Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period

Eftychia Stavrianopoulou, D.Phil. (1987, Heidelberg) and Habilitation (2003, Heidelberg), is professor of Ancient History and member of the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe” at the University of Heidelberg. She has published monographs and articles on Greek epigraphy, social history and ritual studies. Contributors: Heather D. Baker, Omar Coloru, Andrew Erskine, Eleni Fassa, Gilles Gorre, Sylvie Honigman, Andrea Jördens, Deniz Kaptan, Rachel Mairs, Christian Marek, Christoph Michels, Jessica L. Nitschke, Eftychia Stavrianopoulou, Rolf Strootman, and Onno van Nijf.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgementsNote on Abbreviations and TransliterationIntroductionEftychia StavrianopoulouPART I: CHANGE AND CONTINUITYDéjà vu? Visual Culture in Western Asia Minor at the Beginning of Hellenistic ruleDeniz KaptanThe Image of the City in Hellenistic BabyloniaHeather D. BakerBabylonian, Macedonian, King of the World: The Antiochos Cylinder from Borsippa and Seleukid Imperial IntegrationRolf StrootmanA Religious Continuity Between the Dynastic and Ptolemaic Periods? Self-Presentation and Identity of Egyptian Priests in the Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BCE) Gilles Gorre Shifting Conceptions of the Divine: Sarapis as Part of Ptolemaic Egypt’s Social Imaginary Eleni FassaPART II: MODES OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATIONAretalogiesAndrea JördensHellenistic World(s) and the Elusive Concept of ‘Greekness’Eftychia Stavrianopoulou‘Jews as the Best of All Greeks’: Cultural Competition in the Literary Works of Alexandrian Judaeans of the Hellenistic PeriodSylvie HonigmanPolitical Institutions and the Lykian and Karian Language in the Process of Hellenization be¬tween the Achaemenids and the Early Diadochi Christian MarekInterculturality in Image and Cult in the Hellenistic East: Tyrian Melqart Revisited Jessica L. NitschkeThe Spread of Greek Polis Institutions in Hellenistic Cappadocia and the Peer Polity Interaction ModelChristoph MichelsPART 3: SHIFTING WORLDVIEWSCeremonies, Athletics and the City: Some Remarks on the Social Imaginary of the Greek City of the Hellenistic Period Onno van Nijf The View from the Old World: Contemporary Perspectives on Hellenistic Culture Andrew Erskine The Hellenistic Far East: From the Oikoumene to the Community Rachel MairsEPILOGUEAlexander the Great and Iskander Dhu’l-Qarnayn: Memory, Myth and Representation of a Conqueror from Iran to South East India Through the Eyes of Travel LiteratureOmar ColoruNotes on ContributorsIndices (compiled by R. Cengia)a)Index of Primary Sources (Literary Sources, Inscriptions, and Papyrib)General Index

"Stavrianopoulou suggests the use of the idea of a “social imaginary” (...) This is an effective theoretical model for discussing intercultural relations in the ancient world, and the application of this line of thinking is utilized admirably and consistently by the authors in this volume, who use the concept of the “social imaginary” to understand the ways in which community identities are changed and reinterpreted based on interactions with each other and with other cultural influences during the Hellenistic period." Jennifer Finn, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2014.03.63.