Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides - Böcker

Examining the evolution of kingship in the Ancient Near East from the time of the Sumerians to the rise of the Seleucids in Babylon, this book argues that the Sumerian emphasis on the divine favour that the fertility goddess and the Sun god bestowed upon the king should be understood metaphorically from the start and that these metaphors survived in later historical periods, through popular literature including the Epic of Gilgameš and the Enuma Eliš. The author’s research shows that from the earliest times Near Eastern kings and their scribes adapted these metaphors to promote royal legitimacy in accordance with legendary exempla that highlighted the role of the king as the establisher of order and civilization. As another Gilgameš and, later, as a pious servant of Marduk, the king renewed divine favour for his subjects, enabling them to share the 'Garden of the Gods'. Seleucus and Antiochus found these cultural ideas, as they had evolved in the first millennium BCE, extremely useful in their efforts to establish their dynasty at Babylon. Far from playing down cultural differences, the book considers the ideological agendas of ancient Near Eastern empires as having been shaped mainly by class — rather than race-minded elites.

Examining the evolution of kingship in the Ancient Near East from the time of the Sumerians to the rise of the Seleucids in Babylon, this book argues that the Sumerian emphasis on the divine favour that the fertility goddess and the Sun god bestowed upon the king should be understood metaphorically from the start and that these metaphors survived in later historical periods, through popular literature including the Epic of Gilgameš and the Enuma Eliš. The author’s research shows that from the earliest times Near Eastern kings and their scribes adapted these metaphors to promote royal legitimacy in accordance with legendary exempla that highlighted the role of the king as the establisher of order and civilization. As another Gilgameš and, later, as a pious servant of Marduk, the king renewed divine favour for his subjects, enabling them to share the 'Garden of the Gods'. Seleucus and Antiochus found these cultural ideas, as they had evolved in the first millennium BCE, extremely useful in their efforts to establish their dynasty at Babylon. Far from playing down cultural differences, the book considers the ideological agendas of ancient Near Eastern empires as having been shaped mainly by class — rather than race-minded elites.

The volume offers a timely (re-)appraisal of Seleukid cultural dynamics. While the engagement of Seleukid kings with local populations and the issue of “Hellenization” are still debated, a movement away from the Greco-centric approach to the study of the sources has gained pace. Increasingly textual sources are read alongside archaeological and numismatic evidence, and relevant near-eastern records are consulted.Our study of Seleukid kingship adheres to two game-changing principles: 1. We are not interested in judging the Seleukids as “strong” or “weak” whether in their interactions with other Hellenistic kingdoms or with the populations they ruled. 2. While appreciating the value of the social imaginaries approach (Stavrianopoulou, 2013), we argue that the use of ethnic identity in antiquity remains problematic.Through a pluralistic approach, in line with the complex cultural considerations that informed Seleukid royal agendas, we examine the concept of kingship and its gender aspects; tensions between centre and periphery; the level of “acculturation” intended and achieved under the Seleukids; the Seleukid-Ptolemaic interrelations. As rulers of a multi-cultural empire, the Seleukids were deeply aware of cultural politics.

The impact of Platonism in shaping the Abrahamic traditions is yet to be fully explored. The papers in this volume examine the influence of Plato and his commentators in the conception and articulation of theological issues in late antique and medieval Christianity, but also in Islamic and Jewish traditions. The contributions are arranged chronologically and address key authors and themes in the reception of Platonic thought from the third to the sixteenth century. Neoplatonic debates on the Demiurgic Intellect, imagination, and contemplation informed Christian ideas about our ability to grasp God. Gregory of Nyssa played a key role in the reception of Platonic ideas about the nature of God in Christian and Jewish thinkers, while Neoplatonic schools continued to inculcate Platonic ideals in Christian leaders and intellectuals to the fifth century. Later Platonists, like Hermias, Porphyry, and Philoponus, subtly but creatively reworked Platonic theses to harmonize Plato’s and Aristotle’s philosophies, while paving the way for Psellus’ theory of spiritual illumination. Plotinus and Proclus offer examples of the uneasy and even polemical reception of Neoplatonic concepts both in eastern and western Christianity, including medieval Georgia. The influence of Platonic themes in Islamic thought and Jewish mysticism is traced back to the Qu’ran and John Damascene. Plato’s reception by Eriugena and Thomas Aquinas is also re-examined. Finally, the concept of the Platonic city in Medieval Islamic culture and Christian Florence is considered. By revealing the historical trajectories of Platonic themes across the Abrahamic traditions, the volume aims to serve as foundational resource for Long Platonism."This impressive collection of articles edited by Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides and Georgios Steiris concerns the history of Plato’s reception from the time of the first Neoplatonic schools to the Platonic Academy of Florence. The thinkers and works under discussion range over a chronological period of approximately fifteen centuries. They belong to different schools, geographical areas, cultural environments, and religious traditions: from Plato to Plotinus, Proclus, St Augustine, the Church fathers, the ancient commentators, John Scottus, Nicolas of Methone, St Thomas Acquinas, Byzantine philosophers and hagiographers, Jewish and Islamic authors , and Plato’s reception of Plato by the Florentines in the Renaissance. Separately or jointly, the chapters of the volume highlight the extraordinary richness of the material, illustrate a variety of perspectives from which it can be studied, and open new and exciting avenues for future research." Voula Tsouna, Philosophy Department, UCSB

This collection of studies on Dreams, Memory and Imagination in Byzantium covers four main themes: the place of dreams, imagination and memory in the Byzantine philosophical tradition; the political uses of prophetic dreams and visions in imperial contexts; the appearance and manipulation of dreams and memory in Byzantine poetry and histories, and changing commemorations of the saints over time in art, epigraphy and literature. These studies reveal the distinctive and important roles of memory, imagination and dreams in the Byzantine court, the proto-Orthodox church and broader society from Constantinople to Syria and beyond. This volume of Byzantina Australiensia brings together the work of senior and early career scholars from Australia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and the United States.