Beyond Alexandria: Literature and Empire in the Seleucid World by Marijn S. Visscher (review)

In Beyond Alexandria: Literature and Empire in the Seleucid World, Marijn S. Visscher wants to study the Seleucid world and its interactions with its great rivals, the Ptolemies of Alexandria. This aim is already expressed in its introduction, which opens with a poem by Constantine Cavafy (Η Δόξα των Πτολεμαίων, "The Fame of the Ptolemies"). Starting from this celebration of the Ptolemaic kings, Visscher focuses on those of the Seleucids by analyzing four specific moments of their history: (a) the expansion under Seleucus I, (b) the consolidation with Antiochus I, (c) the crisis of the Third Syrian War at the time of Seleucus II, and (d) the restoration and defeat by Rome under Antiochus III. These different historical periods reflect the entire structure of the book, which in its four chapters retraces the literature connected to Seleucids kings and their court.

The first chapter is dedicated to the beginnings of the Seleucid kingdom, when Seleucus Nicanor became the hegemon of Asia after the defeat of Antigonus Monophtalmus at Ipsus in 301 bc. In this early phase, the main purpose of the Seleucid kings was to expand and consolidate their power, which could be possible thanks to the geographical works of three generals: Patrocles, Demodamas, and Megasthenes. Starting from these authors, Visscher makes some important observations on the manipulation of space and the perception of the Empire as something extending to the end of the Earth. In fact, he notices how the "Literature of the Generals" comprehends the two ways by which the Seleucids wanted to appropriate a certain region: fighting and writing. And in the case of writing, I think that the act of describing a place can really suggest imperial control over that place. Certainly, it seems that early Seleucid authors, when talking about their expeditions in central Asia, thought something like "We've been here and this must be our space, especially because we can demonstrate it with our report." By analyzing this conception of space's appropriation more deeply, the chapter ends with an interesting comparison with Eratosthenes. Eratosthenes was a rival of the Seleucid writers but also the main source for their transmission: instead of going to Asia and describing it, he was able to do the same thing just by staying in the library of Alexandria. For this reason, the global perspective assumed by Eratosthenes contributed to overshadow the previous geographers who were less accurate, something which obviously influenced their transmission.

The second chapter continues the historical literature of the Seleucid world by analyzing the period of consolidation with Antiochus I and the importance of Babylon, which is named "the City of Kings." After a brief introduction to traditions about Babylon, the intent is to focus on the literary interaction between the temple elites and the Seleucids kings. For this reason, Visscher quotes a wide range of texts, which emphasize the euergetism of the kings that was expressed by the construction or restoration of temples. Amongst this literary evidence, Berossus' Babyloniaca assumes an important role because it echoes the history of the city, its contemporary situation and—last but not least—the Seleucid texts and the Hellenistic euergetic inscriptions. Therefore, we can recognize a sense of nostalgia under the Seleucid rule, which emerges, for example, from the inscriptions related to the Akītu festival. This Babylonian New Year festival was a key moment to legitimate the Seleucid king as a king of Babylon and to express his euergetism. Like the previous chapter, this one also ends by making a comparison with the Ptolemaic world and an analysis of the similarities between Berossus and the Egyptian historian Manetho. In particular, the conclusion of the second chapter is similar to that found in the first one: just as Eratosthenes overshadowed the Seleucid geographers, Manetho neutralized and extinguished Berossus with his history of Egypt.

In the third chapter, Visscher discusses the crisis of the Seleucid Empire in the third century bc, when the dynastic struggle between...