Narrating Imperial Success from the Achaemenid Period to the Late Roman Republic

Abstract

In the Achaemenid period a set of imperial narratives and tropes were created and disseminated, serving the intention of the Great Kings to legitimize their rule over a multicultural empire. These narratives may have rooted deep in the imperial tradition of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empire, but the Achaemenids rather modified than simply adapted them. These narratives helped the Iranian rulers to create a royal persona in which the subjects of either cultural background could view them as legitimate rulers. In the course of the transformation of the Achaemenid Empire in the world of Hellenism, Alexander and his successors had to deal with the Achaemenid concept of monarchy. The latter may have undergone modifications, but the narratives have not lost their original character. Interestingly, the narratives of the Achaemenid period were still important to powerful imperial agents in the post-Hellenistic period. This applies to the political atmosphere of the Roman Republic in particular. Even in the afterglow of Hellenism imperial agents used narratives of the Achaemenid period, albeit modified in a process of filtering and adaption, in order to stage their political success.