Visual Style and Constructing Identity in the Hellenistic World
Nemrud Dag and Commagene under Antiochos I
Published on 26. November 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
334 pages
978-1-316-50677-6 (ISBN)
Description
Located in the small kingdom of Commagene at the upper Euphrates, the late Hellenistic monument of Nemrud Dag (c.50 BC) has been undeservedly neglected by scholars. Qualified as a Greco-Persian hybrid instigated by a lunatic king, this fascinating project of bricolage has been written out of history. This volume redresses that imbalance, interpreting Nemrud Dag as an attempt at canon building by Antiochos I in order to construct a dynastic ideology and social order, and proving the monument's importance for our understanding of a crucial transitional phase from Hellenistic to Roman. Hellenistic Commagene therefore holds a profound significance for a number of discussions, such as the functioning of the Hellenistic koine and the genesis of Roman 'art', Hellenism and Persianism in antiquity, dynastic propaganda and the power of images, Romanisation in the East, the contextualising of the Augustan cultural revolution, and the role of Greek culture in the Roman world.
Reviews / Votes
'This book offers a new point of view to scholarship that still believes in the classical notion of Hellenism. His integration of sophisticated methodological concepts is laudable and will change academic conversations for the better, the writing is fluid and the images and maps are very helpful. ... the book is of great importance in both its method and its content for the study of First century BCE Commagene and the surrounding region.' Histara-les comptes rendus (www.histara.sorbonne.fr)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
578 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-316-50677-6 (9781316506776)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Miguel John Versluys
Visual Style and Constructing Identity in the Hellenistic World
Nemrud Dag and Commagene under Antiochos I
Book
06/2017
Cambridge University Press
€129.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Miguel John Versluys is Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology at Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, The Netherlands. His research focuses on cultural dynamics in Eurasia in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. He is the author of Aegyptiaca Romana: Nilotic Scenes and the Roman Views of Egypt (2002), and the editor of Globalisation and the Roman World: World History, Connectivity and Material Culture (Cambridge, 2015) and Persianism in Antiquity (2016).
Content
1. Approaching Nemrud Dag; 2. Commagene: a historical geography; 3. Identity; 4. Style; 5. Postscript: between East and West?; Appendix. Antiochos' nomos: translation.