Places
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Nubian pyramids
Hama, Syria
Ruins of a synagogue at Capernaum
Excavations of Herod the Great's palace at Herodium in Palestine.
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A very brief summary of the relationship of Rome to Syria, Nubia, and Cappadocia.
Syria: In Classical Antiquity, Syria was conquered by Alexander the Great during his campaign against the Persian Empire and became a province of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Next, after a stint of local rulers, Syria was controlled by the Armenians in 83 BC under Tigranes. Thus, they were glad Rome was stepping in against the Romans and Seleucids. However, Pompey captured the capital – Antioch – in 64 BC and turned the region into a Roman province, despite requests from the deposed king to return to the throne, since Rome considered Syria a prize of war from Armenia and not an independent kingdom. Interestingly, Antioch was the third largest city of the Roman Empire, after Rome and Alexandria. Not only was the country important to Rome, it was important to Christianity as Apostle Paul was converted on the Road to Damascus. Furthermore, Syrians often ascended to positions of nobility; for example, Emperor Philip the Arab was from Syria. Nubia: While civilization and distinctive culture has been found in Nubia (today central Sudan and southern Egypt), the culture and unity of the kingdoms dropped out of the historical record once the Egyptian New Kingdom rose to power and the Nubians were assimilated. However, one distinct culture that later developed in 1750 BC was the Kingdom of Kush, which was a blend of Egyptian custom and culture as well as that of local inhabitants. The capital was at Meroe, which was very close to the Egyptian border; since Rome controlled Egypt, there were border skirmishes and incursions. The Roman governor of Egypt invaded Nubia in 23 BC response to an attack, which then caused retaliations on both sides until a peace treaty was signed in 22 BC. At this time, Queen Amanirenas controlled Kush and led the military campaign against Rome. While Nubia was never controlled by Rome, there was a possible client state in the extreme north under Augustus, which is evidenced by an account from Strabo. Due to the proximity to Egypt and its power, the religion was heavily inspired by the religion. While much is unknown, there is archaeological evidence at Meroe of temples to Amun and Isis (and graffiti evidence at Philae) as well as cults to Osiris and Horus – all major Egyptian gods: thus the question begs if these deities were local to the Middle Nile region in general as a shared worldview, or imposed. However, there is evidence of a local Kushite god, Apedemak (his temple is pictured in the background in the image to the right, with a Roman kiosk to the foreground), who was a militarized lion god with an association with fertility. Interestingly, there were multiple Egyptian cults that spread through the Empire, especially that of Isis. Furthermore, Egyptomania was a very popular cultural obsession at the time of the writing of Salome due to the West’s view of Egypt as a mysterious, superior, and romantic long-lost culture and thus is strongly related to Orientalism. Cappadocia: Historically, Cappadocia changed hands as a stronghold of the Hittite Empire, the Persian Empire (where it was governed in a feudal system), the Greeks (under Alexander the Great), then the Ariathid dynasty until 95 BC. Although the Greeks attempted to impose Hellenistic belief, the people still often practiced Zoroastrianism, which had been the dominant religion of the Persian Empire. As a religion, it believes in one universal god, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) with an emphasis on wisdom, truth, and order; Practitioners emphasize active participation in good deeds as a way to obtain happiness and avoid chaos. As Rome took an interest in the area, they supported the Cappadocians in multiple conflicts with their neighbors, including in the campaign against Pontus, a nearby country, and against the Seleucid Empire. There was a lot of conflict over the throne from 116 BC until 95 BC, with lots of murders and changing allegiances, which prompted a Roman response of forcing dissenters out and setting Cappadocia up as a client kingdom under Ariobarzanes I. He was then deposed in 93 BC by the Armenians as Tigranes wanted to use the land as a buffer zone between his kingdom and the Republic, which again triggered a Roman response to return the king and the Mithradatic Wars (as Pontus, a neighboring country, didn’t want to let up). Basically, the area was hotly contested for about a century as neighboring countries kept invading and trying to use the land to their advantage, which Rome didn’t approve of; they kept trying