Letter Writing and the Representation of Power in Antiquity. Royal Correspondence in Comparison (International Conference of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”)

Grunddaten zu diesem Projekt

Beschreibung

Imperial and Royal letters survive in large numbers from various cultures of the ancient world. The variety of the material is striking and calls for a comparative approach, all the more so as the last 25 years saw a tremendous increase in the number of new texts and corpora. How does this new evidence challenge our knowledge of royal correspondence and what does it tell us about prevailing models of communication? Whereas previous research on the matter rather centered on the practical requirements and administrative needs of royal letter writing, this conference‘s fopcus is on representation. By understanding royal correspondence as a means of selfpresentation, the roles ancient sole rulers assumed in their letter writing (e.g. as benefactors, protectors of the people, divine authorities, admonishers, empire-wide organizers, friends or lords of other rulers etc.) will be discussed. By taking royal correspondence as a manifestation of power, visual strategies and the materiality of the texts including their design come into play. Beyond the heuristic value of the letters as selftestimonials, the papers presented at the conference will also shed new light on another form of representation: it will be asked how ancient rulers, their  correspondence and relationship to their chancery is reflected and represented in the writing of ancient authors. Another key interest to be pursued in the conference is whether New Testament letters adopt formal elements, argumentative strategies and techniques of representation from letters written by ancient rulers. Is it possible to describe these letters as Imperial letters as well?