The recent English translation cum third edition of Christian Habicht’s Gottmenschentum und griechische Städte, originally published in 1956, provides anglophone students of Hellenistic ruler cult easy access to a foundational work of scholarship.[1] Habicht’s work famously focused on ruler cult as a means of illuminating political relations between Hellenistic royal powers and Greek poleis, expressly avoiding religious dimensions. The field has since moved away from this kind of avoidance,[2] and so this new study approaches the institution with religion solidly in focus. With a recurrent (but not exclusive) geographical emphasis on Asia Minor under different powers and Ptolemaic Egypt, The Materiality of Hellenistic Ruler Cults focuses on the material conditions and local contexts of ruler cult as a form of religious practice. It offers a valuable starting point for future research and makes a significant contribution to the field in its own right.
Stefano Caneva’s short introduction contextualises the volume, and the broader Practicalities of Hellenistic Ruler Cults project of which this is a first output, in the field’s parameters (Habicht, king-city relations) and in the history of Greek polytheism. The primary purpose of the introduction is to stress the potential of focusing on underexplored ritual and practical dimensions of ruler cult. One method championed here is “re-embrac[ing] a global perspective” (11) of cultic practices, in other words looking at a bigger picture of how Hellenistic ruler cult functions than follows from particularist studies of epigraphic dossiers from highly regional contexts. Another is setting archaeological methodologies alongside more normalised practices of evidence-study in the field, in a drive towards greater interdisciplinarity and new perspectives. All of this builds well on recent research, as does the theoretical orientation.
Caneva’s opening chapter expands on the introduction through a close study of cultic dedications from the Ptolemaic and Attalid kingdoms, focusing on evidence for Arsinoe II Philadelphus, Attalus I, and Eumenes II. The aggregated evidence is from different geographical contexts (Egypt and Asia Minor), though it is similar in that it represents short snapshots of religious action and decision-making: little plaques, statuettes, movable altars, mostly with snippets of inscribed writing. There are excellent illustrations of some of this evidence, as well as quantifications (e.g. the table showing occurrences of different noun cases in different locations, 27). The analysis focuses on practicalities and the ways these objects can be linked to the agency of local actors, their available resources, how they present and conceive of themselves, and linguistic issues. This chapter does demonstrate how productive a more global picture (or, at least, a less regionalised picture) of ruler cult’s everyday practices can be, and the anonymity of many of the texts studied conduces to this kind of bigger-picture analysis and synthesis.
Olga Palagia’s chapter focuses on the role of Hellenistic royal statuary in ruler cult, focusing particularly on the Ptolemies and Attalids. Not all statues belong in the realm of cult—many celebrate the rulers and their power for a wider range of purposes—but many were for the purpose of worshipping the depicted figure, especially when expressly divine imagery associated with established deities was incorporated. This chapter is appropriately concerned with materiality, including a study of statue materials (marble and acrolithic cult statues being likelier for the cult statues of the Ptolemies and Attalids than other materials), as well as other interesting dynamics such as contemporary or posthumous developments and comparative dynastic histories (principally, that the Ptolemies developed cult statues a good deal earlier than the Attalids in their establishment of dynastic power). This is a sensible extension of the available evidence, and there are excellent images in this chapter too, often in colour.
Stefan Pfeiffer’s contribution takes a specialised look at ritual formulary, specifically the ὑπέρ + genitive construction (“the hyper-formula”) in honours for deities made for a third party. The formula is culturally and semantically expansive, meaning slightly different things in Greek and Jewish contexts and intersecting with the long-standing Egyptian function of making offerings for pharaohs in Egyptian temples. The hyper-formula, as well as offering opportunities for linkage and continuity of religious practice under the Ptolemaic regime, provided possibilities for private or individual religious euergetism (and the accrual of prestige that came with it) without compromising Egyptian traditions around the pharaoh’s role in temple financing and construction. Pfeiffer’s discussion, which is thorough and convincing, thus takes a deep dive into religious practice in Ptolemaic Egypt via practical minutiae.
