The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great: Monarchy and Power in Ancient Macedonia

by: Pownall, F. Asirvatham, S.R. Muller, S.

About this book
Recent scholarship has recognized that Philip II and Alexander the Great adopted elements of their self-fashioning and court ceremonial from previous empires in the Ancient Near East, but it is generally assumed that the advent of the Macedonian court as a locus of politics and culture occurred only in the post-Alexander landscape of the Hellenistic Successors. This volume of ground-breaking essays by leading scholars on Ancient Macedonia goes beyond existing research questions to assess the profound impact of Philip and Alexander on court culture throughout the ages. The papers in this volume offer a thematic approach, focusing upon key institutional, cultural, social, ideological, and iconographical aspects of the reigns of Philip and Alexander. The authors treat the Macedonian court not only as a historical reality, but also as an object of fascination to contemporary Greeks that ultimately became a topos in later reflections on the lives and careers of Philip and Alexander. This collection of papers provides a paradigm-shifting recognition of the seminal roles of Philip and Alexander in the emergence of a new kind of Macedonian kingship and court culture that was spectacularly successful and transformative.

Author information
F. Pownall, University of Alberta, Edmonton; S. R. Asirvatham, Montclair State University; S. Müller, Philipps University Marburg.

Frontmatter
Preface
Contents
Introduction
Frances Pownall
I THE TRANSFORMATION OF ROYAL AUTHORITY: PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AT THE MACEDONIAN COURT
Philip and Alexander and the Nature of Their Personal Kingship
Edward M. Anson
Storm Clouds over Three Hellenistic Courts: Observations on the Life and Death of Ptolemy Ceraunus
Waldemar Heckel
II THE COURTS OF PHILIP AND ALEXANDER IN THE EYES OF CONTEMPORARY GREEKS
Diplomatic Activity at the Court of Philip II
Jeremy Trevett
Kairos, Mistrust of Tyranny and the Rhetoric of Court in Demosthenes? Olynthiacs
Craig Cooper
The Exile of Demochares of Leuconoe Revisited
Thomas C. Rose
Philip II, Alexander III, and Members of Their Court in Greek Comedy
Sabine Müller
III THE INFLUENCE OF PERSIA AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST ON ALEXANDER?S COURT
Bosworth on Alexander and the Iranians Revisited: Alexander?s Marriages to Persian Brides at Susa: A Study of Arrian, Anabasis 7.4.4–8
Elizabeth Baynham
Two Conceptions of Court at Persepolis
Philip Bosman
Pothos or Propaganda? Alexander?s Longing to Reach the Ocean and Argead Imperial Ideology
Rolf Strootman
IV RAISING A PRINCE IN THE MACEDONIAN COURT: STORIES OF ALEXANDER?S BIRTH AND EDUCATION
The Serpent Sire of Alexander the Great: A Palinode
Daniel Ogden
Educating Alexander: High Culture in the Argead Court through Ancient Texts
Christian Thrue Djurslev
V ALEXANDER?S COURT IN RETROSPECTIVE
“The Best Man Among the Dead:” Alexander son of Ammon in an Alexandrian Inscription
Rebecca Frank
Alexander or not? The Problem of Alexander-like Portraits in Roman Art
Steven E. Hijmans
Index
 

The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great: Monarchy and Power in Ancient Macedonia

by: Pownall, F. Asirvatham, S.R. Muller, S.

• ISBN-13: 9783110622409 / 978-3-11-062240-9
• ISBN-03: 3110622408 / 3-11-062240-8
• Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2022