The Hellenistic kings following Alexander the Great harboured imperial ambitions to rule the entire known world. While such pretensions were unrealised on the ground, the distortions of court geographers could depict these hyperbolic claims to universal empire. However, not all geographers were uncritical ciphers. Leveraging their status as royal philoi (friends), certain scholars utilised scientific tools to speak truth to power (parrhesia), their maps placing sobering limits on the flattering propaganda of the court. By applying modern geographical tools to ancient texts, this book reveals how court geography functioned as an integral part of contested discourse. While some produced imperial propaganda, others under the Ptolemies and Seleukids used maps to place limits on their kings' reach. In a culture wary of sycophants' honeyed words, science provided an antidote to unrestrained propaganda. This study offers vital insights into how scholars can challenge the excesses of authoritarian regimes.
Loading metrics...
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.
The PDF of this book complies with version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range of users and attains the highest (AAA) level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive accessibility guidelines.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.