The Legend of Stratonics: political and religious aspects

Sivkina Nataliya Yurievna Doctor of History Professor, Department of Ancient and Medieval History, N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod 603005, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanova str., 2 natalia-sivkina@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Guseva Anastasiya Sergeevna Graduate student; Department of History of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages; Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky 603005, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanova str., 2 anast.gusewa2018@yandex.ru

The subject of the study. Since ancient times, men have played a huge role in history and politics: kings, warriors and heroes, whose great deeds have been mythologized over time, for example, as part of the cycle of myths about the exploits of Hercules, Homer's Iliad or the Epic of Gilgamesh. This trend was stable, in fact, until the time of Alexander the Great. In turn, the women, relatives of these people, were not given proper attention for quite a long time. Even later, not much was known about the "royal women": mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of Hellenistic rulers, and for a long time there were practically no special studies devoted to them ^{[1; 2; 3]}. However, in recent decades, interest in the life of women in ancient times has not only increased, but also raised many controversial issues, which confirms the relevance of the topic.

The female influence on the personality and politics of her royal relative cannot be underestimated. The following facts testify to the influence of "royal women" at the court and on the monarch's policy. A special term "βασίλισσα" was used to refer to them ^{[4, p. 191]}. They patronized temple communities ^{[5, p. 87]}, provided financial assistance to soldiers ^{[4, p. 192]}, conducted diplomatic correspondence, maintaining family and friendly ties ^{[6, p. 34]}, thereby helping their husbands, i.e. they were important participants in the system of international relations.

It should be noted that the situation of less noble women has also changed: their equality of rights with men is recognized in some matters ^{[7, p. 88]}, female philosophers are becoming world famous ^{[8, p. 442]}, and in the religious sphere they themselves can visit oracles and receive predictions without their husbands ^{[9, p.145]}. All this testifies to the changes in the political and cultural life of ancient society. However, first of all, a woman's influence on politics was related to her background. The purpose of this article is to study one incident from the life of the Seleucid queen Stratonica, compare different versions in the sources and clarify the factors that influenced the historical and literary tradition about her.

The theoretical basis. Ancient authors left interesting references to the marriage of Stratonics, providing them with their comments and attempts to explain the situation through the prism of their views or eastern traditions. Diodorus, Justin, Plutarch, and Appian remain the main sources for the period of the reign of the Diadochi and Epigones. At the same time, they all lived in later times, none of them set out to study the early period of the Seleucid dynasty, the role of women at their court, the influence of Oriental and Greek elements on the politics and transformations of the first rulers. As for Lucian, who became famous for his satirical works, then, due to the specifics of this genre, his information should be treated very carefully. The authors of narrative sources pursued different goals when writing their works and chose different literary genres to embody these ideas. Accordingly, the genre of the works leaves its mark on the nature of the information provided (geographical treatise, military treatise, biography, historical and literary works). Therefore, the information of ancient authors is supplemented by epigraphic monuments. Thus, the source base of the study, although diverse, does not provide a complete and objective picture of either the reliable image of historical figures of that era, or the religious policy of the first Seleucids, or Stratonics, in particular.

Modern researchers also cannot ignore the period of the reign of the Diadochi. The general works of A. B. Ranovich, U. Tarn, F. F. Zelinsky and others are devoted to this issue. The Seleucid state was the object of study for E. Bikerman, S.V. Smirnov, E.M. Berzon, N.V. Zhuravleva and others. Many works on the role of women at the Macedonian court were written by Elizabeth Kearney, whose works are of considerable interest in this topic, since Macedonian traditions influenced the policies of the first Seleucid rulers. In particular, the article by D. Engels and K. G. Erickson is devoted to the marriage unions of Seleucus. Naturally, articles on the "policy of fusion", the interaction of Eastern and Western traditions in the states of the dyadochs were involved, for example, the work of Anagnostou-Lautides E. about Oriental borrowings in the royal cult of the Seleucids.

