- Text, Layout, and Medium
- Edited by Davide Amendola, Cristina Carusi, Francesca Maltomini, Emilio Rosamilia
The Recipient’s Design: Some Notes on the Layout of Hellenistic Royal Correspondence on Stone
- Alice Bencivenni
- © 2024 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9.07
This chapter offers some reflections on the layout of Hellenistic rulers’ correspondence on stone, an analysis that has the methodological function of defining the position and power of the recipient of a royal letter, be it a city, an institutionally defined group, an official, or an individual. The epigraphic medium, through which most documents of this type have been preserved, determines some fundamental aspects. It amplifies the distance between those who produce the correspondence and those who receive it and influences all the distinctive features of the materiality of the letter, its layout, and function, granting the recipient of the message, rather than the sender, the power to determine the design of the text and to have designs for the text. By including in the category of royal correspondence not only the kings’ letters and ordinances, but also their officials’ letters, petitions, and civic decrees that are consistently inscribed on the same media, some characteristics of the publication of these documents on stone are highlighted, with particular attention to the appropriation of royal texts by the recipients. The following documents are examined in detail: Bosnakis and Hallof 2020; CIIP IV 3511–3512; Hatzopoulos, Macedonian Institutions II 15, 16, 19; I.Delphinion 139; I.Egypte prose 22, 36; IG IX.2 517; IG XII.4 208–213; IG Cyrenaica² 011100, 010800; IG Iran Asie centr. 66, 68; I.Ilion 33; I.Labraunda 2, 3, 3B, 4, 6, 8B, 137; I.Mylasa 23; I.Priene B - M 2–3; Ma, Antiochos 37, 49; OGIS 5–6; SEG XXVIII 1224; SEG L 1195; SEG LX 586; Welles, RC 45, 47.
- Keywords:
- Hellenistic royal correspondence; inscriptions; Greek cities and Hellenistic kings; letters and decrees; layout.,
University of Bologna, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-5778-8677
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Chapter Information
Chapter Title
The Recipient’s Design: Some Notes on the Layout of Hellenistic Royal Correspondence on Stone
Authors
Alice Bencivenni
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9.07
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Text, Layout, and Medium
Book Subtitle
Documents from the Greco-Roman World between Epigraphy and Papyrology
Editors
Davide Amendola, Cristina Carusi, Francesca Maltomini, Emilio Rosamilia
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
426
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0455-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0456-9
Series Title
Edizioni dell’Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli»
Series ISSN
2533-2414
Series E-ISSN
2612-7997