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Seleucid Uruk: An analysis of ceramic distribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

C. A. Petrie
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Extract

The ancient city of Uruk holds a pre-eminent place in the history of early state development in Mesopotamia during the fourth millennium BC. However, extensive evidence survives to indicate that the city underwent a very separate cultural flowering during the late first millennium BC, synchronous with the rule of the Seleucid successors of Alexander III of Macedonia.

Traditionally, the Seleucid period has been viewed as one of extensive cultural interaction (e.g. Colledge 1987), when the beneficial impact of Greek “Hellenism” was felt throughout western Asia (e.g. Droysen 1836; Tarn 1951). For this period, Babylonia, and particularly Uruk, are exceptional, both in the quality of preservation and the scope of work that has been conducted there. In addition to Uruk's substantial archaeological remains, we have the added survival of a variety of textual material relating to numerous administrative, economic and ritual activities. If we are to discuss processes of cultural interaction, it is imperative to attempt an integrated study of archaeological material and textual records, and although each type of evidence is limited by constraints of interpretation, a co-ordinated analysis will allow us to address various aspects of the impact of Seleucid domination.

The German excavators have published a wealth of material based on their investigations at the site, including an extensive ceramic corpus for the Seleucid period. The most recent publications of this material have coincided with a shift in approaches to the interpretation of Seleucid rule in western Asia, where attempts to avoid the oversimplification of traditional explanations of cultural interaction are now desirable. An interpretation of the Uruk ceramic material aiming to avoid generalised preconceptions is similarly possible.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 64 , 2002 , pp. 85 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2002 

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Footnotes

*

University of Sydney.

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