University of Heidelberg

Babylonian, Macedonian, King of the World: The Antiochos Cylinder from Borsippa and Seleukid imperial integration

Rolf Strootman
(Utrecht University)

The Antiochos Cylinder, a cuneiform document from Babylonia of 268 BCE, is a crucial source for Seleukid imperialism in the Middle East, offering a unique snapshot of the empire’s attitude towards indigenous populations and local culture. Written in an archaic form of Akkadian, the Cylinder seems to present king Antiochos I in traditional Babylonian terms, emphasizing his devotion to the moon-god Nabû.

Conventional historiography sees this text as evidence for the continuity of local traditions, and even as proof of a profound Babylonian influence on the Seleukid Empire; thus the Antiochos Cylinder has been fitted into the postcolonial perception of the Seleukid Empire as essentially an ‘eastern’ empire — a continuation of the Achaemenid kingdom rather than an autonomous part of Middle East history. But how ‘traditional’ was the Antiochos Cylinder? And if the Seleukids really were so conscientious about local identities, why then did members of local communities adopt a (partial) Greek identity?

In this paper I will argue from a different premise: far from merely conforming to pre-existing traditions and local expectations, the Seleukids sought to integrate in their system of imperial control the diverse cultural traditions of the East by consistently patronizing sanctuaries dedicated to deities that could be associated with the imperial gods Apollo and Artemis, and by cultivating an umbrella culture of empire that connected civic elites of manifold cultural backgrounds. This unifying imperial culture, I will argue, was in essence Hellenic—or rather: Seleukid.

Drawing on recent research challenging the ‘continuity’-paradigm of the past decades, I will compare the Antiochos Cylinder with other attestations of the Seleukids’ diversified political and religious representation, looking for ‘family resemblances’ rather than cultural particulars, and argue that the Seleukid dynasty, too, shaped the development of religious and political culture in the Near East and Iran.