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Sam Blankenship

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Papers by Sam Blankenship

Research paper thumbnail of READING HERODOTUS’ EGYPTIANS AND PERSIANS WITH AN OPEN CONCEPT OF RELIGION - (A.) Schwab Fremde Religion in Herodots <i>Historien</i>. Religiöse Mehrdimensionalität bei Persern und Ägyptern. (Hermes <i>Einzelschriften 118.)</i> Pp. 307. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2020. Paper, €54. ISBN: 978-3-515-...

Research paper thumbnail of The Persian Charts of the Greek Historians

Syllogos, 2022

In their nascent efforts at documenting and analyzing the past, the Greek historians of Persia, b... more In their nascent efforts at documenting and analyzing the past, the Greek historians of Persia, beginning with Herodotus, if not Hecataeus as well, were influenced by the intellectual strategies of the Achaemenids for managing their empire and its past, present and future history. The current contribution demonstrates that the Greek historians appropriated and experimented with the chart, with its penchant for rigorous, even obsessive categorization of people and resources, as an organizational format characteristic of Persian imperial administration. First I illustrate the pervasiveness of the charting impulse in the day-to-day imperial bureaucracy and the programmatic royal inscriptions of the Persian Empire. Secondly, I explore the engagement of Herodotus’ Histories, Ctesias’ fragmentary Persica and Xenophon’s Anabasis with this writerly, typically Persian technique against these texts’ oralistic backdrops and argue that the historians’ respective treatments and uses of the chart correspond to their apparent attitudes towards imperialism and its technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of Managing the Past: Influences of Achaemenid Imperial Historiography on the Greek Historians of Persia

Conference Presentations by Sam Blankenship

Research paper thumbnail of Ricerche a Confronto XIX (Ravenna, 2024). Le regalità ibride in Oriente da Alessandro ai Sasanidi

by Associazione culturale Rodopis, Alessandro Magnani, Generoso Cefalo, Marco Ferrario, Filippo Gerace, Olivia Merli, Sam Blankenship, Eleonora Franco, Vincenzo Parisi, Matteo Montano, and Riccardo Francia

Ricerche a Confronto XIX. Le regalità ibride in Oriente da Alessandro ai Sasanidi, a cura di Gene... more Ricerche a Confronto XIX. Le regalità ibride in Oriente da Alessandro ai Sasanidi, a cura di Generoso Cefalo, Alessandro Magnani, Matteo Zaccarini e Associazione Culturale Rodopis – Experience Ancient History
(26-27 NOVEMBRE 2024)
UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA, DIPARTIMENTO DI BENI CULTURALI (RAVENNA), VIA DEGLI ARIANI 1 SALA CONFERENZE (III PIANO)

Research paper thumbnail of READING HERODOTUS’ EGYPTIANS AND PERSIANS WITH AN OPEN CONCEPT OF RELIGION - (A.) Schwab Fremde Religion in Herodots <i>Historien</i>. Religiöse Mehrdimensionalität bei Persern und Ägyptern. (Hermes <i>Einzelschriften 118.)</i> Pp. 307. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2020. Paper, €54. ISBN: 978-3-515-...

Research paper thumbnail of The Persian Charts of the Greek Historians

Syllogos, 2022

In their nascent efforts at documenting and analyzing the past, the Greek historians of Persia, b... more In their nascent efforts at documenting and analyzing the past, the Greek historians of Persia, beginning with Herodotus, if not Hecataeus as well, were influenced by the intellectual strategies of the Achaemenids for managing their empire and its past, present and future history. The current contribution demonstrates that the Greek historians appropriated and experimented with the chart, with its penchant for rigorous, even obsessive categorization of people and resources, as an organizational format characteristic of Persian imperial administration. First I illustrate the pervasiveness of the charting impulse in the day-to-day imperial bureaucracy and the programmatic royal inscriptions of the Persian Empire. Secondly, I explore the engagement of Herodotus’ Histories, Ctesias’ fragmentary Persica and Xenophon’s Anabasis with this writerly, typically Persian technique against these texts’ oralistic backdrops and argue that the historians’ respective treatments and uses of the chart correspond to their apparent attitudes towards imperialism and its technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of Managing the Past: Influences of Achaemenid Imperial Historiography on the Greek Historians of Persia

Research paper thumbnail of Ricerche a Confronto XIX (Ravenna, 2024). Le regalità ibride in Oriente da Alessandro ai Sasanidi

by Associazione culturale Rodopis, Alessandro Magnani, Generoso Cefalo, Marco Ferrario, Filippo Gerace, Olivia Merli, Sam Blankenship, Eleonora Franco, Vincenzo Parisi, Matteo Montano, and Riccardo Francia

Ricerche a Confronto XIX. Le regalità ibride in Oriente da Alessandro ai Sasanidi, a cura di Gene... more Ricerche a Confronto XIX. Le regalità ibride in Oriente da Alessandro ai Sasanidi, a cura di Generoso Cefalo, Alessandro Magnani, Matteo Zaccarini e Associazione Culturale Rodopis – Experience Ancient History
(26-27 NOVEMBRE 2024)
UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA, DIPARTIMENTO DI BENI CULTURALI (RAVENNA), VIA DEGLI ARIANI 1 SALA CONFERENZE (III PIANO)

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