Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, Stefan Pfeiffer (eds.), Culture and Ideology under the Seleukids: Unframing a Dynasty, De Gruyter, Berlin–Boston 2022, pp. 360 + multiple figures; ISBN 978-3-11-075557-2

Abstract

From the 1980s onwards, ancient historians turned close attention to the Seleukid Empire, publishing a series of studies that profoundly challenged previously held views on the empire’s place and role in the Hellenistic world, opening new research avenues. The growing scholarly interest in the Seleukids resulted in a number of subject-specific conferences, with one of them (‘Culture and Ideology under the Seleukids: An Interdisciplinary Approach’) held in Sydney on March 29–31, 2019. Papers presented at the event (by an international group of scholars) have been published as a volume, Culture and Ideology under the Seleukids: Unframing a Dynasty, edited by the conference convenors, Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides and Stefan Pfeiffer. The volume does not strictly qualify as conference proceedings, since it includes texts authored by non-attendees who were invited to contribute due to their aligned research interests: in result, the collection encompasses a much broader variety of contributions on the conference’s topic. One must note that the volume editors decided to publish papers in their original languages, willing to reflect the diversity of research conducted on the Seleukids all over the world.1 The editors’ introduction (‘Introduction: Un-Framing Seleukid Ideology,’ pp. 1–20) express the aims behind the conference: (1) to shed light on the origins of the Seleukid Empire and the policies employed by its first rulers to win over different groups of their new subjects; (2) to represent the Seleukid political culture and their influence over their subjects; (3) to examine the Seleukid royal ideology (drawing on the example of Babylonia); and (4) to investigate relations between the Seleukids and neighbouring powers, such as Rome. The volume’s structure reflects the topical order presented above. The volume’s initial section (‘Representations and Perceptions: Ideology and the Beginnings of a Monarchy’) consists of five chapters that discuss how the first Seleukid rulers attempted to legitimise their rule.2 Their efforts focused on avoiding succession strife