This collaborative volume examines revolts and resistance to the successor states, formed after Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian empire, as a transregional phenomenon. The editors have assembled an array of specialists in the study of the various regions and cultures of the Hellenistic world - Judea, Egypt, Babylonia, Central Asia, and Asia Minor - in an effort to trace comparisons and connections between episodes and modes of resistance. The volume seeks to unite the currently dominant social-scientific orientation to ancient resistance and revolt with perspectives, often coming from religious studies, that are more attentive to local cultural, religious, and moral frameworks. In re-assessing these frameworks, contributors move beyond Greek/non-Greek binaries to examine resistance as complex and entangled: acts and articulations of resistance are not purely nativistic or 'nationalist', but conditioned by local traditions of government, historical memories of prior periods, as well as emergent transregional Hellenistic political and cultural idioms. Cultures of Resistance in the Hellenistic East is organized into three parts. The first part investigates the Great Theban Revolt and the Maccabean Revolt, the central cases for large, organized, and prolonged military uprisings against the Hellenistic kingdoms. The second part examines the full gamut of indigenous self-assertion and resistant action, including theologies of monarchic inadequacy, patterns of historical periodization and textual interpretation, and claims to sites of authority. The volume's final part turns to the more ambiguous assertions of local autonomy and identity that emerge in the frontier regions that slipped in and out of the grasp of the great Hellenistic powers.

This collaborative volume examines revolts and resistance to the successor states, formed after Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian empire, as a transregional phenomenon. The editors have assembled an array of specialists in the study of the various regions and cultures of the Hellenistic world - Judea, Egypt, Babylonia, Central Asia, and Asia Minor - in an effort to trace comparisons and connections between episodes and modes of resistance. The volume seeks to unite the currently dominant social-scientific orientation to ancient resistance and revolt with perspectives, often coming from religious studies, that are more attentive to local cultural, religious, and moral frameworks. In re-assessing these frameworks, contributors move beyond Greek/non-Greek binaries to examine resistance as complex and entangled: acts and articulations of resistance are not purely nativistic or 'nationalist', but conditioned by local traditions of government, historical memories of prior periods, as well as emergent transregional Hellenistic political and cultural idioms. Cultures of Resistance in the Hellenistic East is organized into three parts. The first part investigates the Great Theban Revolt and the Maccabean Revolt, the central cases for large, organized, and prolonged military uprisings against the Hellenistic kingdoms. The second part examines the full gamut of indigenous self-assertion and resistant action, including theologies of monarchic inadequacy, patterns of historical periodization and textual interpretation, and claims to sites of authority. The volume's final part turns to the more ambiguous assertions of local autonomy and identity that emerge in the frontier regions that slipped in and out of the grasp of the great Hellenistic powers.

The conquest of Alexander the Great was a catalyst for change throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, opening up new spaces for interaction between Greek and non-Greek cultures. In exploring these, this volume reassesses the concepts of 'Hellenism' and 'Hellenization' and their usefulness for understanding cultural exchange in this region and era

There is no region more central to the ancient Greek romance novel than the thousand or so miles stretching from Alexandria to ancient Ethiopia that comprise the Nile River Valley. Yet, for all its importance, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel: Between Representation and Resistance is the first book-length study of how this region is depicted in a literary genre whose fictional tales of love, travel, separation, and reunion flourished during the Roman imperial period. Employing approaches from Literary Studies, Classics, and Egyptology, Robert Cioffi explores the Nile River Valley in the ancient Greek romance novel through two fundamentally related concepts: representation and resistance. On the one hand, these novels develop an image of Egypt and Ethiopia that is in close dialogue with the Greco-Roman ethnographic tradition, characterized by extraordinary marvels such as grand cities, ancient religious rites, and a dizzying array of animals—some real, some imaginary, and some so incredible as to seem make-believe. On the other hand, this depiction often figures Egypt and Ethiopia as sites of resistance, revolt, and rebellion against—or political, cultural, and religious alternatives to—an array of dominant imperial powers in the region, from the Persians to the Romans. This dual reading enriches our understanding of these texts' relationship with the real and imagined frontiers of Roman political, military, and intellectual power. It also raises a broader set of questions—some literary, some cultural-historical—about the interrelation of humans, their environment, and the topographies of cultural identity in the Roman empire.

This volume provides a thorough conspectus of the field of Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek studies, mixing theoretical and historical surveys with critical and thought-provoking case studies in archaeology, history, literature and art. The chapters from this international group of experts showcase innovative methodologies, such as archaeological GIS, as well as providing accessible explanations of specialist techniques such as die studies of coins, and important theoretical perspectives, including postcolonial approaches to the Greeks in India. Chapters cover the region’s archaeology, written and numismatic sources, and a history of scholarship of the subject, as well as culture, identity and interactions with neighbouring empires, including India and China. The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World is the go-to reference work on the field, and fulfils a serious need for an accessible, but also thorough and critically-informed, volume on the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms. It provides an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the Hellenistic East. The Introduction and Chapter 17 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

What changes in the material culture can we observe, when a state is overwhelming a local population with soldiers, katoikoi, and civil officials or merchants? What were the mutual influences between native and colonial cultures? This collection addresses these questions and many more, focusing on the Hellenistic and Roman East.