Royal Cult of Seleukid Empire - Essay Example

Royal Cult of Seleukid Empire Analysis of Level of Participation The Seleukid Empire was formed between 334 BC and 323 BC. Military campaigning for better control and organisation marked the true character of the royal cult of the Seleukid Empire. As an overthrow of the kingdom of Alexander the Great, the Selukid Empire was one of the three divisions that were made after the death of the great ruler. The Seleukid Empire spanned from Central Asia to the Mediterranean. The basic ritual of the royal cult in this empire was one where the king was constantly outside the state managing the external affairs. This had a large bearing on the character of decentralisation, democracy as well as regionalism that emerged thereafter, as well as ethnic diversity. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) In any empire that has been inherited from the clutches of a great ruler such as Alexander the Great, there is always a need to ensure that the royal cult is omnipresent in the way the land is ruled. In the case of the Seleukid Empire, the access to documents has been of central importance in studying the direction taken by the royal in directing the affairs of the state. This paper will place special focus on these documents as well as the rituals that demonstrate the extent of the direction provided by the royal cult of the Seleukid Empire. The paper will basically study whether the royal cult of the Seleukid Empire directed the state from above or was simply concentrated in the Greek cities. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) The Eastern territories that include countries like India, Iran, Turkey and many more countries, hold special significance as far as the matters of the state and direction from the royal cult is concerned. The influence of this came from the fact that the citizens in these countries regarded the king as God sent. Therefore, his word was the last word. Influences of Indian and other languages can be seen in ancient Greek history as well as the history of the Seleukid Empire. This is also apparent in the rituals, coins, symbols adapted by kings and various other details that are useful in studying cultural influences. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Military, Economic and Cultural Influences The extent of participation of the royal cult in the Seleukid Empire can be studied through a focus on the military, economic and cultural factors to begin with. This will help in setting the stage for understanding the implications of the documents that carved the framework within which the Selukid Empire’s royal cult operated. To begin with, it is imperative to understand that the territory that was inherited by the Seleukid Dynasty was very vast. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) The Empire that was built by Alexander the Great was divided in three parts after his death, as mentioned above. These three divisions were made by the three generals of Alexander the Great. The Seleukid dynasty formed the Indo Greek part of the Empire. This took place in 323 BC after the death of Alexander the Great when his three generals waged a war among themselves. The other two empires that emanated from this turn of events included the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Antigonids in Macedonia and Greece. The Seleukids claimed the area stretching from Israel to India. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) This had wide implications for the military, economic and cultural aspects of the Empire in the long run. The royal cult was therefore fashioned so as to cover the rich diversity that surrounded this area in the most appropriate manner so as to cater to the individual sensibilities and influencing the same simultaneously. This period in history was known as the “Hellenistic Age”. The disadvantage of this situation was that this Empire slowly got separated from the West, which led to instability and isolation in the area. Therefore, it may be seen that till date, the cultural and economic character of these countries has remained distinct and bereft of any Western influence. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) In this case, it is necessary to connect the ideals of nationalism with that of the character of the royal cult’s participation in the state’s affairs. Democracy and nationalism were strong ideals in the Indo Greek Empire. Nationalism is that phenomenon which stems from complete loyalty and love for one’s nation. Under the influence of nationalism, a citizen forms his personal sense of identity in context of the broad characterization of the nation. This consequently leads to mass identity along the same lines when like minded persons get together – a phenomenon better described as national identity. Reversibly, the identity of a nation is formed by the sentiments, attitudes and broad cultural assimilation under which its people function. The theories of nationalism and national identity are complementary to each other, and these inspire entire generations. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) In this regard, the case of nationalism in terms of the royal cult’s outreach for the common man in the Seleukid Empire was one that was made up of a variety of influences culturally. In the Eastern territory, it is common to see that the cultural influences are noted everywhere including the public sphere and policy making process. This in turn broke up the Empire in specific regions depending on the cultural affiliations of that region. The royal cult was an active voice while the nominal heads helped in governing the Empire in a region wise manner. This helped in creating a platform upon which regional diversification grew. Thus, there was a definite rise in regionalism in the Empire. (Brenk, 1998; Pp 366 – 368) A wide variety of religious sensibilities have linked the past more strongly to the present. According to this new breed, the past is unknowable in the Seleukid Empire. History reflects the need of the royal cult to make sense out of their own worlds. This led to a concentration of this royal cult in and around the Greek cities rather than reaching out to the innermost corners of the Empire where the religious diversities bred and became stronger by the day. This led to the strengthening of the position of the military who were left to their own sensibilities in order to keep peace and quiet during the Hellenistic times. The military began to infiltrate into the personal and private spaces in order to create a culture of public sphere within which they could maintain law and order as they best knew how to. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Consequently, there was a concentration of such efforts around the economy as the rise of the bureaucracy due to lack of a centralized ruling party led to power in the bureaucratic quarters. This led to the beginning of corruption as well as practices that have now become the norm in these countries even in the modern times. Opening the practice of history to groups previously excluded from the profession has demonstrated the validity of the recent views. Views of the past vary with generations and because of divergent experiences from the historians sex, ethnicity, class, and race in the case of the Seleukid Empire and its royal cult as this cult ruled over a vast diversity. When we read history, we are reading a particular Empire or era’s encounter with the world. The study of the Seleukid Empire is devoted to the facts revolving around the royal cult as this is where real decentralization of power began. This has been demonstrated by the numerous archives maintained on the decrees that issue positions and form religious hubs of power for this act of decentralization. These decrees can be characterized by nationality, school of thought, or theoretical and methodological preference. This ushered in the age of democracy in a subtle way as people in these hubs of power began to realize the value of the pressure that they exerted. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) Democracy became a part of the culture of these countries. Either the cultures and religions within the Seleukid Empire accepted it, or completely denounced it. Yet, there was no way to skirt the issue. To begin with, it is imperative to understand the concept of democracy. Democracy has been best defined as “of the people, for the people, by the people.” It is a phenomenon that arises out of the various contextual realities that people represent in various walks of life as well as the socio economic strata of individual countries. To qualify as a democracy, a country must fulfil the following criteria: “ - political standing; quality of life; explanation.” (Tilly, 2007; Pp 6) Most of the countries belonging to the Seleukid Empire were those under developed countries where the realities of life for most people are hunger, acute poverty and unemployment, among a variety of other factors due to the ravages of war and continuous conquest. (Tilly, 2007) There are various questions that need to be raised in this context in order to understand what kind of a role was played by the royal cult in the Seleukid Empire, which are as follows: Does democracy help when people are dying of hunger? Are human rights a more important concept for these countries? Can democracy quench the thirst of frequent social movements? Is nationalism lost in the cause of supporting poverty? Are the elements of democracy and legislative mechanisms any promise for development and progression? In order to answer these questions, it is imperative to discuss the various elements of democracy. Participants in Public Policy: Role of Royal Cult Public policy may be defined as that state of things or action where the public authorities exercise their freedom of choice in order to deal with certain issues. The tools or mechanisms used to deal with these issues are known as public policy. Public policy may also be defined as a set of decisions that are interrelated to one another. These decisions in turn, are taken by political heads, or other individuals involved in social service, with the broad aim of selection of certain goals that will fit into the situation at hand. In this regard, the royal cult participated in overseeing the decrees issued to nominate heads of states by the religious heads in various parts of the Empire. In the Seleukid Empire, public policy was implemented to various aspects of one’s public and domestic life, including welfare, health, justice, feminist policies, and interest group conflict, among various others. (Dye, 2001, p. 4 to 7) This can be seen in the various decrees like the Letter of Anintochus III appointing the chief priestess for Laodike. This decree, among many others, demonstrated the fact that there were many participants who used the mechanisms and tools of public policy in the name of the royal cult in the Seleukid Empire. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) In this context, the real participants in the public policy process within the Seleukid Empire may be segregated into two categories. The first are the official participants comprising of religious heads, the military, government officials, authorities as well as political players. On the other hand are the non governmental or unofficial participants who come in the form of social workers, individuals lobbying for the interests of certain groups, and even the average citizen. The various unofficial participants in the Selukid Empire came about to try and differentiate between these two groups of participants in the policy process. In this regard, the royal cult’s major focus was concentrated around preventing the creation of Rome. Therefore, the Hellenistic period formed the time between the death of Alexander as well as the coming about of Rome. Therefore, it was imperative for the royal cult in the Seleukid Empire to keep up with Ptolemies of Egypt in keeping Rome at bay. This created the need for decentralisation in the face of increasing differenced between the diversities of the regions that came under the Seleukid Empire. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) To do so, we will start by delving into the various aspects of the policy process in the Seleukid Empire. When embodied in a person’s life as a profession, the policy process becomes a matter of drawing on statistical information and basing decisions on various kinds of analysis before arriving at the factors that will influence the elements to be included in a certain policy. Considering the fact that this will greatly influence a normal citizen’s life in various ways, the policy maker in the Seleukid Empire had to be doubly sure of the facts as he is responsible for a lot of people. