What is it about?
In 2018, Silvia Panichi, a scholar from Perugia (Italy), published a monograph on Hellenistic Kappadokia that builds on her PhD dissertation, which she defended in Pisa in 2003. This book is divided into two parts. In the first (“Profilo Storico e Geografico”), P. focuses on the political history of Persian and Hellenistic Kappadokia. She comments on the main sources, passages from Polybios, Diodoros and Strabo, in detail, providing the basis for the reconstruction of Kappadokia’s history. The second part covers selected aspects of state organization and culture (“Istituzioni, Insediamenti, Ellenizzazione”).
Featured Image
Photo by Süleyman Can Sezgi on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Panichi gives a coherent and concise vision of Kappadokian history. The Ariarathids maintained good relations with the Seleukids, for whom Kappadokia was of vital importance in the geopolitical framework of Asia Minor prior to the Treaty of Apameia. Unlike other dynasties of Iranian origin such as the Orontids of Kommagene, the Ariarathids did not include any Macedonians in their gallery of ancestors, as they always declared themselves descendants of the Achaemenids and Persian satraps.
Perspectives
Research into Hellenistic Kappadokia is not easy: the source evidence is patchy and scattered, and bringing it together and presenting it in a commentated synthesis is a much-needed and welcome contribution to the field. Thus, Panichi’s book will clearly be indispensable to historians of Anatolia and Western Asia for many decades to come.
Prof. Marek Jan Olbrycht
ias princeton
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Silvia Panichi, La Cappadocia ellenistica sotto gli Ariaratidi ca. 250–100 a.C., Florenz (Leo S. Olschki) 2018 (Biblioteca di Geographia Antiqua 5), XIV, 134 S., ISBN 978-88-222-6580-7 (brosch.), € 25,–, Klio, June 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/klio-2023-2006.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
