Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires

Christelle Fischer-Bovet is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Classics and History at the University of Southern California. She specializes in the social and cultural history of the Eastern Mediterranean from Alexander to the Romans, with a particular interest in Greco-Roman Egypt. Her book Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt (Cambridge, 2014) combines documentary evidence with social theory to examine the role of the army in Hellenistic Egypt. Sitta von Reden is Professor Ancient History at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. She is a specialist in ancient Greek economic history and her books include Money in Ptolemaic Egypt: From the Macedonian Conquest to the End of the Third Century BC (Cambridge, 2007) and Money in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge, 2010). In 2017 she won an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council for the Project 'Beyond the Silk Road: Exchange, Economic Development and Inter-Imperial Relationships in the Afro-Eurasian World Region (300 BCE-300 CE)'.

• Introduction Christelle Fischer-Bovet and Sitta von Reden; Part I. Cities, Settlement and Integration: 1. Imperial Metropoleis and foundation myths: Ptolemaic and Seleucid capitals compared Sitta von Reden and Rolf Strootman; 2. Reassessing Hellenistic settlement policies: the Seleucid Far East, the Ptolemaic Red Sea basin and Egypt Rachel Mairs and Christelle Fischer-Bovet; 3. The integration of indigenous elites and the development of Poleis in the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires Philippe Clancier and Gilles Gorre; 4. Contextualizing a Ptolemaic solution: the institution of the ethnic Politeuma Patrick Sänger; Part II. Communication and Exchange: 5. Imperial and indigenous temporalities in the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties: a comparison of times Paul Kosmin and Ian Moyer; 6. The visual representation of Ptolemaic and Seleucid kings: media and messages Ralf von den Hoff; 7. Monetary policies, coin production and currency supply in the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires Panagiotis Iossif and Catharine Lorber; Part III. Collaboration, Crisis, and Resistance: 8. Legitimizing the foreign king in the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires: the role of local elites and priests Stefan Pfeiffer and Hilmar Klinkott; 9. Antiochus III, Ptolemy IV and local elites: deal-making politics at its peak François Gerardin and Boris Dreyer; 10. Regional revolts in the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires Sylvie Honigman and Anne-Emmanuelle Veïsse.

'The book offers numerous vantage points for further study, and it also contains some important lessons on co-authorship in comparative projects.' Benedikt Eckhardt, Bryn Mawr Classical Review