From Negotiation to Integration: Hegemony in Hellenistic Times
De la négociation à l'intégration : l'hégémonie à l'époque hellénistique
Abstract
Ce colloque se propose d'étudier la notion d'hégémonie à l'époque hellénistique, au prisme de quatre grands axes : sa définition concrète, ses mécanismes de mise en fonctionnement, ses applications concrètes, et ses limites. L'objectif de ce colloque est de se questionner sur l'applicabilité de comportements décrits comme ceux d'une puissance hégémonique, dans le monde issu de la désintégration du royaume d'Alexandre.
Announcement
Argument
This symposium aims at studying the relationships between political entities in the Greek world during Hellenistic times, through the notion of hegemony (hègémônia) - i. e. how a power imposes itself to another or various political entities. The dissolution of Alexander’s kingdom changed the configuration of the Greek world and enabled old and new political entities - Diadochi’s kingdoms, other kingdoms, dynasteiai, koina, poleis - to create new submission bonds. The gradual provincialization of the Mediterranean area then transformed the power balance and led to an homogenization of control under the Roman Empire, after Augustus’ principate (27 B.C.-14 A.D.). Those various gradients of hegemony, interactions and resistances they faced are at the core of this symposium.
First, a theoretical thought on the very notion of hegemony will be led (axis 1), before questioning the creation, the functioning and the actors of the hegemony (axis 2). Its concrete manifestations - on local spheres - will be examined (axis 2) and then the quarrels and oppositions within or between hegemonies, as the way to repress them (axis 4).
This symposium is organised by five doctoral candidates from ED 022 “Ancient and Medieval worlds” from Sorbonne University and UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée.
Part 1: Defining hegemony during Hellenistic times
Arkhè, basileia, dynasteia, … Plenty of Greek terms can define a power and its nature. This variety is meaningful: each form of power has its own characteristics and designation. In it, the notion of hegemony holds a special place. It was inextricably linked to the representation and the games of power in Ancient Greece, especially during Classical times, between Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and the Macedonian kingdom (G. Glotz and R. Cohen, 1936). Within the last years, new studies have invited us to question this very notion (Patrice Brun, 2017 ; Giulia Icardi, 2024). The first part of this symposium aims at studying and defining the notion of hegemony, during Hellenistic times. Thus, communications could determine the senses and fields of application, by confronting this notion to the many political Hellenistic frameworks, and to the other notions used to study power practices (domination, supremacy, imperialism, etc.). The very use and adaptation of the term “hegemony” - by whom and why - could be questioned by the attendees. The point of Hellenistic times is the outbreak of new monarchies since Alexander’s death that changed the balance between political entities and the way they acted with each other. The civic scale will not be forgotten. Indeed, the growing of koina during Hellenistic times is to be observed through the lens of hegemony, between continuity with classical times and innovations from Hellenistic ones.
Part 2: Making hegemony operative: actors, speeches and mechanism of domination
Hegemony is bound to complex balances of power and it keeps growing into areas of influence with boundaries in the blur. Therefore, its concrete applications could be questioned. Establishing a submission bond goes by using, on one hand, an official (or unofficial) discourse addressed by the main power to its subjects, and on the other hand, specific ways of managing: tribute taxes, garrison setting, ritual performances... In 1999, John Ma studied the ways of submission during the brief moment when the Great Antiochos won back Asia Minor (from 216-188). We will try to confirm those mechanisms on the larger scale and time of the Hellenistic era.
The efficiency of the power’s rhetoric can only befall if adapted to the entities targeted for submission. In the Hellenistic world, it bears with ancient traditions coming from the Achaemenids, among others. The adjustments rely on cultural transfers, studied by Bernard Legras and Jean-Christophe Couvenhes in 2006: they started analyzing the impact of ancient and new power hybridations on the way of practicing political power: how is an hegemonic rule settled? We can also investigate the way of justifying and adapting the use of power to different partners: how can power be real if not recognized by its subjects? It shows that domination and integration do not get to be valid or invalid but progressive. The attendees will also be free to explore how the hegemonic ruler creates a new relationship between its subjects, as a consequence of sharing a common submission to one central power. How do global and local political spheres interact? What kind of relationship do they build together? In her study on the royal philoi, Ivana Savelli-Lestrade offered a prosopography of those partnerships in Hellenistic Asia. It can be enlarged to actors other than the philoi, and to the whole Greek world.
Part 3: Hegemony in practice: local and material studies
Greek literary sources showed the enforcement of hegemonic rule and how it was perceived by its contemporaries. Within a divided Mediterranean Sea, between kingdoms and koina, Greek poleis’ institutions are remarkably stable. As the smallest political entity, the polis interacts with the hegemonic actors: the numerous letters incoming from royal chancelleries and Roman Senate stands for a steady relationship. How did the civic and federal organization handle those contacts and did they transform within their framework?
The attendees will focus on different types of sources to shape the material presence of hegemonic rulers within the civic/federal landscape: they can summon epigraphics, numismatics and archaeological sources to measure how heavy the ruler’s presence was in the polis or the koinon. Communications will rely on precise examples expressing royal or Roman domination at a local scale, while questioning the matters of propaganda and features of a non-civic power. Royal visits, dorea and monumental constructions, cults and festivities, were all used by the hegemonic ruler to entrench itself in the territories; but it’s also, for koina and poleis, a way of winning a powerful attention, its benevolentia and protection. Hegemony will then be seen from a citizen point of view that determines an ability to express publicly and civically their submission or independence.