In the next section, Rolf Strootman and Christina Williamson’s chapter is actually pre-Hellenistic in focus, offering an examination of the Hecatomnid use of sacred sites in the construction of a ‘royal landscape’ in Achaemenid Caria. They argue that it was proto-Hellenistic in some respects, with a wide influence on Hellenistic royal architecture, yet also that the Hecatomnid building programme was additionally rooted in Achaemenid and Ionian models. Alongside functional and practical issues, how construction and landscape were used in royal and dynastic projections is a key focus of the chapter, as is involvement with imperial networks. This is a valuable study of the importance of place in the performance and negotiation of royal power, and it is helpful particularly for framing the dialogue between ‘local’ and ‘imperial’: in this respect, it will be an important read for historians of the Hellenistic empires. There are also some really excellent colour images in this chapter too.
Mario Paganini’s chapter examines private articulations of cultic worship for rulers, with a specific focus on gymnasia and other associations in Ptolemaic Egypt. Looking at Greek and Egyptian evidence from the chōra rather than the poleis (that is, looking outside of Alexandria, Naucratis, and Ptolemais), the chapter discusses practical features and cultural traditions, as well as rationalisations for the spread of ruler cult in private settings and what impact it could have in local societies. In particular, local elites could enhance their own status via taking an instrumental role in the spread of cults for their rulers, the Ptolemies, and one meaningful consequence of this was that the Ptolemies “came to acquire a more vivid, tangible, and real presence in the lives of their subjects” (145).
Caneva’s third contribution, this time in French instead of English, takes a specialised study of honours for the Attalid king Attalus III in the city of Pergamum. As well as the historical context, form, and content of the Pergamene decree in honour of Attalus III (the inscription IvP I 246), the chapter examines reception rituals and other connected honours. These are analysed in the context of Pergamene sacred space, particularly the sanctuaries of Asclepius (outside the city) and Zeus Sōtēr (in the agora). Local elites are seen to play an important function in coordinating such honours and rituals, which are also situated in the context of civic traditions (as they are elsewhere in the Hellenistic world). This elaboration of the wider issues, contexts, and dynamics through a single honorific focus is a strong affirmation of the methodological choices articulated at the outset of the volume.
Catharine Lorber’s chapter focuses on financial underpinnings of ruler cult, particularly in the Ptolemaic kingdom. Money to support the institution of ruler cult is seen to derive from multiple sources: the rulers themselves, taxes and freewill financial offerings, and private/individual euergetism, all of which were state-coordinated or at least state-encouraged. Both Greek and Egyptian institutions of ruler cult benefit from Lorber’s analysis, and significant differentiations are noted. In sum, the Ptolemies promoted their own ruler cults both practically but also very publicly, investing their own image as well as their wide resources into the institution. There is a neat, albeit short, comparison with the Seleucids at the end of the chapter, noting principally the divergent practices between the two kingdoms (the Ptolemies had far greater central input into developing ruler cult). All of this is extremely specialised stuff, with a quantitative focus, that takes an exhaustive look at wide bodies of evidence, and it repays the reader’s close attention.
Caneva and Luca Lorenzon offer a final chapter, again in French, on hymns for political leaders in the context of civic festivals, stressing in particular the significant contribution made by different localities in the development of royal mythologies. The chapter centres around the performance contexts of cultic hymns for rulers, constructed as a means for a civic community to communicate with ruling powers in a ritualised fashion in a way that is supplemented and enhanced by a range of other honours and religious practices. How the city imagined the ruler in hymnic and poetic representations could have significant impact on the ruler’s own ideological projections, which is interesting as another area in which a city could exercise agency to influence a greater power. The chapter overall is in some respects a divergence from the book’s focus on the religious and the ‘practicalities’, yet it does connect the local context with the bigger picture in keeping with the book’s aims.
