INTRODUCTION
Recent Hellenistic scholarship has moved decisively away from models emphasising Greek cultural supremacy or positing rigid East–West dichotomies. The three volumes under review exemplify this methodological shift while addressing three distinct historiographical problems: monarchical representation across diverse kingdoms (Michels, Beck and Lichtenberger); elite women’s political agency despite systematic erasure (Antela-Bernárdez and Mendoza); and the Seleucid transformation of Iranian history (Daryaee, Rollinger and Canepa). Despite their varied approaches, all three emphasise cultural negotiation, institutional complexity and the inadequacy of binary frameworks for understanding the Hellenistic world.
THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT? MONARCHICAL RULE AND REPRESENTATION IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD
This volume addresses a fundamental paradox: Hellenistic kingdoms exhibited striking structural similarities (in military organisation, economic frameworks and legitimation strategies), yet diverged profoundly in how individual dynasties articulated authority before diverse audiences. Originating from a March 2022 conference in Münster, the volume assembles 26 contributions exploring how monarchical power operated through multiple, overlapping registers rather than following a single Hellenistic template. The methodological intervention rests on three interconnected approaches: first, expanding dynastic coverage beyond the traditional Ptolemaic-Seleucid-Antigonid triad to include Aeacids, Bactrian rulers and Pontic kingdoms; second, systematically comparing synchronic variations across competing courts alongside diachronic transformations within individual dynasties; and third, examining tensions between transregional patterns and local particularities in monarchical self-representation.
The contributor list reflects such interdisciplinary ambitions. Scholars work across ancient history, classical archaeology, art history and numismatics, bringing distinct evidentiary bases and interpretative frameworks to shared questions. This methodological pluralism appears throughout: analyses drawing on portraiture and sculpture alongside studies of coinage, epigraphy and literary sources. Such diversity enables the volume to address monarchy not merely as a constitutional arrangement but as a complex phenomenon operating simultaneously through military force, religious sanction, architectural display, economic organisation and symbolic communication. The integration of visual and textual evidence, material culture and literary tradition, proves particularly productive for understanding how rulers crafted messages for diverse audiences with varying expectations and cultural vocabularies.
The volume organises its inquiry into six thematic sections. Part 1 opens with ‘The Formation Phase’ examining Argead precedents (S. Müller), alternative models such as the Chinese Qin and Han dynasties compared to Hellenistic kingdoms (J.T. Christopher) and early portrait traditions (R. von den Hoff). ‘The Royal Family and the Divine’ explores protective deities in early Hellenism (G. Weber), dynastic memory among the Ptolemies (S. Pfeiffer) and Seleucid conceptions of dynasty and cult (S. Richter). ‘Themes and Contexts of Monarchic Representation’ investigates contested titles such as ‘Megas’ (S. Wallace), ethnicity and culture in kingship (Michels) and peace as an ideological construct (C.I. Chrysafis). The section ‘Impact and Foreign Domination’ addresses Ptolemaic-federal interactions (Beck), Syracusan kingship in the Adriatic sphere (L.-M. Günther) and Bactrian developments (M. Hoo). Part 2 begins with ‘Comparing Themes and Structures of Representation and Communication’, featuring studies of Ptolemaic elements in Seleucid coinage (P.F. Mittag), Galatian victories as multidimensional statements (G. Pasquariello), incest practices among the Mithridatids (A. McAuley) and loyalist associations (B. Eckhardt). ‘The Image of the Ruler between Tradition and Innovation’ examines charisma’s transformation (N. Kaye), city-king relationships in coinage (K. Martin), ethnic conceptions in Ptolemaic Egypt (P. Sänger), Seleucid visual traditions (M. Kovacs) and late Hellenistic city foundations (Lichtenberger).
Several contributions merit attention for their methodological innovation or thematic centrality and illustrate the volume’s commitment to examining monarchy through multiple analytical lenses. As an example, Christopher’s comparative study ventures beyond traditional Mediterranean frameworks to examine post-imperial succession dynamics in contemporary Chinese dynasties, revealing how different administrative structures shaped political outcomes (similar points were raised by O. Coloru, Il regno del più forte. La lunga contesa per l’Impero di Alessandro Magno (IV–III sec. a.C.) [2022]). Wallace’s investigation of royal epithets traces how contested terminology reflected shifting power relationships among competing dynasties (see also the recent study by S. Caneva, The Power of Naming: Studies in the Epicletic Language of Hellenistic Honours [2023]). Hoo’s analysis of Bactrian kingship demonstrates how rulers in peripheral regions navigated between local demands and participation in broader Hellenistic discourses. Kaye’s examination of charisma’s evolution addresses fundamental questions about how authority operated across the Hellenistic period.
Chronologically, the volume juxtaposes the Diadochi period with later centuries when Rome’s presence increasingly constrained monarchical options. Geographically, coverage extends from Syracuse and Macedonia to Bactria, refusing to privilege any single region as normative. Dynastically, contributions address both major kingdoms (Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Antigonid) and smaller polities often marginalised in scholarship (Pontus, Epirus, Syracuse). This breadth enables systematic examination of whether recognisable patterns characterised Hellenistic monarchy as a category or whether apparent similarities masked fundamental differences driven by local contexts, audiences and traditions. The volume title encapsulates this tension: monarchies were simultaneously ‘the same’ in sharing structural features, yet ‘different’ in their specific articulations of power.
At 693 pages with 26 contributions spanning five centuries and the breadth of the Hellenistic world, the volume represents a substantial collective achievement. Its comprehensive geographical and chronological coverage, systematic attention to both major and minor dynasties, and integration of diverse methodological approaches position it as a significant reference work. The clear organisational structure, alternating between chronological progression and thematic clustering, facilitates both selective consultation and sustained engagement. The volume advances understanding not by arguing for a single interpretative framework but by demonstrating the analytical pay-off of sustained comparison across contexts traditionally studied in isolation.
ELITE WOMEN IN HELLENISTIC HISTORY, HISTORIOGRAPHY, AND RECEPTION
Shifting focus from monarchical structures to individual agency, the volume edited by Antela-Bernárdez and Mendoza emerges from a 2019 Celtic Conference in Classics panel in Coimbra. The volume addresses a dual historiographical problem: whether women’s increased visibility in Hellenistic sources reflects genuine structural changes in how power operated or merely represents a literary topos inherited from Persian traditions. The editors acknowledge the limitation of their work’s scope, focusing on royal and elite women while recognising that non-royal women remain historiographically marginal. This honest framing positions the volume as a contribution rather than a comprehensive treatment, explicitly inviting future scholars to address the significant gaps in the understanding of non-elite women’s experiences.
Six contributions span diverse geographical contexts and methodological approaches. E. Carney’s article focuses on Aeacid naming customs, arguing that royal names were tools for crafting dynastic imagery. Her examination reveals that these conventions highlight women’s pivotal role in sustaining family identity and political stability. M. Ferrario examines Persian rule over Bactria, analysing how the Iranian aristocratic model shaped Hellenistic systems. B. van Oppen de Ruitter’s study of Lysimachus’ wives illustrates their active engagement in diplomacy and politics. Rather than being passive instruments in male-directed marriages, figures like an unrecorded Persian bride and the better-known queens Nicaea, Amastris and Arsinoe emerge as autonomous political agents. This study challenges the view of royal marriages as simple transactions between kings, revealing instead complex negotiations in which women’s agency turns out to be of crucial importance.
The volume’s capacity for revisionism is further demonstrated in the reassessment of the Seleucid queen Laodice I, whom literary tradition notoriously depicts as a poisoner. In his chapter A. Coşkun systematically contrasts this hostile tradition with documentary evidence from the Pannoukome dossier and Babylonian cuneiform records. These texts confirm Laodice’s acknowledged authority in overseeing religious institutions and within Seleucid administration, while no contemporary evidence supports the alleged criminal deeds. Coşkun’s analysis underscores a broader pattern of gender bias in ancient historiography, where women in power struggles risked having their actions recast through tropes of female deceit, ambition and seduction. M.D. Mirón’s analysis of Attalid queens explores how royal women advanced dynastic objectives. A queen like Apollonis, for instance, promoted cultic rituals and construction projects that bolstered family cohesion and cultivated public favour through benefaction. Operating in spheres typically dominated by men, these activities demonstrate how royal women vitally connected the dynasty to the people. A groundbreaking insight of the volume concerns cultural diffusion across vast distances. A. Lakshminarayanan’s contribution traces artistic elements in Gandharan Buddhist imagery, such as the portrayal of Queen Maya’s dream. This essay demonstrates how portable objects like terracotta statuettes facilitated cultural exchange, travelling along trade routes to reach communities that selectively adopted and reinterpreted motifs for their own symbolic needs.
This concise collection succeeds in establishing guidelines for systematically challenging historiographical bias against Hellenistic royal women. By prioritising documentary evidence, examining the origins of antagonistic literary traditions and uncovering women’s roles in diplomacy, cult sponsorship and architectural patronage, the contributors powerfully advocate for the possibility and importance of historical reinterpretation (see also the recent studies by P.E. Kim, The Art of Queenship in the Hellenistic World [2025], and A. Magnani, ‘In cerca di una regalità al femminile nell’Asia centrale preislamica’, Quaderni Asiatici 150 [2025], 7–36). While the focus on elite women reflects the practical limitations of the extant evidence, it also creates a notable omission: the experiences of non-elite women. The editors acknowledge this shortcoming and invite future scholars to address it.