Part 4: Contested hegemonies? Opposing, destroying or replacing one hegemony with another
Hegemonies don’t last forever. As every form of power, they face frequent or/and violent opposition. To close this symposium we will question the ways of challenging the hegemonic ruler within his area of power as well as confronting and fighting against other rulers. The taking of Corinth by Aratos in 243 and the entrance of the polis in the Achaian koinon can be used as an example. It shows how the Antigonid hegemonic power was narrowed in the Peloponnese since the Macedonian garrison was expelled from Corinth. Diplomacy or violence are ways to fight against an hegemonic power or to counteract its influence. In other situations, the diplomatic or military struggle can be the end of the hegemony. The attendees will question the scale, the actors and their ways of struggling and how they make it a fair or noble fight. They will investigate how the hegemonic rule deals with those oppositions, and succeeds or fails into stifling them. Military campaigns can be the most frequent way but it can also proceed by a close surveillance over the rebel entity. When Antiochos III takes back the polis of Sardes (213 B.C.), he forbids the entrance of the gymnasium to the Sardis people and settles his own soldier in it: he temporarily stops the life of a fundamental institution of the city. Finally, the consequences of those oppositions (reinforcement, progressive weakening, destruction) can be questioned by the attendees.
Submission guidelines
The communications could be delivered
until Monday, May 5th 2025.
Way to deliver the proposal: Word and PDF papers including :
- A presentation of the researcher (name and surname, affiliated university, name of the director(s) for the doctoral candidates).
- The title and a summary of the proposal (350 words).
- The proposal would be written in Times New Roman, 12, justified.
English proposals are accepted.
Contact mail: colloque.hegemonie.su@gmail.com
The symposium will take place on Octobre 21rst-22nd 2025 at the House of Research (28 rue Serpente, Paris).
It could lead to a publication.
Scientific committee
- Manon Courtois, Doctoral candidate in Ancient History (Sorbonne Université)
- Hadrien Dutheil, Doctoral candidate in Ancient Greek History (Sorbonne Université)
- Félix Enault, Doctoral candidate in Ancient Greek History (Sorbonne Université)
- Julie Escalé, Doctoral candidate in Ancient Greek History (Sorbonne Université)
- Patrice Hamon, Professor of Ancient Greek Literature and civilisation (Sorbonne Université)
- François Lefèvre, Professor of Ancient Greek History (Sorbonne Université)
- Marie-Christine Marcellesi, Professor of Ancient Greek History (Sorbonne Université)
- Pierre Zuliani, Doctoral candidate in Ancient Greek History (Sorbonne Université)
Indicative bibliography
BONNIN, Grégory and LE QUERE, Enora (dir.), Pouvoirs, îles et mer : formes et modalités de l’hégémonie dans les Cyclades, VIIe s. a.C. - IIIe s. p.C., Bordeaux, Ausonius éditions, 2014.
BRUN, Patrice, Hégémonies et sociétés dans le monde grec : inscriptions grecques de l’époque classique, Bordeaux, Ausonius éditions 2017.
BURBANK, Jane and COOPER, Frederick, Empires in world history : power and the politics of difference, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2010.
COUVENHES, Jean-Christophe and LEGRAS, Bernard (dir.), Transferts culturels et politique dans le monde hellénistique, Actes de la table ronde sur les identités politiques, Sorbonne, 7 février 2004, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2006.
ECKSTEIN, Arthur M., Rome enters the Greek East : from anarchy to hierarchy in the Hellenistic Mediterranean, 230-170 BC, Malden, Blackwell Publishing, 2008.
ERICKSON, Kyle and RAMSEY, Gillian (dir.), Seleucid dissolution : the sinking of the anchor, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2011.
FERRARY, Jean-Louis, “L'empire de Rome et les hégémonies des cités grecques chez Polybe”, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, Volume 100, livraison 1, 1976, p.283-289
GLOTZ, Gustave and COHEN, Robert, Histoire grecque, t. III : La Grèce au IVe siècle ; la lutte pour l’hégémonie (404-336), Paris, Les Presses universitaires de France, 1936.
ICARDI, Giulia, Affirmer sa puissance par la mer : la rivalité pour l’hégémonie en Grèce dans la première moitié du IVe siècle avant J.-C., Lyon, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée-Jean-Pouilloux , 2024.
MA, John, Antiochos III and the cities of Western Asia Minor, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999.
MAREK, Christian, Rom und der Orient : Reiche, Götter, Könige, Munich, C.H. Beck, 2023.
SAVALLI-LESTRADE, Ivana, Les philoi royaux dans l’Asie hellénistique, Genève, Droz, 1998.
SCHOLTEN, Joseph, The politics of plunder : Aitolians and their koinon in the early Hellenistic era, 279-217 BC, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000.
Places
- Maison de la Recherche, 28 rue Serpente
Paris, France (75006)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Keywords
- hegemony, power, kingship, administration, negociation, integration, war, diplomacy, dialogue, city
Contact(s)
- Manon Courtois
courriel : manon [dot] courtois [at] free [dot] fr - Hadrien Dutheil
courriel : dutheil [dot] hadrien [at] gmail [dot] com - Pierre Zuliani
courriel : pierre [dot] zuliani2 [at] gmail [dot] com - Julie Escale
courriel : madame [dot] escale [at] gmail [dot] com - Felix Enault
courriel : felixenault [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« From Negotiation to Integration: Hegemony in Hellenistic Times », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Friday, March 21, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/13jb5
Google Calendar
iCal