University of Heidelberg

Déjà Vu: Visual Imagery and the Local Elite in Asia Minor at the Dawn of the Hellenistic Rule

Deniz Kaptan
(University of Nevada, Reno)

This paper consists of two parts. It first addresses the archaeology of the Achaemenid empire in western Anatolia to provide a glimpse into the workings of the imperial mechanism, its administrative and communication network, and looks into what the cultural landscape might have been like shortly before the arrival of Alexander.  Then it poses the following questions regarding the Hellenistic period: If the concept of social imaginary could be applied to the cultural landscape of Anatolia during the Achaemenid empire period, then what transformations would be observed in the adaptation processes of the local communities, local elites and their “self-identities” in response to the emergence of new rulers, new administrative language and new ruling centers of the Hellenistic period? Without using our preconceptions and modern view, to what extent can archaeology contribute to the understanding of cultural shifts and progress? The sophisticated urban development of the fourth century in Anatolia will be noted as a significant outcome of the pre-Hellenistic era. Former Achaemenid centers, e.g. Daskyleion, appear to have lost their role in the new administrative apparatus.  For visual imagery the focus will be on glyptic and coinage of the region. Even though some images, such as portrait heads, scenes of battle and hunting, have threads to the past traditions, interpreting them simply as the outcome of continuity may not coincide with the thoughts of the inhabitants of Anatolia, whose self-identities were now bound up with the social and political demands of the Hellenistic period.