The Land of Your Fathers
Memory, Dynastic Aura, and the Right(eous?) Forms of Kingship in Hellenistic Baktria
In: Iran and the CaucasusSearch for other papers by Marco Ferrario in
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Abstract
This paper explores the visual languages of monarchic self-fashioning deployed by King Agathokles I of Baktria (ca. 180–176 B.C.). It does so by offering a reappraisal of the logic(s) behind the issue of the so-called “pedigree coins”, a striking local innovation in Baktrian language of royalty. The paper complicates current understandings of charismatic rule in the Hellenistic Far East by engaging with anthropological models of sacred kingship (divine and cosmic) across different cultural spaces (the Mediterranean World, the Near East, and India). Furthermore, it suggests Baktrian creative manipulation of Alexander’s memory. Indeed, it is argued that Agathokles may have pioneered “imperial leapfrogging” in Central Asia, in a skillful adaptation of visual cultures of power at the same time conversant with and reacting to Seleukid, Arsakid, and even Mauryan strategy of kingship validation.
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The Land of Your Fathers
Memory, Dynastic Aura, and the Right(eous?) Forms of Kingship in Hellenistic Baktria
In: Iran and the CaucasusSearch for other papers by Marco Ferrario in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper explores the visual languages of monarchic self-fashioning deployed by King Agathokles I of Baktria (ca. 180–176 B.C.). It does so by offering a reappraisal of the logic(s) behind the issue of the so-called “pedigree coins”, a striking local innovation in Baktrian language of royalty. The paper complicates current understandings of charismatic rule in the Hellenistic Far East by engaging with anthropological models of sacred kingship (divine and cosmic) across different cultural spaces (the Mediterranean World, the Near East, and India). Furthermore, it suggests Baktrian creative manipulation of Alexander’s memory. Indeed, it is argued that Agathokles may have pioneered “imperial leapfrogging” in Central Asia, in a skillful adaptation of visual cultures of power at the same time conversant with and reacting to Seleukid, Arsakid, and even Mauryan strategy of kingship validation.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 170 | 170 | 5 |
| Full Text Views | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 24 | 24 | 0 |
