On the basis of 97 epigraphic documents, listed in an appendix, the author analyzes Seleukid and Attalid state communications' practice. She demonstrates that Hellenistic state correspondence from Asia Minor and the Near East survives almost exclusively in the form of royal letters that were turned into public monuments by inscribing them on steles or on the facades of public buildings. This happened most frequently at the initiative of the city or community that profited from the king's word. Yet there are also instances, all dating to the century between c. 250-150 BC, where it was the king who explicitly ordered the drafting of a stone copy. The author suggests how royal letters may be classified, subsuming the two types usually distinguished by traditional categorization – letters addressed to Greek cities and communities on the one hand, and letters addressed to state officials on the other – into a more general category of 'state communication' where the language of power can be discerned. Finally the author analyzes the communication strategies – drafting copies, sealing, delivering, archiving – employed in transmitting the Hellenistic king's wishes, especially with reference to the Seleukid kingdom, which, given its vast dimensions, needed, much more than any other Hellenistic realm, effective means to communicate information.
The King's Words: Hellenistic Royal Letters in Inscriptions
BENCIVENNI, ALICE
2014
Abstract
On the basis of 97 epigraphic documents, listed in an appendix, the author analyzes Seleukid and Attalid state communications' practice. She demonstrates that Hellenistic state correspondence from Asia Minor and the Near East survives almost exclusively in the form of royal letters that were turned into public monuments by inscribing them on steles or on the facades of public buildings. This happened most frequently at the initiative of the city or community that profited from the king's word. Yet there are also instances, all dating to the century between c. 250-150 BC, where it was the king who explicitly ordered the drafting of a stone copy. The author suggests how royal letters may be classified, subsuming the two types usually distinguished by traditional categorization – letters addressed to Greek cities and communities on the one hand, and letters addressed to state officials on the other – into a more general category of 'state communication' where the language of power can be discerned. Finally the author analyzes the communication strategies – drafting copies, sealing, delivering, archiving – employed in transmitting the Hellenistic king's wishes, especially with reference to the Seleukid kingdom, which, given its vast dimensions, needed, much more than any other Hellenistic realm, effective means to communicate information.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
