Christopher de Lisle
Biographic Data
| ID | 5635487 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christopher de Lisle |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christopher |
| FAMILY NAME | de Lisle |
| SIGNATURE | DE LISLE C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World
Why did ancient autocrats patronise theatre? How could ancient theatre – rightly supposed to be an artform that developed and flourished under democracy – serve their needs? Plato claimed that poets of tragic drama "drag states into tyranny and democracy". The word order is very deliberate: he goes on to say that tragic poets are honoured "especially by the tyrants, and secondly by the democracies" ( Republic 568c). For more than forty years scho…
Tyrannosiculus Rex
This chapter deals with Agathokles’ rulership and self-representation, arguing that the adoption of the title of king or basileus did not mark a fundamental rupture in Agathokles’ reign and rulership style—a transition from Sicilian tyranny to Hellenistic monarchy. Rather it was simply an attempt to re-establish his legitimacy after the conclusion of the war with Carthage. A number of features that have been identified as characteristic of a new …
Mainland Greece and the Diadochoi
This chapter deals with Agathokles’ relations with the cities of mainland Greece and the Macedonian warlords. Ties with mainland Greece were already deep at the start of Agathokles’ reign; relationships with Corinth and Sparta were of key importance during his original seizure of power. These ongoing relationships played a significant role in the construction of identity on both sides of the Adriatic. The Macedonian warlords loomed large in Sicil…
Telling Tales about the King
Α necdotes about Agathokles in our literary sources were told because they were thought to illuminate his character or a general truth about the world and indicate how he was fitted into the broader dialogue on autocracy and power. There is a clash between the characterization of Agathokles as an effective military leader and as a monstrous tyrant, resulting from the nature of the lost historical narratives and from the way Agathokles was used by…
Sicily
This chapter focuses on Agathokles’ involvement in eastern and central Sicily, which was the core of his domain throughout his reign. It argues that Agathokles rose to power largely from conflicts particular to the domestic situation in Syracuse after Timoleon and that the driver of Agathokles’ establishment of a large kingdom in Sicily was not primarily the example of the Diadochoi in the East. Rather it was the interlocked nature of civic confl…
Conclusion: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King
Throughout this book, I have argued that Agathokles is best understood by putting him in the context of both his Sicilian predecessors and his Hellenistic contemporaries, emphasizing that Agathokles participated in the changes occurring in his world, while also continuing many earlier patterns and practices. Agathokles represents both continuity and change, was both a local and a Panhellenic phenomenon....
Coinage
The only truly contemporary source material that we have for Agathokles is his coinage and it has a number of stories to tell that no other source offers. The circulation patterns of Agathokles’ coinage show that Syracuse’s economic interactions with the wider world under Agathokles were similar to those which took place under his predecessor Dionysios. Quantification of Agathokles’ coinage allows us to compare his economic resources with those o…
Agathokles’ Life and Times
This chapter provides a narrative overview of Agathokles’ life and career as a foundation for the analytical chapters which follow. The collapse and revival of Syracusan hegemony in Sicily and the rise of Macedon in mainland Greece were the central features of Agathokles’ youth. His rise to dominance in Syracuse in the years preceding 317 BC highlight the difficulties inherent in our source material for his career. This seizure of power resulted …
Italy
The nature of the source material means that our understanding of Agathokles’ activities in Italy will always be patchy. This chapter reconstructs the course of events in the region during his reign as far as is possible. Agathokles’ activities in this region are best understood in the context of earlier Syracusan interventions in Italy. Like them, he entered the region as a result of the ideology of Sicilian tyranny, the absence of a clear borde…
Carthage
This chapter analyses the relationship between Agathokles and the Carthaginians as part of a long-term historical process and a wide-ranging pan-Mediterranean system of interaction. The Carthaginians sought to maintain a dominant situation in Sicily and prevent attacks from the eastern part of the island by keeping the Greek poleis there divided. This approach clashed with Agathokles’ priorities (as outlined in chapter 6) and with the aggressive …
Historiography
Study of the literary sources on Agathokles has been characterized by speculation on the lost sources that our surviving sources might have used. This chapter endorses the recent trend of seeing the surviving texts as works of literature in their own right, but emphasizes that to do this it remains necessary to understand what we can of the sources that confronted surviving sources. Firstly, what is known about the lost authors—Antandros, Kallias…
Agathokles of Syracuse: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King
Agathokles of Syracuse ruled large areas of Sicily and southern Italy between 317 and 289 BC. This book argues that Agathokles was an important player in the Mediterranean world at a key moment in its history. His career has important implications for our definition of the Hellenistic world and its relationship to both the western Mediterranean and earlier Greek history. However, he has tended not to feature in studies of the Hellenistic world or…
The Punic Wars (264–146 bce)
The chapter provides a narrative in broad strokes of the period between 264 and 146 bce . The sources for the period are heavily biased in favor of the Romans, but the Romans did loom increasingly large in the Carthaginians’ world. In their treaties, our main source for their self-representation, the Carthaginians emphasize their overwhelming but beneficent power, their control of movement around the Mediterranean Sea, and their Phoenician identi…
Agathokles of Syracuse: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King