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) Therefore, the various decrees for choosing religious heads were issued on the basis of the cultural and religious diversities that surrounded the individual regions. This was another example of how regionalism and decentralisation of power was born. This can be seen in the example of the decree setting out the cult for a Seleukid king. In context of this decree, the unofficial participants came in where a reaction was required in order to point out any deviation from the larger aim, from the official participant’s end. Thus, the royal cult was dependant on the issues as presented by the unofficial participants who came from the various regions in order to represent the various cultures and socio economic aspects within the Seleukid Empire. As is the case with widening cultural diversities where the royal cult did not concentrate its power in the regional hubs of the Empire, the socio economic scenario within the Seleukid Empire was not consistent in all regions. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Also, when proposing the nuances of the issue to be dealt, the unofficial participant would put forward his views on how it should be dealt with in respect of the particular interest or group he is representing in front of the religious head who would then decide on whether or not it needed the attention of the royal cult. It depended on how the official participant decided to make use of these views in the policy process. But the fact remains that in that era, the unofficial participant’s voice has less reach due to the rise of the Hellenistic era and the rise of the personal interests of the royal cult in dealing with the Ptolemies and the possibility of the advent of Rome, which further lent significance and forced the official participant to pay attention to the needs represented by the unofficial participant. (Anderson, 2002, p. 2 to 10) Further, while the official participant could seek to primarily set up a coordinated framework for dealing with the issues at hand, the unofficial participants simply choose the inroads that it may take in reaching its suggestions and views to the official participants. Another important difference is the fact that the official participant might follow the lawful method like the issuance of decrees, etc, for reaching a goal, while the unofficial participant might adopt more creative methods and make use of the same for reaching the same goal. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) In the varied regions of the empire, public policy and its participants need to stay focussed on the raising of issues that will benefit the very core of its socio economic make up apart from catering to all section of this structure. The public sphere needs to be used a mouthpiece of the interests of the lowest class in the socio economic structure for democracy to survive. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Concept of Decentralisation in Public Policy Making Decentralisation and regionalism are essentially concepts surrounded by political philosophy. According to these concepts, the Seleukid Empire was ruled by a royal cult that believed in binding it various people, from diverse corners of the empire, together. Yet, it used decentralisation in order to tie the diverse corners of the empire together. Regionalism in the Seleukid Empire was that system which brings people together under the able guidance of a representative who puts forward their issues in a skewed and partial manner. Under decentralisation, the royal cult looked at each of its regions as resource hubs to be used as and when the need arose, and which are bound together geographically as well as in respect of individual regional sentiment. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) From the concept of decentralisation have come various other schools of thought in the study of the use of mechanisms like decrees in appointing heads and members of the royal cult, which have culminated into sub concepts in their own right. One of these is the concept of dual regionalism according to which the best option before the royal cult was to organize itself into separate so as to divide the interests of the participants in the policy process, in various spheres of functioning and significance. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) According to this, the individuals participants may exercise sovereignty within its own boundaries while the high level authorities in the Greek cities where the royal cult lay would be slated to have exclusive and enumerated powers. This has been demonstrated by the Sardine Decree and the Letter of Laodike in which the functions of the royal cult have been enumerated as a matter of realising power in the more cosmopolitan hubs in the Greek cities rather than reaching out to the diverse corners of the Empire. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Character of Socio Economic Movement A wide variety of new historians have linked the past more strongly to the present in terms of studying the role of the royal cult and various decrees in the Seleukid Empire. According to this new breed, the past is unknowable. (Brown, 2001; Pp 38 – 60) History reflects the need of historians to make sense out of their own worlds. Opening the practice of history to groups previously excluded from the profession has demonstrated the validity of the recent views. Views of the past vary with generations and because of divergent experiences from the historians sex, ethnicity, class, and race. When we read history, we are reading a particular historian’s encounter with the world. The historian is devoted to the facts. He or she spends years of his or her life studying the archives. The historian believes that his or her story represents reality. Historians can be characterized by nationality, school of thought, or theoretical and methodological preference. Therefore, it may be seen that the diversities of the Empire clashed with the vested interests of its royal cult. This in turn created greater rifts between the diversities residing in the Empire. In this regard, the ethnic groups and their plight under the royal cult in the Suleukid Empire are of special importance in deciphering the character of the royal cult in the Empire. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Ethnic groups have been described in the study of history and anthropology as the indigenous people of a certain geographical location. These people are the precursors of the particular national identity as well as the ethics, culture and elements of sub culture that have come to dominate an entire race and country. In fact, the word ‘Ethnic Groups’ signifies people who have lived in a certain place ‘from the beginning’. These people are the ones who render religious and cultural significance to long standing rituals practiced even today. The ethnic groups in the Seleukid Empire consisted of Israelis, Indians, Iranians, and many more. These were mere names to the royal cult and held little importance as far as passing decrees were concerned. Therefore, the effects of progression and cultural change did not reach the remote corners of the Empire. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) The study of culture and evolution of the human ethics and lifestyle can be studied through an analysis of ethnic groups and society. This was delayed in terms of the response of the royal cult to the interests of the diverse cultural groups within the empire. The above words demonstrate the fact that colonisation has been the root cause of creating a rift between traditional beliefs and the evolution of human culture in the ethnic society in various countries, especially those belonging to the Seleukid Empire. (Brown, 2001; Pp 38 – 60) The evolution of myths and other such practices into the beginnings of a more modernised society was brought to a halt by colonisation in the Hellenistic era, which quashed any scope for imbibing the traditional values into the evolution of a more modern society in the diverse corners of the empire. While the lack of traditional values renders any society incomplete, it may also be seen, as depicted in the above words, that the full stop to the this activity rendered the values and ethics of the Ethnic Groups in the Seleukid Empire as irrelevant for times to come. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) This led to a social movement of sorts where the diversities within the Empire tried to break out on their own. A social movement is one that is punctuated with a highly idealistic environment with realistic parameters that set the stage for immediate results and emergence of future trends that will go onto dominate the structure and functioning of that particular society for generations to come. Issues like principles, revolutionary change and personal strength and a search for identity of a group of people or society, are synonymous with social movements. (Price, 1985; Pp 23 – 101) For the measurement of success of any social movement, factors like skilful organisation, optimum use of resources and the identification of opportunities, are vital indicators. Literature has always been a strong medium to convey the ideas that are contained in social movement. These theories are of special importance when speaking of democracy in the Seleukid Empire with neglect from its royal cult, and the survival of the same. The colonial experience in most of the regions within the empire had been such that it has given rise to a variety of political and social outbursts. The political motives have been a major influence on the social campaigns in various regions. This has a strong implication as far as the survival of democracy was concerned. This has a strong nexus with the character of colonisation that has marked the state. (Brown, 2001; Pp 38 – 60) Finally it was seen that the slump of the economy and the rise of factors like hunger and poverty have prompted the social movements to take on a more humanitarian character. Colonisation leaves any country or state in a slump. Like any newly independent state, the Seleukid Empire too was struggling to overcome difficulties in understanding and linking matters of constitutional importance with those of hunger, poverty, unemployment and many other such factors in the various corners of the empire. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) Conclusion The discussion of the above elements has revealed that the survival of democracy was crucial for the transition of regions of the Seleukid Empire to developing countries as far as the royal cult’s participation in public affairs was concerned. The conclusion of this paper was that the royal cult in the Seleukid Empire was one that was mostly concentrated in the Greek cities rather than coming from above. The basic finding of this paper was that for the survival of democracy in these regions, there was a need to focus resources and policy changes on the basic human rights through more participation of the royal cult in the internal affairs of the Seleukid Empire rather than the external affairs. This would have intensified the support for democracy. This should have been done through the use of official and non official participants in the policy making process, besides the use of mechanisms like decentralisation and regionalism in order to reach out to maximum number of people in every strata of the socio economic make up the various regions of the empire. (White, 2008; Pp 156 – 159) References 1. John Smith. “A description of New England”. G.P. Humphrey (1898) 2. William Bradford. “Of Plymouth Plantation”. The Vision Forum, Inc. (January 1, 1999) 3. White, S M (2008). “Ritual for a Seleucid King at Babylon?”. The Journal of Hellenic Studies. Vol 103 (Pp 156 – 159) 4. Anderson, James E (October, 2002) Public Policy Making: An Introduction (6th Edition). London: Houghton Muffin Company. 5. Dye, Thomas R (June, 2001) Understanding Public Policy (11th Edition). London: Prentice Hall. 6. None, George B. (2004) New Frontiers of Leadership. USA: Information Age Publishing Inc. 7. Morris, Aldon D. (1984) The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement. Collier Macmillan Publishers, London. 8. Auyero, Javier (2001). Poor People’s Politics. Duke University Press, London. 9. Tilly, Charles (2007) Democracy. Cambridge University Press. 10. Price, S R F (1985). Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor. Cambridge University Press. 11. Brown, Warren (2001). Unjust Seizure: Interest, and Authority in an Early medieval society. Cornell University Press. Read More