The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the authors examined the legend not only from the point of view of its content, but also the form of presentation of the material in the context of politics and religion of the early Seleucids. This approach allowed us to assert that during their reign, a historical myth about Seleucus and his family began to form, into which the incident with the queen's second marriage organically fit.

The research methods were both traditional general philosophical methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as the method of systematization of materials, since the authors summarized a variety of preserved information about Stratonics. In addition, special methods were used: historical and genetic, which allows to establish causal links between historical processes and phenomena; problem–chronological, necessary to identify the stages of formation of the image of the ruler; comparative historical, used in comparing the policies of Alexander the Great, Seleucus I and Antiochus, as well as retrospective, contributing to the restoration of a more objective historical context of events.

Results. Among the Early Hellenistic queens, a special place is occupied by the wives of Seleucus Nicator, the Persian Apama and Stratonika Syriac. Stratonica was the daughter of Demetrius Polyorcetes and Philae (App. Syr. 59; Plut. Dem. 32), the granddaughter of Antigonus the One-Eyed (Plut. Dem. 2) and Antipater (Plut. Dem. 16). Very little is known about the early years of her life, except that her family was rich and closely connected with the rulers of Macedonia, Philip II and Alexander the Great. Therefore, it is quite logical that Seleucus Nicator agreed to marry her. Seleucus is one of Alexander's many associates (Diod. XVIII. 3.4; Just. XIII. 4. 17; App. Syr. 53; Agg. Anab. VII. 26. 2; Arr. Μετά Ἀλέξ.), who rose during the wars of the diadochi, although he had a noble origin (Just. XV. 4. 3), but still could not equal the pedigree with a new wife. Of course, he accepted the proposal of the girl's father for marriage ^{[10, p. 69]}, especially since this marriage was supposed to seal the political union of her father and her husband, two active participants in military operations.

Naturally, we do not know how the girl herself felt about choosing a groom. Usually, the matrimonial policy of the Macedonian kings pursued political and dynastic goals, leaving little room for love relationships. The marriages of Macedonian rulers based on mutual sympathies were rather an exception to the rule — one can recall the relationship of Philip II and his last wife Cleopatra or the marriage of Alexander the Great with Roxana. But even these marriages The political aspect was not excluded. The situation with Stratonics is interesting because some time after her marriage, during the lifetime of Seleucus, she became the wife of his son Antiochus.

Sources report that after the marriage of Seleucus, after some time, his beloved and only son Antiochus fell ill. Therefore, Seleucus invited the best doctors to the palace. But no one, except Erasistratus, a famous doctor, to whom the founder of the Seleucid state paid a huge salary (App. Syr. 59), could determine that the cause of the disease was unrequited love. Moreover, it later turned out that he was in love with his stepmother (Plut. Dem. 38; App. Syr. 59-61; Luc. De Dea Syr.17–18). Antiochus believed that "his desire was monstrous, his illness was incurable and, as if distraught, began to look for a way to commit suicide" (Plut. Dem. 32), therefore refused food, suffered from fever and locked himself in a room. Of course, "if he had loved any other woman, he would hardly have remained silent and endured until his death (Plut. Dem. 38). But Antiochus loved his father, so he "did not attempt an evil deed" (App. Syr. 59). Erasistratus decided, though not without hesitation, to reveal to Seleucus the cause of his son's illness, since only the king could help him. The result of this story was the transfer of Stratonics to Antiochus, "for it is far from the same misfortune to lose a wife or son" (Luc. De Dea Syr. 18).

It is noteworthy that the ancient authors proposed several versions of this plot: the mention of this union as an important element in the formation of the Seleucus–Demetrius coalition (Diod. XXI. 20. 1), or as a love story in which the astrologer Leptin played an important role (Val. Max. 7. 3. 1) or the physician Erasistratus (Plut. Dem. 38; App. Syr. 59-61; Luc. De Dea Syr. 17-18), or the doctor Cleombrotus (Plin. Maior. VII. 37).

