Visual Style and Constructing Identity in the Hellenistic World
Nemrud Da? and Commagene under Antiochos I

A new interpretation of Nemrud Da?, a key Hellenistic monument which encompasses both Greek and Persian elements.

Miguel John Versluys (Author)

9781316506776, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 November 2020

332 pages
23 x 15 x 2 cm, 0.57 kg

'This book offers a new point of view to scholarship that still believes in the classical notion of Hellenism. His integration of sophisticated methodological concepts is laudable and will change academic conversations for the better, the writing is fluid and the images and maps are very helpful. … the book is of great importance in both its method and its content for the study of First century BCE Commagene and the surrounding region.' Histara-les comptes rendus (www.histara.sorbonne.fr)

Located in the small kingdom of Commagene at the upper Euphrates, the late Hellenistic monument of Nemrud Da? (c.50 BC) has been undeservedly neglected by scholars. Qualified as a Greco-Persian hybrid instigated by a lunatic king, this fascinating project of bricolage has been written out of history. This volume redresses that imbalance, interpreting Nemrud Da? as an attempt at canon building by Antiochos I in order to construct a dynastic ideology and social order, and proving the monument's importance for our understanding of a crucial transitional phase from Hellenistic to Roman. Hellenistic Commagene therefore holds a profound significance for a number of discussions, such as the functioning of the Hellenistic koine and the genesis of Roman 'art', Hellenism and Persianism in antiquity, dynastic propaganda and the power of images, Romanisation in the East, the contextualising of the Augustan cultural revolution, and the role of Greek culture in the Roman world.

1. Approaching Nemrud Da?
2. Commagene: a historical geography
3. Identity
4. Style
5. Postscript: between East and West?
Appendix. Antiochos' nomos: translation.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]