»A crisis, really? How to study hellenistic states of 2nd century BC, or the virtue of the Lagid-Seleukid comparison«

Laetitia Graslin-Thomé | Université de Lorraine

This talk presents the first results of a collaborative project on the transformation of Hellenistic states during the 2nd century BC. Modern studies sometimes create divisions between political structures or regions that used to be closely connected in earlier times. It is the case for Ptolemaic and Seleukid states, which are often studied separately even though they probably influenced each other greatly in Antiquity. The aim of this project is to compare the way in which the two kingdoms faced the many challenges that emerged one century after the Macedonian conquest, and to see to what extend the similar or different solutions they found provide clues for historians to better understand the very nature of the two states.