Individual chapters contain some internal cross-referencing to join the papers together, and Caneva’s afterword, which returns to English, ties together the collected papers a bit more fully and offers some further reflections under the headings of ‘Space’, ‘Time’, ‘Material’, and ‘Agency’. This gives the reader a good deal more to think about, and the reflective style should be helpful to ongoing research in the field. In my view, the chapters shows a strong unity of approach in the recurrent fine-grained analysis of details linked to the practical establishments and arrangements of ruler cults, particularly in the areas of institutions, administration, and financing. Local and ritual contexts and traditions remain strongly in focus throughout. It is also successful in modelling an alternative approach to Hellenistic ruler cult, in that it moves away from collation and analysis of an epigraphical dossier (something of a trend in Hellenistic history, not least in Habicht’s Gottmenschentum). The embedding of an archaeological perspective is also successful, which brings the material realities of religious life into the centre of discussion and evokes a more diverse picture than a traditional focus on top-level political actors would achieve.
Individual scholars might have their own disagreements on a chapter by chapter basis, or indeed on the balance of the volume as a whole. I would say that because the book’s comparative angle extends primarily to the Ptolemies and the Attalids (a form of particularism in its own way), it only partially fulfils the ‘global perspective’ of Hellenistic ruler cult that was stressed as needful in the introduction. Of course, future outputs of the PHRC project may well go further in this direction and develop a wider set of comparanda, and it is a measure of the book’s success in showing the potential of new approaches that I wish the geographical and dynastic range were broader.
The quality of the production and editorial work is very high. Typographical errors are largely absent and, where present, are entirely forgivable. Chapters which include images (Caneva, Palagia, Strootman and Williamson) enable the reader to engage with the analysis of evidence more closely. The indices are a substantial aid for researchers, with an index of sources (including epigraphic and papyrological) alongside a general index that is sub-divided into categories. Graduate students, often a primary readership for a specialised book of this kind, will find the collection of studies very stimulating (as well as affordable, given the very reasonable price and quality of the volume), and established scholars will profit from it greatly too.
Authors and titles
Introduction: Rituals, materiality, and the cultic honours for Hellenistic political leaders / Stefano G. Caneva
Media, Supports, and Circulation
L’importance de la matérialité. Le rôle des petits autels, plaques et bases inscrits dans la compréhension des cultes pour les souverains / Stefano G. Caneva
The cult statues of the Ptolemies and the Attalids / Olga Palagia
Offerings and libations for the king and the question of ruler-cult in Egyptian temples / Stefan Pfeiffer
Ritual Space and Practice
Creating a royal landscape: Hekatomnid use of urban and rural sacred sites in fourth-century Karia / Rolf Strootman, Christina G. Williamson
Cults for the rulers in private settings: The gymnasia and associations of Hellenistic Egypt / Mario C.D. Paganini
Les honneurs cultuels pour Attale III à Pergame (IvP I 246) / Stefano G. Caneva
Agency, Administration, and Funding
Who pays the bill? Monetary aspects of royal cult in the Ptolemaic kingdom / Catharine C. Lorber
Les hymnes pour les chefs politiques dans les fêtes civiques. L’apport local à la construction des mythologies royales / Stefano G. Caneva, Luca Lorenzon
Afterword / Stefano G. Caneva
Notes
[1] Divine Honors for Mortal Men in Greek Cities: The Early Cases (Translated from the German by John Noël Dillon; first edition 1956; second edition 1970) (Ann Arbor: Michigan Classical Press, 2017). Incidentally, this was reviewed by Caneva for BMCR.
[2] e.g. S.R.F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult of Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 23–52; Panagiotis P. Iossif, Andrzej S. Chankowski, and Catharine C. Lorber, eds., More than Men, Less than Gods: Studies on Royal Cult and Imperial Worship (Leuven: Peeters, 2011); H.S. Versnel, Coping with the Gods: Wayward Readings in Greek Theology, 439–92.