Being Royal and Female in the Early Hellenistic Period

Carney, Elizabeth

doi:10.2307/j.ctvvnbm8.15

Cited by 51 publications

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“…39 A name associated with ancestral queenly precedent served like a title, and it is possible that our Laodike was so named in anticipation of her marriage to Antiochos III. 48 The cults of Laodike as practised at Iasos, Teos and Sardis were locally organised and marked the addition of sacrifices for the queen to each of those cities' own array of divinities, heroes and other recipients of divine honours. 40 Both the material and figurative aspects of Laodike's queenship came together on the occasion of her wedding to Antiochos, held at Seleuceia-Zeugma, a twin city bridging the river Euphrates (a play on words in the name 'Zeugma,' meaning 'bridge', 'yoke' or 'bond'), and celebrated with great ceremony.…”

Section: Laodike's Queenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Queen and the City: Royal Female Intervention and Patronage in Hellenistic Civic Communities

Ramsey

2012

Gender and the City Before Modernity

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Section: Laodike's Queenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Queen and the City: Royal Female Intervention and Patronage in Hellenistic Civic Communities

Ramsey

2012

Gender and the City Before Modernity

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“…47 Since Aphrodite was the goddess of both marriage and sexual power, linking her with the women in sexual relationships with kings reflected on them positively as women operating according to the conventional female roles, and with significant power to act in public life. 48 The cults of Laodike as practised at Iasos, Teos and Sardis were locally organised and marked the addition of sacrifices for the queen to each of those cities' own array of divinities, heroes and other recipients of divine honours. 49 Each city set up cult for Laodike in a manner suiting its ceremonial idiom, and in the differences we see the variety and creativity that fed the devising of civic honours and invigorated the reciprocity of prestige with the royal family.…”

Section: Laodike's Queenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Queen and the City: Royal Female Intervention and Patronage in Hellenistic Civic Communities

Ramsey

2011

Gender & History

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This article examines the interactions between the Seleukid queen Laodike III and the cities of Iasos, Teos and Sardis in Asia Minor, three communities whose commemorations of her patronage have survived in the known corpus of inscriptions, along with her own letters, a rare female voice in the world of Hellenistic interstate politics. Asia Minor was a major battleground for all the Hellenistic kingdoms, including the Seleukids and a number of Anatolian dynasties, and during the third and second centuries BCE it was a patchwork of changeable royal claims to control and demands of loyalty. Cities faced repeated conquest, occupation, exaction of tribute, abandonment and recriminations, and had to secure their existence with carefully devised allegiances and constant negotiation of political status. Ideologically autonomous, but with a history of foreign rule by the Persians and now the Hellenistic kings, cities fought to survive by mustering claims to traditional rights and rallying influential elites who might intercede on their behalf. Interactions with whichever king happened to be in control were fraught with tension and manipulation as city ambassadors sought to obtain royal favour, either to endure under that king's rule, or for protection lest the king hand them over to a rival power. In this context, Queen Laodike mediated royal goodwill, ameliorated the violence of her husband's conquests and opened up a positive chain of communication with beleaguered cities.Laodike's intervention in cities centred on her patronage of women, in particular their roles as wives and mothers to sustain the demos, or civic community. Her benefactions to women had demographic and political ramifications and, in return, the cities made Laodike the focus of female ceremonial activity in public life. Participation in the Greek cities depended on family membership, and throughout the Hellenistic period it was characterised by the increasing use of fictive kinship terminology to represent the bonds between members of the civic body. 1 This paper shows that the characterisation of Laodike as benefactress par excellence, as sister-wife to Antiochos and as highly esteemed mother mirrored the identities of women in the cities she helped. Laodike's patronage of women generated a reciprocal relationship between demos and royal dynasty, and both parties enhanced their own magnanimity and prestige by praising

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Beyond Alexandria

Visscher¹

2020

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This book aims to further our understanding of Seleucid literature, covering the period from Seleucus I to Antiochus III. Despite the historical importance of the Seleucid Empire during this time, little attention has been devoted to its literature. The works of authors affiliated with the Seleucid court have tended to be overshadowed by works coming out of Alexandria, emerging from the court of the Ptolemies, the main rivals of the Seleucids. This book makes two key points, both of which challenge the idea that ‘Alexandrian’ literature is coterminous with Hellenistic literature as a whole. First, the book sets out to demonstrate that a distinctly Seleucid strand of writing emerged from the Seleucid court, characterized by shared perspectives and thematic concerns. Second, the book argues that Seleucid literature was significant on the wider Hellenistic stage. Specifically, it aims to show that the works of Seleucid authors influenced and provided counterpoints to writers based in Alexandria, including key figures such as Eratosthenes and Callimachus. For this reason, the literature of the Seleucids is not only interesting in its own right; it also provides an important reference point for further understanding of Hellenistic literature in general. These two points are worked out in four chapters, each focussing on a specific ‘moment’ in Seleucid history and the corresponding literature: the establishment of the Eastern borders under Seleucus I; the consolidation of a symbolic centre at Babylon; the crisis of the Third Syrian War under Seleucus II; and the flourishing literary court of Antiochus III.

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Being Royal and Female in the Early Hellenistic Period

Cited by 51 publications

References 0 publications

The Queen and the City: Royal Female Intervention and Patronage in Hellenistic Civic Communities

The Queen and the City: Royal Female Intervention and Patronage in Hellenistic Civic Communities

The Queen and the City: Royal Female Intervention and Patronage in Hellenistic Civic Communities

Beyond Alexandria

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