Time and Its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire

393 Pages·2018·5.788 MB·English

by  Paul J. Kosmin

Time and Its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire

TIME
AND ITS
ADVERSARIES
IN THE
SELEUCID
EMPIRE
PAUL J. KOSMIN
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
cambridge, mass a chu setts
london, england
2018
Copyright © 2018 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
First printing
Book design by Dean Bornstein
Cover illustration: Old Paper Studios / Alamy Stock Photo
Cover design by Lisa Roberts
978-0-674-98961-0 (EPUB)
978-0-674-98962-7 (MOBI)
978-0-674-98963-4 (PDF)
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Kosmin, Paul J., 1984– author.
Title: Time and its adversaries in the Seleucid empire / Paul J. Kosmin.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018007054 | ISBN 9780674976931 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Time perception— Middle East— History. | Seleucids. |
Calendar— Middle East— History. | Imperialism and science— Middle East—
History. | Ethnoscience— Middle East—H istory. | End of the world.
Classification: LCC BF468 .K675 2018 | DDC 529.0935— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2018007054
For Sudeep
•

CONTENTS
Preface  ix
Introduction  1
I Imperial Prese nt
1 The Seleucid Era and Its Epoch 19
2 A Government of Dating 45
3 Dynastic Time 77
II Indigenous Past and Future
4 Total History 1: Rupture and Historiography 105
5 Total History 2: Periodization and Apocalypse 137
6 Altneuland: Re sis tance and the Resurrected State 187
Conclusion  234
Abbreviations  239
Notes  241
Bibliography  305
List of Maps, Illustrations, and T ables  365
Index  369

PREFACE
This book is conceived as a companion and completion of my first, The Land
of the Elephant Kings: Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire. To-
gether, they should be understood as a single proj ect of categorical history, a
study of the spatial and temporal structures and concepts by which the Se-
leucid empire and its subjects made sense of their world.
It will become apparent that this book has further motivations: a preoc-
cupation with the nature of my discipline and the conditions that make it pos-
si ble (to ask what we do when we reckon with historical time, why we care
about the past, and how we find meaning in it); a sense that the Seleucid em-
pire’s historical significance has, mostly for reasons of academic geography,
fallen between the cracks; and a mission to bring back into classical ancient
history the eastern worlds and religious texts that have long been marginal-
ized. And while the battles of the past don’t wound their historians, I have also
been exercised by the blasts of apocalyptic vio lence currently erupting from
the lands once u nder the Seleucid scepter. The volcanoes have not gone out.
I am aware that this book falls somewhere between hybris and chutzpah:
not only will I be arguing for the massive significance of an overlooked phe-
nomenon, but in order to do so I will also be trespassing in a number of dis-
tinct and long- established disciplines. So throughout this proje ct I have re-
lied on the generosity of many scholars and friends, to whom I have turned
for advice, answers, and criticism. Emma Dench has been a true friend and
generous mentor. Nino Luraghi remains a source of wisdom, kindness, and
guidance. I am lucky to know Duncan MacRae. Aneurin Ellis- Evans and
Johannes Haubold crossed the Atlantic to discuss drafts with me, and I have
also benefited enormously from the feedback or assistance of Supratik Baralay,
Gojko Barjamovic, Giovanni Bazzana, Andrea Berlin, Ruth Bielfeldt, Samantha
Blankenship, Kathleen Coleman, John Collins, Stephanie Dalley, Rowan Dorin,
Avner Ecker, David Engels, Alexander Forte, Janling Fu, Yonder Gillihan, Sylvie
Honigman, Christopher Jones, John Ma, Elizabeth Mitchell, Christopher
Moore, Ian Moyer, Gregory Nagy, Judith Newman, Carol Newsom, Monica
Park, Anathea Portier- Young, James Russell, Mark Schiefsky, Felipe Soza,
ix