Beyond Alexandria: Literature and Empire in the Seleucid World

Beyond Alexandria aims to provide a better understanding of Seleucid literature, covering the period from Seleucus I to Antiochus III. Despite the historical importance of the Seleucid Empire during the long third century BCE, little attention has been devoted to its literature. The works of authors affiliated with the Seleucid court have tended to be overshadowed by works coming out of Alexandria, emerging from the court of the Ptolemies, the main rivals of the Seleucids. This book makes two key points, both of which challenge the idea that "Alexandrian" literature is coterminous with Hellenistic literature as a whole. First, the book sets out to demonstrate that a distinctly strand of writing emerged from the Seleucid court, characterized by shared perspectives and thematic concerns. Second, Beyond Alexandria explores how Seleucid literature was significant on the wider Hellenistic stage. Specifically, it shows that the works of Seleucid authors influenced and provided counterpoints to writers based in Alexandria, including key figures such as Eratosthenes and Callimachus. For this reason, the literature of the Seleucids is not only interesting in its own right; it also provides an important entry point for furthering our understanding of Hellenistic literature in general.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Overview map Introduction Introduction Seleucid literature Chapter 1: Mapping the Realm Introduction Mapping the Realm: Mental Maps and the Spectre of World Empire On the Hellenistic Stage: Knowledge and Appropriation in Geography Chapter 2: Babylon, City of Kings Introduction The Kings and the City The Voice of the Local Priests: Manetho and the Ptolemies Chapter 3: Seleucid Crisis and the Ptolemaic Response Introduction Cultural Polemic: the Lock of Berenice and Barbarian Asia Meta-poetics and Inter-state Rivalry Chapter 4: Poets and Politics at the Court of Antiochus III Introduction Simonides: the Galatian Threat and the Struggle for Asia Minor Euphorion of Chalcis and the Literary Court Looking West: Hegesianax and the War with Rome Conclusion Bibliography

About the Author :
Marijn S. Visscher is an independent scholar of Greek literature.

Review :
"Visscher's is the first book-length study of the period's literature.... Highly recommended." -- CHOICE "Visscher offers an original study of literature associated with the Seleucid court. She shows how intellectual and imperial projects intertwined in the aftermath of Alexander's conquests, arguing that what happened in Syria, Babylon and even Bactria shaped the character of Hellenistic literature not just in the Seleucid Empire but in Ptolemaic Alexandria too. An important new work of scholarship." -- Johannes Haubold, Princeton University "Visscher has made a ground-breaking contribution to our understanding of Hellenistic literature and kingship, unearthing a heretofore almost unseen pole of cultural production in the east Mediterranean and west Asia. This is the first book to explore in depth the literary response to the rivalry of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic mega kingdoms, and succeeds as much in bringing new attention to little studied works and authors as in fundamentally reshaping our understanding of the agendas at work in Alexandrian literature. This is a new, multilateral model of court and culture in the Hellenistic age." -- Paul Kosmin, Harvard University