| Kommentar |
Kings, cities, and elephants: Asia Minor under the Seleucids
Mi 10-12 (nur bis 22. Mai)
und Blocksitzungen am Fr. 12.4. 14-18 Uhr
und Sa. 13.4. 10-16 Uhr
In this course we will focus on the tumultuous history of Asia Minor during the Seleucid period, beginning with Seleucus’ decisive victory at Cyrupedium in 281 B.C. We will look at the entrance into Asia Minor of a horde of marauding Celts, the Galatians, and their settlement in the central highlands where Antiochus I confronted and defeated them with that military unit for which the Seleucids were both famed and feared: war-elephants. The Seleucids, however, faced other challenges: an effectively independent Pergamum under the rule of the eunuch Philhetaerus, Ptolemaic control of much of the southern coastline, and a vicious civil war between the two brothers Seleucus II and Antiochus surnamed “the hawk” owing to his ruthless, predatory nature. The course will conclude with Antiochus III’s restoration of Seleucid authority in a triumphal campaign made possible by his merciless exploitation of the boy-king Ptolemy V’s weakness, by his cynical double-crossing of his erstwhile ally Philip V of Macedon, and finally by his artful diplomacy with the Rhodians. During the course we will also look at questions of administration, political organisation, and economic development on the basis of literary, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence.
Sämtliche Prüfungsleistungen können in deutscher Sprache abgelegt werden. |
| Literatur |
Einführende Literatur:
J. Ma, Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor, Oxford 1999
R.M. Errington, Hellenistic World 323-30 B.C., Malden, MA. 2008.
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