Fascination with the tiny

Social negotiation through miniatures in Hellenistic Babylonia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3919908
AutoresStephanie M Langin-Hooper (0000-0003-1921-3922, Southern Methodist University, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume47
Fascículo1
Páginas60-79
Data de publicação2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438243.2014.991803
OpenAlexW2081444821
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas16
Referências citadas25

The tremendous diversity and variety of miniature objects in Hellenistic Babylonia reflects a social environment of intensive cross-cultural interaction and widespread change. Considering the aspect of miniaturization itself reveals how tiny things participated in this social transformation. Through their appealing and non-threatening materiality, miniatures established an intimate connection with their users that encouraged identity sharing and illusions of power over the outside world. Miniatures of performing bodies, such as musicians and theatrical masks, induced users to experiment with new enactments of Greek cultural identities. Soldiers, deities and other powerful bodies in miniature enabled fantasies of control over the wars and political upheavals endemic to Hellenistic Babylonia. Display-oriented figurines depicting interpersonal relationships encouraged self-identification and shaped new ideals of social behaviour. The miniature objects of Hellenistic Babylonia were more than just witnesses to social change; they were also participants in the processes of negotiating new identity norms for this multicultural society

Aesthetics · Art · Identity (music · Literature · Multiculturalism · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Ancient Near East History · Anthropology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law