The Sesonchosis Romance denotes a particular text, known from papyrus fragments, which exploits legendary material to create a fictional narrative. The title was first applied to P. Oxy. 1826, a codex fragment dated to the late 3rd or early 4th century. Written in Demotic, the fragment was found in the ancient dumps of the city Oxyrhynchus, located roughly 150 miles south of Alexandria on the branch of the Nile that ends at the Fayum Oasis. The city flourished under its Hellenistic and Roman rulers. In the dumps were found thousands of papyrus scraps containing information on everyday life in the city--grocery lists, poetry, and other fictional writings, such as P. Oxy 1826.
The Sesonchosis Romance applies to the legendary conquests of Sesonchosis, the Egyptian pharaoh. This story combines the history of two pharaohs of the 12th dynasty (Senwosret I and Senwosret III) with additions from later rulers such as Ramses II, and ideals of kingship. It is an early example of the koenigsnovelle in that it praises the youthful Sesonchosis and provides divine justification for his rule, as is evident on the back of fragment 1826 in the last few lines when it mentions a god “assisting” Sesonchosis “into the country.”
The events of the Sesonchosis Romance and its themes of romance and intrigue (in later fragments) are significant because of their use in the Alexander Romance. In the story Alexander cites Sesonchosis as the ruler of the world and declares himself the "New Sesonchosis."
Showing posts with label Alexander the Great. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexander the Great. Show all posts
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Alexander and the Silk Road
The Silk Road is an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an), China, with Antioch, Asia Minor, as well as other points. It extends over 5,000 miles.
Exchanges of goods, services, and culture were significant not only for the development of the great civilizations of China, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Rome but also helped to lay the foundations of the modern world.
The continental Silk Road diverges into northern and southern routes as it extends from the commercial centers of North China, the northern route passing through the Bulgar–Kypchak zone to Eastern Europe and the Crimean peninsula, and from there across the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and the Balkans to Venice; the southern route passing through Turkestan–Khorasan into Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and then through Antioch in Southern Anatolia into the Mediterranean Sea or through the Levant into Egypt and North Africa.
This region was taken over by Alexander the Great, who finally conquered the Iranian empire, and colonized the area. The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of Alexander the Great deep into Central Asia, as far as Ferghana at the borders of the modern-day Xinjiang region of China, where he founded in 329 BC a Greek settlement in the city of Alexandria Eschate "Alexandria The Farthest", Khujand (also called Khozdent or Khojent), in the state of Tajikistan.
Although he only ruled the area until 325 B.C., the effect of the Greek invasion was quite considerable. The Greek language was brought to the area, and Greek mythology was introduced. The aesthetics of Greek sculpture were merged with the ideas developed from the Indian kingdoms, and a separate local school of art emerged. By the third century B.C., the area had already become a crossroads of Asia, where Persian, Indian and Greek ideas met. It is believed that the residents of the Hunza valley in the Karakorum are the direct descendents of the army of Alexander.
This crossroads region, covering the area to the south of the Hindu Kush and Karakorum ranges, now Pakistan and Afghanistan, was overrun by a number of different peoples. After the Greeks, the tribes from Palmyra, in Syria, and then Parthia, to the east of the Mediterranean, took over the region. These peoples were less sophisticated than the Greeks, and adopted the Greek language and coin system in this region, introducing their own influences in the fields of sculpture and art.
Exchanges of goods, services, and culture were significant not only for the development of the great civilizations of China, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Rome but also helped to lay the foundations of the modern world.
The continental Silk Road diverges into northern and southern routes as it extends from the commercial centers of North China, the northern route passing through the Bulgar–Kypchak zone to Eastern Europe and the Crimean peninsula, and from there across the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and the Balkans to Venice; the southern route passing through Turkestan–Khorasan into Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and then through Antioch in Southern Anatolia into the Mediterranean Sea or through the Levant into Egypt and North Africa.
This region was taken over by Alexander the Great, who finally conquered the Iranian empire, and colonized the area. The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of Alexander the Great deep into Central Asia, as far as Ferghana at the borders of the modern-day Xinjiang region of China, where he founded in 329 BC a Greek settlement in the city of Alexandria Eschate "Alexandria The Farthest", Khujand (also called Khozdent or Khojent), in the state of Tajikistan.
Although he only ruled the area until 325 B.C., the effect of the Greek invasion was quite considerable. The Greek language was brought to the area, and Greek mythology was introduced. The aesthetics of Greek sculpture were merged with the ideas developed from the Indian kingdoms, and a separate local school of art emerged. By the third century B.C., the area had already become a crossroads of Asia, where Persian, Indian and Greek ideas met. It is believed that the residents of the Hunza valley in the Karakorum are the direct descendents of the army of Alexander.
This crossroads region, covering the area to the south of the Hindu Kush and Karakorum ranges, now Pakistan and Afghanistan, was overrun by a number of different peoples. After the Greeks, the tribes from Palmyra, in Syria, and then Parthia, to the east of the Mediterranean, took over the region. These peoples were less sophisticated than the Greeks, and adopted the Greek language and coin system in this region, introducing their own influences in the fields of sculpture and art.
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