Looking for the Seleucid couple

Looking for the Seleucid couple

Abstract

The Hellenistic world was characterised by the emergence of diverse kingdoms which developed on a territory earlier conquered by Alexander the Great. The kings (βασιλεῖς) at the head of these kingdoms were polygynous. They had indeed concubines and established many marriages as imposed by political alliances they sought to develop. They entertained a plurality of bilateral relations with their wives or concubines. These relations were not sequential but were effective at the same time. Thus, the couple was a very multilateral reality. For this reason, the very concept of the “couple of power” must be used with caution. In other words, we must question the effectiveness of this concept in understanding the functioning of the Hellenistic kingdoms and the public representations of its rulers. This chapter highlights the emergence in the Seleucid dynasty of a new political imagination (namely the affection uniting the ruling family) that forms the Seleucid power couple.

In: Bielman Sánchez, Anne (Ed.), Power Couples in Antiquity. Transversal Perspectives. Routledge Monographs in Classical Antiquity. London and New York: Routledge.