to keep a hold of the power dynamics in the region while dealing with the local drama. Due to Pompey’s involvement and support of Ariobarzanes III - the king at the onset of the Roman Republican civil wars - Cappadocia originally supported him against Caesar, until his assassination. After the Romans defeated Pharnaces II at the Battle of Zela, Rome was again the dominant power in Asia Minor. After the wars, Cappadocia began objecting to the level of Roman interference, but Rome didn't care. So, the Eastern kings supported Anthony against Octavian, but when he won, they switched allegiance in order to remain on the throne. After his ascension to Emperor Augustus, Cappadocia and King Archelaus was a vital territory and the size of the kingdom was expanded due to Rome. However, once Augustus died, Tiberius, angered by Cappadocians preference to Cassius as Augustus’ successor, accused Archelaus, the client king for the past 50 years, of treason and imprisoned him and annexed the land as an imperial province in 17 AD. Augustus sent his adopted son Germanicus to rule and thus Rome was the undisputed power. Biblically, Cappadocia is referenced in Acts 2:9 as a group hearing the gospel of Pentecost and seem to be classified as Jewish in this chapter. From the King James Version, “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven…. and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia.” Also, there is a tradition of cave churches in the area, and some have been built places where it is believed previous Christian leaders spent time. For example: the image to the right is of the Church of Saint Peter near Antioch. |
Original Roman road connecting Antioch to Chalcis.
A temple to a local god in the background, Roman architecture in the foreground in Ancient Nubia.
Roman statue of Isis (with 17th century additions).
A series of geological hoodoos, which are very easily found in the region.
Greek money with relief of Ariobarzanes I (top) and Tigranes (bottom)
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The Snake Charmer (1870) by Jean-Léon Gérôme
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ORIENTALISM
Orientalism, according to Edward Said, is defined as the attitudes the West has towards the East (Asia, Africa, and especially the Middle East) as the result of years of imperialist societies romanticizing and stereotyping swaths of land and people that is then internalized by those who really live on the ground. They tend to be patronizing, with a belief in Western superiority, often set in a us vs. them dichotomy of difference. It portrays the Orient as primitive, violent, and inferior and thus Orientalism is a persistent Eurocentric prejudice against people from the Orient and their cultures and serves as validation for colonial and imperial power plays. Those who have power determine representation, and thus the West decides how to represent the East without the input of the real people, such as in the case of Flaubert's Egyptian courtesan - a well known anecdote in which he met this woman and chose how to describe her while removing her own voice from the narrative. A fetishization of the East has been common – notably in France – for centuries, following Napoleon’s failed invasion of Egypt and Syria which triggered an interest in Egyptology. The sensual and sexual flair was explicitly shown in Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' 1862 painting of a Turkish bath (top left), which influenced Matisse and others to portray the Orient – especially cultures near North Africa, like Semitic and Islamic – as exotic and sexual, which are two stereotypes it continues to face. In general, Orientalism refers to the visual arts, although writers who wrote in the “exotic Orient” because it seemed so "different" definitely fall into the category. Despite apparently being a historical moment, Orientalism is still a major aspect in the way the West views the near-East today. There tends to be a rhetoric that homogenizes the Middle East and ignores the way they live their “primitive” lives in favor of a Western way of existence. For example, the crisis in the “Middle East” is so vague as to be a worthless phrase, yet continues to inform public policy regarding war and immigration. Regarding the playtext specifically, it is important to note that Wilde likely did not have Orientalist intentions with the text, as he was acting on popular aesthetics, representations, and cliches of the time. In Disorienting Orientalism, Im references ways that Wilde may have used the abstracted Otherness East as a way to explore his own Otherness as both a queer man and an Irish-born writer. He lived in both an us and a them dichotomy, and thus could use the Orient to visually express his Otherness. Still, it is an important concept to be aware of in modern stagings. |