Persianism in Commagene: The Mnemohistory of the Achaemenid Empire in Hellenistic Eurasia
Abstract
The socio-political and cultural memory of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire played a very important role already in Antiquity. Miguel John Versluys has proposed to call this phenomenon, that is, the impact of Achaemenid Persia on the antique world, Persianism. In his lecture, Versluys will elaborate on this concept (and its discontents) by discussing the famous late Hellenistic site of Nemrud Dağ in the kingdom of Commagene, which was bordered on the east by the Euphrates river.
Citation
Versluys, Miguel. "Persianism in Commagene: The Mnemohistory of the Achaemenid Empire in Hellenistic Eurasia," Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series. May 30, 2018.
About the Speaker
Miguel John Versluys
Leiden University
The research and teaching of Professor Miguel John Versluys explore the cultural dynamics of the Hellenistic-Roman world (roughly 200 BCE – CE 200) from the point of view of Afro-Eurasia. He investigates these processes from local, regional and global perspectives and by means of a variety of methodologies and techniques derived from the Social Sciences & Humanities as well as the Natural Sciences. Interdisciplinarity is key to his research in all respects, as he believes that this approach is the only way to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the big and long-term picture he is interested in. His research has two distinct focus points: the interconnection of cultures and their various identities (‘Globalisation’), and the interdependence of objects and people (‘Material Culture Studies’). His ambition is to rewrite the history of Antiquity from the perspective of increasing connectivity and developments that took place in (wider) Afro- Eurasia – as part of the Global History of the ancient world – and to do so with a focus on objects and their affordances.