Full text
| |
| Author(s): |
Santiago Colombo Reghin
Total Authors: 1
|
| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2023-06-16 |
| Examining board members: |
Marcelo Aparecido Rede;
Carlos Henrique Barbosa Gonçalves;
Leandro Penna Ranieri;
Henrique Modanez de Sant'Anna
|
| Advisor: | Marcelo Aparecido Rede; Fábio Augusto Morales Soares |
| Abstract | |
In the period after the death of Alexander the Great, the newly formed Hellenistic Empires were in need to co-opt the local elites to assure their stability and conditions of expansion. The Seleucid Empire inherited most of the territories conquered by Alexander and, like him, established its initial core in Babylonia. The relationship between Seleucid imperial agents and the local priestly elite of the Esagila temple, the main institution of the city, is the focus of this dissertation. I will examine how the institutional organization and scribal culture of this elite were affected by the integration process within the empire and, by consequence, within the broader Hellenistic World. To better understand this process, I propose a two-step analysis. First, I will investigate how the empire was structured in the city and how this affected the organization of the Esagila temple. To this end, I will identify the empire\'s political strategies, such as the establishment of new institutions and fiscal systems, the delegation of imperial agents, and evergetic measures – as recorded in historiographical and administrative texts and on stelae. I will argue that, similar to other core cities in the imperial territory, while significant changes were implemented in the local organization, the court heavily depended on the collaboration of the native elites; hence, the Seleucids elevated the priests of Esagila to the status of relays of imperial power in the city, as well as ceded to it a degree of administrative freedom. Second, I will inquire the Babylonian historical-literary sources to understand how the scribal culture maintained by the priestly elite was affected by imperial annexation. I will analyse both how this culture appropriated literary trends and topoi from the Hellenistic world and how the new contacts with the foreign dynasty intensified some older dynamics of the pre-Hellenistic scribal culture. I will argue that the priests, on the one hand, used Hellenistic references to create an effective channel of communication with the imperial court and, on the other hand, advocated for the importance and usefulness of Babylonian millennial knowledge, held within the temple, to guide the Seleucid government. I advance that these two steps depict the impact of the empire on the political-cultural sphere of Babylon as well as the local agency and expectations toward the Seleucids. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 20/04735-9 - The intelectual elite of Babylon and the formation of the Seleucid Empire: Alterations and influences in the cuneiforme culture (IV-III a.C.) |
| Grantee: | Santiago Colombo Reghin |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |