Kings Into Gods: How Prostration Shaped Eurasian Civilizations

164 Pages·2015·1.734 MB·English

by  Vittorio Cotesta

Kings into Gods
Vittorio Cotesta - 978-90-04-28842-3
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International Studies in Sociology
and Social Anthropology
Series Editor
Alberto Martinelli (University of Milan)
Editorial Board
Vincenzo Cicchelli (Gemass, Paris 4/cnrs, Paris Descartes University)
Vittorio Cotesta (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
Benjamin Gregg (University of Texas at Austin)
Leo Penta (Katholische Hochschule für Sozialwesen Berlin)
VOLUME 127
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/issa
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Kings into Gods
How Prostration Shaped Eurasian Civilizations
By
Vittorio Cotesta
Translated by
Matthew D’Auria
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Vittorio Cotesta - 978-90-04-28842-3
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First published in Italian by Bevivino editore as Prosternarsi. Piccola indagine sulla regalità divina nelle
civiltà euroasiatiche, Milan, 2012.
Cover illustration: Jehu (King of Israel) prostrates himself before Salmanasar iii (reigned 858–824 bc).
Black Obelisk (me 118885), British Museum, London.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cotesta, Vittorio, 1944- author.
Kings into gods : how prostration shaped Eurasian civilizations / by Vittorio Cotesta ; translated by
Matthew D’Auria.
pages cm. -- (International studies in sociology and social anthropology, ISSN 0074-8684 ; volume 127)
First published in Italian by Bevivino Editore as Prosternarsi: Piccola indagine sulla regalità divina nelle
civilta euroasiatiche, Milan, 2012.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-28841-6 (hardcover : alkaline paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-28842-3 (e-book) 1. Monarchy--
History. 2. Kings and rulers--History. 3. Ritual. 4. Rites and ceremonies. 5. Communication and culture.
6. Gesture in worship. 7. Posture in worship. I. D’Auria, Matthew, translator. II. Title.
JC375.C6813 2015
321’.6095--dc23
2015025697
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 0074-8684
isbn 978-90-04-28841-6 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28842-3 (e-book)
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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To Luca, Francesco, and Lorenzo
∵
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 Proskýnesis in Herodotus’s Histories 5
2 An Enquiry on Alexander: Apotheosis, Multicultural Empire
and Clash of Civilization 11
1 The Journey to the Temple of Ammon Rā 12
2 Proskýnesis and the Struggle between Greeks and Persians 18
2.1 Callisthenes’s Misfortunes – or on Bad Philosophy 22
2.2 The Revolt of the Pages 26
2.3 Alexander’s Defense 28
3 The Great Divergence between East and West 36
1 The Quest for Glory 36
2 Power is Instituted by God for the Good of Men 39
3 The Origin of the Great Divergence between East and West 47
4 Proskýnesis at the Centre of the Clash of Civilizations 50
1 Europe and China 50
2 To Prostrate Oneself Might be Right – though Not Always 52
3 Macartney’s Genuflection 56
4 A Clash of Civilizations 66
5 Proskýnesis in the Euroasiatic Continent: Unity and Diversity 79
1 Models of Prostration in Eurasian Societies 80
1.1 The Persian Model 80
1.2 Callisthenes’s Model 83
1.3 The Mongolian Model 84
1.4 The Indian Models 88
1.5 The Chinese Model 92
1.6 The Byzantine Model 94
1.7 The European Model 98
2 Heracles’s Alternative Model 104
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viii contents
Conclusion 108
Dialogue between the Old Oligarch and the Neo-illuminist 113
A Short Glossary of the Main Terms and the Main Characters 129
Bibliography 145
Index of Names 149
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Preface
Books often are born out of personal experiences. This one stems from an emo-
tion or, rather, from a deep-rooted annoyance. I have always found it ridiculous
that people should kneel or prostrate themselves before someone else. I have
always been startled at seeing young people lie prone, on the floor, during ordi-
nation to priesthood. And yet, for a long time I did not look for an explanation.
In recent years, however, while studying other issues, I have come to realize
that many feel the same amazement and indignation when considering these
social facts. So, over the years, I have collected research material, stories and
images. And eventually I started writing, perhaps to give an order to my scat-
tered thoughts. I, for one, found the topic I was considering unusual: prostra-
tion, or proskýnesis, to use the Greek word. At one point, however, I began
talking about it to friends and colleagues. Some were perplexed; others were
curious. I started writing and I kept talking about it. Reactions varied consider-
ably. Some told me the issue was too scholarly, others that it was too complex,
and others found parts of the text very interesting. For some time, I had strong
doubts on what to do. To publish or not to publish? Finish writing the book, or
give up? In the end I presented a sort of summary of my work during a confer-
ence. As I spoke, I could see the faces of the people in the audience. I am not
sure whether they were amazed or surprised by my arguments. At the end, I
received compliments and encouragement. Some – though, I imagine, out of
friendship – went as far as to label my perspective as ‘original’. So, slowly my
doubts began to fade. I finally decided to publish the text. I hope I will not
disappoint my – few, of course – readers.
Apart from my doubts and beyond the feedback of those who have read
draft versions of this book, it remains the case that there are no works, in
Italian, on this topic. The English books I have read are by historians. They do
not highlight the connection between ritual, kingship and power. When this
relationship is duly taken into consideration, everything assumes a new mean-
ing and a new significance that help explain the uneasiness I experienced in
my earlier years when seeing men bowing down before other men. In a way,
prostration is a regression to an earlier stage in the history of humanity, when
men could not yet stand with their backs straight.
When I started writing this book, I believed I had the proper tools to inter-
pret the material I had gathered. It was a methodology based on the idea that
power is exerted, first and foremost, over bodies; that power is entwined with
the production of bodily shapes. Therefore, the politics of gestures (to use the
words of an English scholar) has been for me the analytical model to follow.
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x preface
I had known for a long time the works of Michel Foucault, who has invested
most of his energies on such an analysis of power.
So, after years away from issues immediately relating to power, writing this
book has been like going home.1 With a difference, perhaps, with regards to the
Foucaultian ironic disenchantment. I did not at all enjoy reading the stories,
except in one instance, when learning about Diogenes telling Alexander the
Great: “Look, if you are the son of a god, as your mother says, and then she is
not an honest woman. She betrayed your father [Philip] and she gave herself to
others. Therefore, take it easy with this business of the god.”2 Here, Dio of
Prusa, the author of the dialogue between Diogenes and Alexander, sets out a
general rule of thumb. The claim made by some men to be born from gods is a
denigration of the integrity of their own mothers – and that goes for every man
and woman.
The outcome of this work is also relevant – at least I believe it to be – from a
theoretical point of view. It makes it possible to rethink the forms of society on
the basis of the social bonds structuring it: symmetric and equal, or dissym-
metric and unequal. Those societies that have practiced prostration are societ-
ies of unequal individuals. They are based on a hierarchy and on an inadequate
distinction between rex and sacerdos. However, even contemporary societies
have not entirely abandoned the confusion between the two roles, either
because of a residual predominance of the sacerdos over the rex, or for the
opposite reason. In fact, in societies where the relationship between society –
individual – state was strongly hierarchical in the past, as in China, one can still
find conspicuous signs of a devaluation of the individual and a denial of
human rights; or in India, where the devaluing of human rights is linked to the
indifference of the rich portion of the population towards the poorest, living in
miserable conditions in the streets of the Indian metropolis. Nor are human
rights always respected in the opulent West. Even here, in fact, the gap between
the rich and the poor increases day by day, leading to a motionless social struc-
ture. After decades – or even centuries – of efforts made to build a society
based on equality and solidarity, some of the typical features of traditional
societies are resurfacing: inequality, poverty, the arrogance of the powerful.
1 In the 1970s I worked on Foucault’s theories. My book, Potere, linguaggio, individuo. Saggio su
Michel Foucault, Dedalo, Bari 1979, was one of the first, if not the first, Italian book entirely
devoted to the works of Foucault. Since then, a sort of ‘Foucaultian mania’ has broken out.
I have continued to follow the debates on Foucault. But only in recent years have I included
in my books references to his theories to explain the discourses of other scholars following
his path.
2 This is my own paraphrases of a passage from the Fourth Discourse on Power, by Dio
Chrysostom, also known as Dio from Prusa.
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