Generoso Cefalo, Alessandro Magnani, 2026, Hybrid Kingship in the East from Alexander to the Sasanians, Urbino University Press, Italy.
- Saeede Amirpoor Saeed
- Journals/Articles
- 2026/08/09
The edited volume Hybrid Kingship in the East from Alexander to the Sasanians, exploring various forms of sovereignty across the Eurasian world from the era of Alexander the Great to the rise of the Sasanian Empire, was published in August 2026 by Urbino University Press. The volume was edited by Generoso Cefalo of the University of Pavia and Alessandro Magnani of the University of Bologna.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and drawing on literary, epigraphic, numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological sources, this work examines the processes of interaction, adaptation, and cultural reconfiguration that shaped the construction of royal authority in multicultural societies.
The contributors analyze strategies of legitimizing power and the diverse forms of royal self-representation, ranging from Achaemenid and Macedonian legacies to the Hellenistic kingdoms of Central Asia, Indo-Greek and Seleucid rulers, as well as the political experiences of the Roman and Sasanian worlds.
The book presents a dynamic picture of the concept of “hybrid kingship”a framework in which Greek, Iranian, Roman, and local traditions intertwined, producing new political and cultural models that profoundly influenced the history of the ancient Mediterranean and Asia.
Focusing on the cultural and political connections between the ancient East and West, this volume represents a valuable resource for researchers in ancient history, Iranian studies, Hellenistic studies, and the history of ancient empires.
The volume includes eight articles, two in English and six in Italian, as well as an introduction by the editors. These contributions originated from the nineteenth edition of the “Ricerche a Confronto XIX” conference, held on 26–27 November 2024 at the University of Bologna, which was dedicated to the theme of hybrid kingship in the East, from Alexander to the Sasanians.
The table of contents is as follows:
- Alexander’s Hybrid Historiography: Documentary History, Historical Emplotment, and the Scribal ‘Connective Tissue’(Sam Blankenship)
- The Euthydemid Dynasty in Baktria and India. Between Immanence and Transcendence (Marco Ferrario)
- Menandro I Soter fra Dharma ed Ellenismo (Samuele Martinelli)
- Una basileia militare e rivoluzionaria: il caso di Diodoto Trifone Autocratore (Vincenzo Parisi)
- Marcellia e Verria: ideologia regale ellenistica, modelli romani e reinterpretazione locale nella Sicilia tardorepubblicana (Lorenza Natale)
- Elagabalo: un caso di regalità ibrida nel cuore dell’impero
(Olivia Giuseppina Merli)
- Zenobia, regina dei due mondi. L’unione di Oriente e Occidente nella Vita Zenobiae dell’Historia Augusta (Silvia Lucchesi)
- Il ciclo degli ‘Atti’ dell’apostolo Addas: narrazioni sulla conversione dei monarchi nel Vicino Oriente romano tra Persia, Mesopotamia ed Egitto (Filippo Gerace)
Link:
