The Materiality of Diplomacy in the Hellenistic-Roman Mediterranean

Gifts, Bribes, Offerings

Edited by Eduardo Sánchez Moreno, Enrique García Riaza

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Studies the diplomatic and cultural implications of the exchange of symbolic objects in the ancient world

Examines the diplomatic and cultural implications of the exchange of symbolic objects in the ancient world
Regarding the Eastern Mediterranean, deals with cases from the Biblical world, classical Greek, Hellenistic states and Roman interaction
Concerning the Western Mediterranean, studies the Roman Republic's contact with Numidia, Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula
Addresses a number of cross-cutting themes, such as the relationship between gifts, loot and bribery, the anxiety in receiving or refusing presents, or the spaces of diplomatic interaction

This volume is a survey of one of the most interesting practices of ancient diplomacy: the gift or exchange of symbolic objects understood as diplomatic presents. This custom may be as old as mankind, but it can certainly be traced back to the emergence of the first written societies. After assessing this background, the contributions of the volume focus on a transcendental historical epoch: the Hellenistic period (from the end of the 4th century BC to the end of the 1st century BC), which partially overlaps with the expansion of the Roman Republic in the Mediterranean. The book brings together international specialists who approach the subject from different chronological, geographical and thematic perspectives. A stimulating proposal that opens up new insights into the study of Antiquity and the History of Diplomacy. It provides an innovative approach to the study of ancient diplomacy, based on cultural conditioning factors and subjective perception of the gift and illuminates current issues, such as the role of diplomacy and dialogue between cultures as a means of conflict resolution.

Contents

List Of Illustrations

Note on the Contributors

Introduction: Unboxing the Gift. Diplomatic Presents in their Cultural Contexts, Eduardo Sánchez Moreno and Enrique García Riaza

I. A Background for Gifts in Action: Gracing Gods, Kings and Cities

2. Diplomatic Gifts in the Biblical Context of the Sixth to Fourth Ceturies B.C. A Systematic Study of Deuteronomistic History (Joshua – 2 Kings), Francesc Ramis Darder

3. Greek Cities and Diplomatic Gifts in the Classical Period, Dominique Lenfant

4. Gifts for the Gods and Keimelia. Some Reflections on Arms as Diplomatic Gifts in the Greek World, María del Mar Gabaldón Martínez

II. From Asia Minor to Lusitania: The Multiple Use of Gifts in an Interconnected World

5. Crowns to Rome: Honours, Gifts and Hellenistic Diplomacy, Andrew Erskine

6. The Romans and Gifts from the Greeks: The Story of an Ostentatious Rejection, Nathalie Barrandon, Anthony-Marc Sanz and Enrique García Riaza

7. Gift, Debt, Anxiety in Late Hellenistic Times. On the Cautiousness and Attitudes of Achaeans, Macedonians and Bastarnae Towards Diplomatic Presents, Miguel Esteban Payno and Gerard Ventós Rodríguez

8. Buying Goodwill, Granting Rewards: The Roman Headquarters as a Space of Diplomatic Interaction, Borja Vertedor Ballesteros

9. From Presents to Bribes: Symbolic and Political Evolution of the Diplomatic Gift in Relations between Romans and Numidians, Esther Sánchez Medina and Gabriel Rosselló Calafell

10. Torques, Horses, and Gold: Approaching Diplomatic Gifts in Gaul, Alberto Pérez Rubio

11. Do ut des. Liberating Hostages and Offering Gifts on the Hispanian Front in the Second Punic War, Eduardo Sánchez Moreno and Jorge García Cardiel

12. Gold for the Romans. Booty, Gifts, and Bribes during the Roman Conquest of the Western Iberian Peninsula, Manuel Salinas de Frías

13. Bonding Gifts. Material Exchange and Political Alliance during the Sertorian War, David García Domínguez and Diego Suárez Martínez

Epilogue: Gifts at the Edges of the World: Diplomatic Exchanges in the Roman West and Early Colonial Chile, Tomás Aguilera Durán

Reviews

Eduardo Sánchez Moreno and Enrique García Riaza provide a focused examination of the relevance and importance of materiality within the field of diplomacy. This focus brings an additional and distinctive contribution to the field, particularly through the collective nature of this volume.
– Hannah Cornwell, University of Birmingham

The diplomatic background of Roman expansion from the 3rd century BC onwards has long been underestimated, especially for the West, but in recent years it has become a subject of study in its own right. This book has the merit of making a most valuable contribution by shedding new and original light on such an important topic, and is therefore part of a very current trend in academic research on the ancient world.
– François Cadiou, University Bordeaux Montaigne

About the Author

Eduardo Sánchez Moreno is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the Department of Ancient History, Medieval History and Diplomatics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), of which he has been director (2019-2023). He completed a Degree in History with two specialities, Prehistory and Archaeology (1992) and Ancient and Medieval History (1993), and obtained a PhD in Ancient History (1997) at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He made his Postdoc at the University of Oxford (1999-2001) and, in addition, he has been visiting scholar at the universities of Minnesota, Oxford, Waterloo, Edinburgh and Cape Town. His main research interest are the peoples and cultures of Ancient Iberia and the study of Roman imperialism and diplomacy in the Western Mediterranean. Principal Investigator of the Research Group Occidens: Power, Conflict and Diplomacy in the Ancient West (Autonomous University of Madrid). He has taken part in several scientific programs, being a Principal Researcher in different R+D+i projects (Spanish State Research Agency, Government of Spain). He is author of two individual books and nearly eighty academic articles and contributions in collective books; he has edited or co-edited several volumes, such as: Unidos en armas. Coaliciones militares en el Occidente antiguo (Edicions UIB-Ediciones UAM, Palma-Madrid, 2019, with E. García Riaza), Veinticinco estampas de la España antigua cincuenta años después (1967-2017), En torno a la obra de Antonio García y Bellido y su actualización científica (Editorial de la Universidad de Sevilla, 2019), Ideología, identidades e interacción en el Mundo Antiguo (Madrid, 2012, with C. del Cerro, G. Mora and J. Pascual), Poder, Cultura e Imagen en el Mundo Antiguo (Ediciones UAM, Madrid, 2011, with G. Mora), and Protohistoria y Antigüedad de la Península Ibérica, volumes I-II (Sílex, Madrid, 2007-2008).

Enrique García Riaza is Professor in Ancient History at the Department of Historical Sciences and Theory of the Arts, University of the Balearic Islands (Spain). He completed his Degree in History (speciality of Ancient History) at the University of Salamanca (1991), as well as the 'Grado de Salamanca' on Roman History (1992). He defended his doctoral thesis in 1997 (University of the Balearic Islands) later published as a book: Celtíberos y lusitanos frente a Roma: diplomacia y derecho de guerra (Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria, 2002). His main research interests are Diplomacy and Law of War during the Roman expansion. Principal Investigator of the Research Group Civitas (University of the Balearic Islands). He has taken part in several scientific programs, being a Principal Researcher in several R + D + i projects (Spanish State Research Agency, Government of Spain). His publications include: "Laureatae litterae. Announcing Victories and Public Opinion in the Middle Republic" in C. Rosillo López (ed.), Communicating Public Opinion in the Roman Republic, Historia – Einzelschriften, Band 256 (Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 2019), 85-106, and "Foreign Cities. Institutional Aspects of the Roman Expansion in the Iberian Peninsula (218–133 B. C.)", in M. Jehne - F. Pina Polo (eds.), Foreign Clientelae in the Roman World: a Reconsideration, Historia Einzelschriften, Band 238 (Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 2015), 119-140. He has edited or co-edited several volumes, such as: Unidos en armas. Coaliciones militares en el Occidente antiguo (Edicions UIB-Ediciones UAM, Palma-Madrid, 2019, with E. Sánchez Moreno), In fidem venerunt. Expresiones de sometimiento a la República Romana en Occidente (Dykinson, Madrid, 2019, with A.-M. Sanz), and De fronteras a provincias. Interacción e integración en Occidente (ss. III-I a.C.) (Edicions UIB, Palma, 2011).