Book review — Collaboration: “The Legitimation of Conquest. Monarchical Representation and the Art of Government in the Empire of Alexander the Great” by Kai Trampedach & Alexander Meeus (editors)

Alessandro III di Macedonia -Alexander The Great

5 min readNov 13, 2020

Hello everyone, thank you for being on Alessandro III di Macedonia! Today I can finally review a very interesting reading and I’d like to thank the publisher Franz Steiner Verlag for the copy! Before starting to talk about the book I’d like to make two clarifications.

Any errors you find in the review will be solely my fault and not the contributors’ fault and if you report them to me I’ll correct them immediately.

You will also find my observations and reflections in this dark purple because I want to write them making you understand that they are mine to avoid creating misunderstandings.

But let’s not waste any more time and let’s talk about this beautiful book!

The Legitimation of Conquest.

Monarchical Representation and the Art of Government in the Empire of Alexander the Great

ISBN: 978–3515127813, 363 pages

Franz Steiner Verlag, 2020

Within a single decade (334–325 BC) Alexander III of Macedon conquered much of the known world of his time, creating an empire that stretched from the Balkans to India and southern Egypt. His clear intention of establishing permanent dominion over this huge and culturally diverse territory raises questions about whether and how he tried to legitimate his position and about the reactions of various groups subject to his rule: Macedonians, Greeks, the army, indigenous elites. Starting from Max Weber’s “Herrschaftssoziologie”, the 15 authors discuss Alexander’s strategies of legitimation as well as the motives his subjects may have had for offering him obedience. The analysis of monarchical representation and political communication in these case-studies on symbolic performances and economic, administrative and religious measures sheds new light on the reasons for the swift Macedonian conquest: It appears that Alexander and his staff owed their success not only to their military talent but also to their communication skills and their capacity to cater to the expectations of their audiences.
Kai Trampedach is Professor of Ancient History at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Alexander Meeus is Akademischer Rat in the Ancient History department at the University of Mannheim, Germany.

Classificazione: 5 su 5.

A book like this has to be a 5 stars!

Reading time: from 25 October to 7 November 2020.

Contributors

MICHELE FARAGUNA is Professor of Greek History at the University of Milan, Italy.
HANS-JOACHIM GEHRKE, former President of the German Archaeological Institute, is Professor emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
MAURIZIO GIANGIULIO is Professor of Greek History at the University of Trento, Italy.
MATTHIAS HAAKE is Privatdozent in Ancient History at the University of Münster, Germany.
TONIO HÖLSCHER is Professor emeritus of Classical Archaeology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
MICHAEL JURSA is professor of Assyriology at the University of Vienna, Austria.
WILHELM KÖHLER is graduate student of Theology and History at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
MAXIM M. KHOLOD is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the St. Petersburg State University, Russia.
CHRISTIAN MANN is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Mannheim, Germany.
MANUELA MARI is Professor of Greek History at the ‘Aldo Moro’ University of Bari, Italy.
ALEXANDER MEEUS is Akademischer Rat in the Ancient History department the University of Mannheim, Germany.
ANDREW MONSON is Associate Professor of Classics at New York University, USA.
KAI TRAMPEDACH is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
RALF VON DEN HOFF is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
SHANE WALLACE is the Walsh Family Assistant Professor in Classics and Ancient History at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Introduction: Understanding Alexander’s Relations with His Subjects (Kai Trampedach / Alexander Meeus)
I: SELF-PRESENTATION AND ROYAL PERSONA
1 From Early On To Become A Hero (‘Held’): Mythical Models of Alexander’s Image and Biography (Tonio Hölscher)
2 Staging Charisma: Alexander and Divination (Kai Trampedach)
3 Alexander and Athletics or How (Not) To Use a Traditional Field of Monarchic Legitimation (Christian Mann)
4 Violence and Legitimation: The Social Logic of Alexander the Great’s Acts of Violence between the Danube and the Indus — A Conceptual Outline and a Case Study (Matthias Haake)
II: LOCAL PERSPECTIVES AND INTERACTIONS
5 Alexander’s Dedications to the Gods: Sacred Space, Pious Practice and Public Legitimation (Ralf von den Hoff)
6 Communication and Legitimation: Knowledge of Alexander’s Asian Conquests in the Greek World (Shane Wallace)
7 Legitimation — Unwitting and Unrequested: Alexander of Macedon’s Portrayal as Devine Tool in Zechariah 9 (Wilhelm Köhler)
8 Wooing the Victor with Words: Babylonian Priestly Literature as a Response to the Macedonian Conquest (Michael Jursa)
9 Shaping the New World: Once More On the Cities of Alexander (Maurizio Giangiulio)
III: ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
10 Alexander, the King of the Macedonians (Manuela Mari)
11 On the Titulature of Alexander the Great: The Title basileus (Maxim M. Kholod)
12 Alexander the Great and Asia Minor: Conquest and Strategies of Legitimation (Michele Faraguna)
13 Alexander’s Tributary Empire (Andrew Monson)
IV: EPILOGUES
14 The Strategies of Legitimation of Alexander and the Diadochoi: Continuities and Discontinuities (Alexander Meeus)
15 Concluding Remarks (Hans-Joachim Gehrke)
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CONTRIBUTORS

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