ejournals

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I Am Your Father! Dynasties and Dynastic Legitimacy on Pre-Islamic Coinage between Iran and Northwest India

Omar Coloru

ELECTRUM, Volume 22, 2015, pp. 173 - 199

https://doi.org/10.4467/20800909EL.15.010.3948

The present paper intends to explore the way in which the new kingdoms born from the dissolution of the Greco-Macedonian powers east of the Tigris employed coinage in order to promote kingship ideology based on kinship and family relationships. At the same time, it will try to show the interplay as well as the differences between Greco-Macedonian and local cultures in using family as a tool of propaganda.

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Potere e territorio. Gli Achemenidi nei Geographikà di Strabone

Omar Coloru

ELECTRUM, Volume 24, 2017, pp. 93 - 105

https://doi.org/10.4467/20800909EL.17.023.7505

Although posterity knew Strabo only as the “Geographer,” he nonetheless conceived the Geographikà as a complement to his Historikà hypomnemata, a continuation of the Histories of Polybius. Throughout his geographical work, it is possible to find many references concerning the history of the Greek world, and not only. In this framework, the Achaemenid Empire is present in the form of anecdotes on historical, ethnographic as well as linguistic aspects of the Persian world. Particular attention is devoted to those kings who played a prominent role in the confrontation between the Greeks and the barbarians (i.e. Cyrus II, Darius I, Xerxes and Darius III), while the other monarchs are nothing more than shadows. From the analysis of the passages on the Achaemenids, it is possible to argue that, in Strabo’s eyes, the Persians did not have an exclusively negative image when compared to the Parthians, and special emphasis is placed on their capability in shaping and modifying the geographical space through their technical knowledge.

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Seleukid Settlements: Between Ethnic Identity and Mobility

Omar Coloru

ELECTRUM, Volume 20, 2013, pp. 37 - 56

The present paper deals with the population of the Seleukid settlements in order to address issues about the settlers’ mobility and ethnic identity. By surveying the available evidence, this study aims in particular to understand the role played by non-Greek populations in the Seleukid Empire, trying to go beyond the thesis of an apartheid-like regime in which those ethnic groups would be socially as well as politically isolated from the Greco-Macedonian settlers.

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The Delegation to Seleucos II at Baiseira. A Brief Note

Omar Coloru

ELECTRUM, Volume 25, 2018, pp. 9 - 12

https://doi.org/10.4467/20800909EL.18.001.8921

This contribution discusses the location of Baiseira, where Seleucos II, during his campaign against the Parthians, gave an audience to a delegation from a group of villages involved in horse breeding. The article challenges the assumption that the epistle comes from Drangiana and suggests that it better fi ts the context of appeals to the king from Media.

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Omar Coloru

Università di Pisa; Lungarno Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, Italy

Università di Pisa; Lungarno Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, Italy