”Please find below the abstracts of the second Ancient and Medieval Middle East (AMME) seminar of this fall semester – on ‘writing history in the ancient world’. The session will be organised as a hybrid event on Thursday 23 October (16:15-18:00 EEST/Helsinki time).
In the usual style, the seminar will consist of two papers followed by a shared question round and discussion on the seminar specific theme, and everyone are most welcome to join!
The presenters and research topics are:
Johannes Bach
‘The Stele of Dadusha and Historical Narrating at Old Babylonian Eshnunna’
The Stele of Dadusha is the only major remnant of contemporary royal narrative art from the Old Babylonian city of Eshnunna. It reports on a military campaign against the Eastern Tigridian regions to the North and specifically the kingdom of Qabrâ, an endeavour undertaken jointly with Samsi-Addu, the king of Upper Mesopotamia. This talk will take a closer look at the cultural and literary context of the Stele of Dadusha, discuss its strategies for narrating historical events, and reassess the chronology and geographical setting of the military events preceding the siege and capture of the city of Qabrâ. For the latter, the talk will also focus on the little-known polity of the Ya’ilanum on the Upper Zab River. While having been able to elude the ravages of war surrounding their lands for some time, the Ya’ilanum eventually were eradicated by the armies of Samsi-Addu and Dadusha just before the siege of Qabrâ commenced. The talk will analyse how the Ya’ilanum campaign is portrayed in historical and historiographical sources, and develop a scenario that could explain the special treatment of the events in the Stele of Dadusha.
Jasmin Lukkari
‘Seleukid King Antiochus IV and Rome in Historical Narratives’
In this paper, I analyse the relations between Rome and the Seleukid king Antiochus IV from the point of view of Greek and Roman historical narratives. Antiochus IV ruled from 175 to 164 BC and was an ally of Rome. Before becoming king, he had spent more than 10 years in Rome as a political hostage. Several detailed and sometimes conflicting descriptions of Antiochus IV survive today. I will examine the neutral or negative description by the Greek historian Polybius, who lived in Rome during this period, alongside the more positive description by Livy, who lived a little over a century later. Using this case study, I demonstrate how narratology, for instance, can be a useful method for studying ancient historians and the relations between Rome and the Hellenistic East during this era.
We hope to see you in person (or online)!
Time: Thursday 23 October at 16:15-18:00 EEST (UTC+3h).
Live venue: Faculty of Theology, Faculty Hall (Fabianinkatu 33, room 4038).
Virtual venue: Zoom (Meeting ID: 678 8979 2118 / https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/67889792118).
Best wishes,
Joanna Töyräänvuori, Lena Tambs, Adrianne Spunaugle & Mitchka Shahryari
PS: check the ANEE news blog for AMME posts, including the 2025 fall program!”