Agathokles of Syracuse ruled large areas of Sicily and southern Italy between 317 and 289 BC. This book argues that Agathokles was an important player in the Mediterranean world at a key moment in its history. His career has important implications for our definition of the Hellenistic world and its relationship to both the western Mediterranean and earlier Greek history. However, he has tended not to feature in studies of the Hellenistic world or…
The Punic Wars (264–146 bce)
The chapter provides a narrative in broad strokes of the period between 264 and 146 bce . The sources for the period are heavily biased in favor of the Romans, but the Romans did loom increasingly large in the Carthaginians’ world. In their treaties, our main source for their self-representation, the Carthaginians emphasize their overwhelming but beneficent power, their control of movement around the Mediterranean Sea, and their Phoenician identi…
Tyrannosiculus Rex
This chapter deals with Agathokles’ rulership and self-representation, arguing that the adoption of the title of king or basileus did not mark a fundamental rupture in Agathokles’ reign and rulership style—a transition from Sicilian tyranny to Hellenistic monarchy. Rather it was simply an attempt to re-establish his legitimacy after the conclusion of the war with Carthage. A number of features that have been identified as characteristic of a new …
Mainland Greece and the Diadochoi
This chapter deals with Agathokles’ relations with the cities of mainland Greece and the Macedonian warlords. Ties with mainland Greece were already deep at the start of Agathokles’ reign; relationships with Corinth and Sparta were of key importance during his original seizure of power. These ongoing relationships played a significant role in the construction of identity on both sides of the Adriatic. The Macedonian warlords loomed large in Sicil…
Telling Tales about the King
Α necdotes about Agathokles in our literary sources were told because they were thought to illuminate his character or a general truth about the world and indicate how he was fitted into the broader dialogue on autocracy and power. There is a clash between the characterization of Agathokles as an effective military leader and as a monstrous tyrant, resulting from the nature of the lost historical narratives and from the way Agathokles was used by…
Sicily
This chapter focuses on Agathokles’ involvement in eastern and central Sicily, which was the core of his domain throughout his reign. It argues that Agathokles rose to power largely from conflicts particular to the domestic situation in Syracuse after Timoleon and that the driver of Agathokles’ establishment of a large kingdom in Sicily was not primarily the example of the Diadochoi in the East. Rather it was the interlocked nature of civic confl…
Conclusion: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King
Throughout this book, I have argued that Agathokles is best understood by putting him in the context of both his Sicilian predecessors and his Hellenistic contemporaries, emphasizing that Agathokles participated in the changes occurring in his world, while also continuing many earlier patterns and practices. Agathokles represents both continuity and change, was both a local and a Panhellenic phenomenon....
Coinage
The only truly contemporary source material that we have for Agathokles is his coinage and it has a number of stories to tell that no other source offers. The circulation patterns of Agathokles’ coinage show that Syracuse’s economic interactions with the wider world under Agathokles were similar to those which took place under his predecessor Dionysios. Quantification of Agathokles’ coinage allows us to compare his economic resources with those o…
Agathokles’ Life and Times
This chapter provides a narrative overview of Agathokles’ life and career as a foundation for the analytical chapters which follow. The collapse and revival of Syracusan hegemony in Sicily and the rise of Macedon in mainland Greece were the central features of Agathokles’ youth. His rise to dominance in Syracuse in the years preceding 317 BC highlight the difficulties inherent in our source material for his career. This seizure of power resulted …
Italy
The nature of the source material means that our understanding of Agathokles’ activities in Italy will always be patchy. This chapter reconstructs the course of events in the region during his reign as far as is possible. Agathokles’ activities in this region are best understood in the context of earlier Syracusan interventions in Italy. Like them, he entered the region as a result of the ideology of Sicilian tyranny, the absence of a clear borde…
Carthage
This chapter analyses the relationship between Agathokles and the Carthaginians as part of a long-term historical process and a wide-ranging pan-Mediterranean system of interaction. The Carthaginians sought to maintain a dominant situation in Sicily and prevent attacks from the eastern part of the island by keeping the Greek poleis there divided. This approach clashed with Agathokles’ priorities (as outlined in chapter 6) and with the aggressive …
Historiography
Study of the literary sources on Agathokles has been characterized by speculation on the lost sources that our surviving sources might have used. This chapter endorses the recent trend of seeing the surviving texts as works of literature in their own right, but emphasizes that to do this it remains necessary to understand what we can of the sources that confronted surviving sources. Firstly, what is known about the lost authors—Antandros, Kallias…
Agathokles of Syracuse: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King
Agathokles of Syracuse ruled large areas of Sicily and southern Italy between 317 and 289 BC. This book argues that Agathokles was an important player in the Mediterranean world at a key moment in its history. His career has important implications for our definition of the Hellenistic world and its relationship to both the western Mediterranean and earlier Greek history. However, he has tended not to feature in studies of the Hellenistic world or…
Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World
Why did ancient autocrats patronise theatre? How could ancient theatre – rightly supposed to be an artform that developed and flourished under democracy – serve their needs? Plato claimed that poets of tragic drama "drag states into tyranny and democracy". The word order is very deliberate: he goes on to say that tragic poets are honoured "especially by the tyrants, and secondly by the democracies" ( Republic 568c). For more than forty years scho…
Classical Antiquity Studies (13 works) · History (13 works) · Ancient history (10 works) · Byzantine Studies and History (10 works) · Archaeology (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Sicilian (8 works) · Art (7 works)