Courts and Elites in the Hellenistic Empires : The Near East After the Achaemenids, c. 330 to 30 BCE

Rolf Strootman brings together various aspects of court culture in the Macedonian empires of the post-Achaemenid Near East.

A complete study of royal courts in the post-Achaemenid Near East. It brings together various aspects of court culture in the Macedonian empires of the post-Achaemenid Near East. It shows how the Hellenistic dynastic courts were instrumental in the integration of local elites in the empires, and the (re)distribution of power, wealth, and status.

Rolf Strootman brings together various aspects of court culture in the Macedonian empires of the post-Achaemenid Near East. During the Hellenistic Period (c. 330-30 BCE), Alexander the Great and his successors reshaped their Persian and Greco-Macedonian legacies to create a new kind of rulership that was neither western'' nor ''eastern'' and would profoundly influence the later development of court culture and monarchy in both the Roman West and Iranian East.
Drawing on the socio-political models of Norbert Elias and Charles Tilly, After the Achaemenids shows how the Hellenistic dynastic courts were instrumental in the integration of local elites in the empires, and the (re)distribution of power, wealth, and status. It analyses the competition among courtiers for royal favour and the, not always successful, attempts of the Hellenistic rulers to use these struggles to their own advantage.