political and cultural experimentation and transformation in which the political and cultural heritage of the classical city-state encountered the new political principles and cosmopolitan cultures of Hellenism. Finally, and in a similar way, it saw expanded opportunities for cultural transfer in cities through (re)constructions of urban space. Violence thus entered the city through external military and political shocks, as well as within emerging social hierarchies and civic institutions. Such factors also inflected economic activity, religious practices and rituals, and the artistic, literary and philosophical life of the polis.

Volume I offers an introductory survey of the phenomenon of genocide. The first five chapters examine its major recurring themes, while the further nineteen are specific case studies. The combination of thematic and empirical approaches illuminates the origins and long history of genocide, its causes, consistent characteristics, and the connections linking various cases from earliest times to the early modern era. The themes examined include the roles of racism, the state, religion, gender prejudice, famine, and climate crises, as well as the role of human decision-making in the causation of genocide. The case studies cover events on four continents, ranging from prehistoric Europe and the Andes to ancient Israel, Mesopotamia, the early Greek world, Rome, Carthage, and the Mediterranean. It continues with the Norman Conquest of England's North, the Crusades, the Mongol Conquests, medieval India and Viet Nam, and a panoramic study of pre-modern China, as well as the Spanish conquests of the Canary Islands, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

This book brings Hellenistic and Roman Delphi to life. By addressing a broad spectrum of epigraphic topics, theoretical and methodological approaches, it provides readers with a first comprehensive discussion of the Delphic gift-giving system, its regional interactions, and its honorific network

Exploiting the abundant primary sources available, this book examines the diverse ways in which war shaped the Hellenistic world. An overview of war and society in the Hellenistic world. Highlights the interdependence of warfare and social phenomena. Covers a wide range of topics, including social conditions as causes of war, the role of professional warriors, the discourse of war in Hellenistic cities, the budget of war, the collective memory of war, and the aesthetics of war. Draws on the abundance of primary sources available.

The Material Dynamics of Festivals in the Graeco-Roman East explores the various ways in which the experience of civic festivals in the Graeco-Roman East was created and framed by material culture. By the second and third centuries AD, Greek festivals were thriving across the eastern Mediterranean. Much of our knowledge of these festivals, and their associated processions, rituals, banquets, and competitions, comes from material culture-- inscriptions, coins, architecture, and art-works. Yet each of these pieces of material evidence was the result of a conscious act, of what to record, and where and how to record it, with varying patterns discernible across different areas, and in different media. This volume draws attention to the choices made in a variety of different forms of material culture relating to Greek festivals from the Hellenistic to Roman periods, and unpicks the ways in which they encode or forge particular social relationships and power structures, as well as creating senses of community or communication between different groups. These helped to fix ephemeral events into public memory, to present particular views of their significance for the wider community, and to frame the experience of their participants.

This book analyses ancient Greek federalism by focusing on one of the most organised and advanced Greek federal states, the Achaean Federation Sympoliteia. Unlike earlier studies that mainly focused on its political history, this book adopts an interdisciplinary approach, analysing aspects of the economic organization and institutions, and the political economy of the Achaean Federation, and combining these findings with political history. It also discusses the strategic choices made by significant historical figures such as generals Aratos and Philopoemen. The analysis of the Achaean Federation verifies the intertemporal federal axiom, which states that the success and viability of federal experiment is achieved when the benefits of participation for the member-states exceed the costs of conferring national sovereignty on supranational federal authorities. The book further argues that the Achaeans developed a system of sophisticated direct democratic procedures in decision-making on federal matters, as well as significant and highly sophisticated (for the era) economic institutions and federal practices, in order to achieve bonds of trust and legitimacy regarding their innovative federal structure. These practices included, among others, the creation of free market type economic institutions, a monetary union, federal budget, provision of public goods and a common defense and security policy for all the Achaean city-state members. Lastly, the book relates these findings to ideas on how the Achaean Federation would have dealt with a series of current global issues, such as European Union integration and problems such as Euroscepticism, Brexit and immigration.

This book provides the first complete study of the documentation relevant to the gymnasium and gymnasial life in Egypt in the period 323-30 BC. Paganini analyses the role of the gymnasium in Ptolemaic Egypt and how it related to Greek identity in the region.