IRAN AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN HISTORY: THE SELEUCIDS (CA. 312–150 BCE)
The volume edited by Daryaee, Rollinger and Canepa assembles proceedings from the Third Payravi Conference on Ancient Iranian History held at UC Irvine in 2020. Its fifteen contributions examine the Seleucid period as a transformative phase within Iranian history rather than as Greek interlude between Persian empires. The geographical scope extends from the Mediterranean coast through Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau to Bactria, while the temporal focus centres on the period from Seleucus I’s consolidation through the eastern territories’ loss to the Parthian expansion (mid-second century bce).
The volume opens with Daryaee and Rollinger’s introduction, followed by fourteen chapters organised thematically rather than chronologically. The contributions address Seleucid imperial character and extent (R. Strootman), the Syrian Wars’ impact on trade networks (S.M. Burstein), dynastic iconography and royal women’s roles (S.E. Cole); ideological foundations including the Alexander factor (K. Nawotka), Seleucia-on-the-Tigris as imperial capital (V. Messina and J. Degen), Babylonian perspectives on Iranian history (J. Haubold), the Assyrian heartland’s transformation (R. Palermo); Seleucid policy in Media (O. Coloru), religious architecture at Ai Khanum (L. Martinez-Sève), economic structures (K. Ruffing), naval dimensions (C. Schäfer), the northeastern frontier (S. Stark), and the volume concludes with Canepa’s synthetic essay on how the Seleucid Empire created a new Iranian world.
The book’s collective argument contends that the Seleucid cultural legacy was both significant and enduring. The diadem, for instance, became the quintessential symbol of Iranian monarchy, continuing through the Arsacid and Sasanian periods as a visible marker of sovereign authority. The Seleucid era also established chronological foundations for later dating systems, which were subsequently adapted into religious timelines such as the Era of Zoroaster. Administrative reforms, city foundations and ideological constructs initiated under Seleucid rule influenced later Iranian empires in ways that persisted long after Seleucid political dominance had ended.
A central theme explored across several articles is Mesopotamia’s evolving role within imperial frameworks. The foundation of Seleucia on the Tigris and the strategic shift of the royal centre from the Euphrates to the Tigris represented not only an administrative reorganisation but also a symbolic declaration of changing imperial priorities. The foundation myths associated with Seleucia reveal a dynamic engagement with Babylonian tradition, neither a wholesale adoption nor a rejection, but a creative reshaping designed to legitimise Macedonian rule. Seleucus I skilfully employed the concept of translatio imperii to portray his dynasty as the legitimate heir to earlier Mesopotamian and Achaemenid sovereigns.
The issue of the kingdom’s organisation receives sustained focus. Multiple authors emphasise that the kingdom’s vast territory and regional diversity necessitated flexible governance rather than rigid centralization. Several of the fifteen chapters characterise the Seleucid framework by highlighting decentralised power centres and a mobile royal court over a fixed capital, suggesting that adaptability and plurality were defining features of the imperial system. Iranian provinces such as Media, Bactria and Sogdiana provided crucial military and economic resources, including cavalry, elephants and agricultural surplus. Iranian elites were integrated as vassal rulers and allies, not merely replaced by Macedonian officials.
Essays focusing on Media probe the mechanics of Seleucid power in this strategically vital region. The area of control extended beyond Ecbatana to include cities like Rhagae, complicating simple centre-periphery models. Analysis of the satrapal office after the rebellion of Molon raises questions about the authority individual satraps exercised over the vast Upper Satrapies. The volume acknowledges enduring questions that remain unresolved: what was the true extent of Seleucid military presence across the Iranian lands? How many troops were garrisoned in cities and provinces? Through what combination of military control, bureaucratic administration and partnership with local elites was power maintained across such extensive and environmentally diverse territories?
Economic systems emerge not as a standardised Greek model imposed from above nor as a simple continuation of Achaemenid practices. Instead, the kingdom encompassed intersecting regional economies that reflected diverse ecological zones, social structures and pre-existing economic traditions (see also the recent study by L. Paoletti, Alexander the Evil. Resistance and Opposition to the Macedonian Rule in the Ancient Iranian World: Witnesses, Memories and Impacts [2025]). Archaeological investigations alongside cuneiform tablets reveal significant structural changes in settlement patterns, agricultural arrangements and trade networks during the Seleucid era. These shifts illustrate strategic decisions about resource management and exploitation across varied landscapes rather than mere administrative continuity.
At 338 pages with illustrations and maps, the volume represents substantial but focused coverage. The structure permits depth on specific topics while maintaining coherence around the central theme of Seleucid impact on Iranian history. Some gaps are apparent from the table of contents. While Mesopotamia receives multiple chapters, the Syrian core gets less attention beyond the Syrian Wars. Anatolia appears primarily through naval history rather than through provincial administration or urban development. The volume’s subtitle specifies c. 312–150 bce, but some regions surely remained under Seleucid control after 150 bce. The focus on Iran and the ‘Transformation of Ancient Near Eastern History’ in the main title may overstate the Iranian emphasis, given substantial attention to Mesopotamia and Mediterranean connections. Nevertheless, the volume addresses a genuine historiographical need. Seleucid studies have traditionally either privileged the Mediterranean-facing western provinces or analysed the empire primarily as a Hellenistic rather than an Iranian phenomenon. By explicitly positioning the Seleucids within Iranian history while acknowledging their Near Eastern connections, the editors attempt to transcend the Greek versus Eastern binary that has long distorted the understanding of this period.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Despite addressing distinct historiographical problems and employing varied analytical approaches, these three volumes share fundamental methodological commitments. Each systematically dismantles dichotomies between Greek and Eastern societies. Instead, they demonstrate that Hellenistic phenomena emerged through cultural negotiation, selective appropriation and creative synthesis involving actors from diverse backgrounds. As an example, the Seleucid kingdom was not a state enforced upon submissive Eastern populations nor an Eastern regime, with a Greek overlay, but a unique entity blending and reshaping components from several heritages. Monarchical power demanded presentation before various spectators instead of relying on fixed legitimization formulas. Women’s political influence functioned through avenues depending on circumstances necessitating ongoing negotiation of cultural norms and institutional limits. Imperial governance entailed negotiation with local elites rather than straightforward authority hierarchies. These insights redirect focus from official institutions and ideological assertions to the practices where power was exerted, challenged and maintained.
All three volumes demonstrate how combining diverse source types (literary texts, documentary evidence, archaeological data, numismatic corpora and art historical analysis) yields richer interpretations than any single approach. Different evidence types carry distinctive biases requiring critical engagement; triangulating across multiple sources enables identification and correction of systematic distortions. The volumes shift between detailed analysis of individual figures, events and localised settings and broader scrutiny of imperial frameworks, cultural trends and extended historical changes. This adaptability across scales highlights how local specifics and ranging interregional links shaped each other. Bactrian rulership arose from central Asian competitive forces while engaging with wider Hellenistic dialogues. The influence of women appeared through tangible deeds, in specific contexts while mirroring overarching patterns throughout different realms. Seleucid strategies addressed local circumstances while influencing the broader structure of the empire. Instead of viewing the Hellenistic era as a standalone phase, these volumes highlight links to earlier and later periods. The Seleucids expanded Achaemenid legacies while incorporating changes that influenced Iranian developments. Hellenistic kingship forms relied on prior Near Macedonian customs while creating innovative symbolic languages. The political involvement of women mirrored enduring trends while adjusting to emerging settings. This chronological scope avoids separation of the Hellenistic age from wider historical dynamics.
Although significant progress has been made, these volumes also expose difficulties confronting Hellenistic studies. Elite attention dominates throughout all three volumes while non-elite groups are mainly depicted as objects of agents in historical examination. In what ways did everyday people live under governance, cultural interaction and economic change? What kinds of agency and opposition were present, beyond groups? Addressing these questions demands methodological approaches because conventional sources favour elite viewpoints. The late Hellenistic era (after 200 bce) is examined more thoroughly than the third century except in certain areas. However, this time saw changes, as Hellenistic structures adjusted to Roman growth, Arsacid strengthening and internal challenges. A comprehensive grasp of this era’s importance continues to be a vital goal.
In conclusion, together these three volumes showcase the refinement and analytical aspirations of modern Hellenistic studies. They depict the Hellenistic period as a time of great historical importance marked by novel political experiments, unparalleled cultural exchanges and profound changes, whose influence endured through later ages. The Hellenistic age appears not as an offshoot of classical Greek culture nor as a disorderly precursor to Roman rule, but as an inventive period worthy of independent examination. For experts these collections offer materials merging thorough coverage with analytical creativity. For historians in general they exemplify methods for examining intricate multicultural communities that uphold interpretive precision while dismissing oversimplified stories. For students they illustrate both the opportunities and the difficulties of analysis based on meticulous source evaluation and theoretical consideration. Future scholarship must engage with and build upon these achievements.
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