At the same time, the versions depend on the literary genre and, probably, the purpose of creating the work. Thus, all the works described above can be divided into several groups: historical and literary works (Diod. XXI; App. Syr.), biographies (Val. Max.; Plut. Dem.), geographical treatise (Plin. Maior. VII) and satire (Luc. De Dea Syr). It can be noted that the authors of the biographies colorfully describe the feelings of the characters and give an approving assessment of the events, they are joined by the work of Appian, combining colorful descriptions with a rational explanation, and Diodorus and Pliny the Elder are limited to a brief summary of events.

At the same time, the most detailed account, including several versions of the event, is presented by the satirist Lucian. Due to the genre specifics of his work, his information was treated skeptically for a long time, but a comparison of his data with other sources about the cult of the "Syrian goddess" showed the reliability of his descriptions ^[11]. Since several of Lucian's works from Samosata belong to the genre of religious satire, it was believed that this work was one of them. In addition, Lucian in "On the Syrian Goddess" was very serious, and such a tone of narration temporarily even gave rise to doubts about his authorship ^{[12; 13, p. 154]}. However, it is worth remembering that he was a Syrian, visited Hieropolis, was very educated, his work imitated the "History" of Herodotus in form and style ^{[13, p. 155]}. It is probably Lucian's deep attachment to his homeland, as well as the desire to show the originality of its religious traditions, that are associated with such a detailed description of the cult traditions of Syria, as well as the presence of several versions of the myth of Stratonica in his work.

Having several versions of the legend available, the researchers of this plot, without denying its reality, try to give a legal interpretation to these events — whether it was the will of an independent ruler, an eastern ruler or a gesture of the "first among equals" ^{[14; p. 154]} and find out the motives that prompted the founder of the Seleucid dynasty to take this step.

According to one version, Seleucus allowed his son to conclude this marriage in order to prevent the possibility of separatism within his country, since Demetrius' soldiers were in captivity ^{[6, p. 37]}. However, it is not known exactly how numerous this military contingent was, and, accordingly, the nature of the danger emanating from it is not clear. In this context, the researcher is forced to accept the version about the mutual love of Antiochus and Stratonica, which, allegedly, could be welcomed by her father's former soldiers. But, in this case, nothing prevents us from assuming that the love story is just propaganda.

According to another version, there is an urgent need for the separation of power between father and son in the state, in order to simplify the management of a huge state. In the territories subject to Seleukus, there were several urban centers oriented towards the "west" and "east", for which it was necessary to legitimize this decision ^{[15, p. 69]}. It is also assumed that this tradition was borrowed from the Achaemenids ^{[15, p. 75]}. However, it is more correct to assume that such a decision was not particularly expedient, since neither Seleukus nor his predecessors had any problems with the management of these territories before. On the contrary, it could pose a threat to the separatism of individual satrapies, and Antiochus did not yet have sufficient fame and authority to effectively rule the multi-ethnic eastern lands.

According to the third version, Seleucus' second marriage had a dynastic purpose: the appearance of heirs to the throne ^{[4; p. 98]}. However, it is important to note that at the time of his marriage with Stratonica, the founder of the Seleucid dynasty already had a son — heir Antiochus, and the appearance of new contenders for the throne could complicate the succession of power, lead to dynastic conflicts. It is unlikely that Antiochus' father was firmly convinced that he would only have a daughter, Phila (OGIS 14). In the event of his death, the position of Stratonica and a possible pretender to the throne could become dangerous and end in the death of both or lead to a political crisis if Stratonica was supported by part of the nobility. The marriage of Stratonica with Antiochus, on the one hand, left in force the political alliance of Demetrius and Seleucus, and on the other, thanks to the marriage of young people, increased the chances of continuing the dynasty.

The Hellenistic era, which came after the campaign of Alexander the Great, was accompanied by many socio–political changes in ancient society. "It was a time of ambition, hope and betrayal, adventures, sudden turns of fate" ^{[16, p. 84]}. Therefore, it is quite logical to assume that Seleucus was interested in a new political alliance, he was interested in the fleet, which his wife's father Demetrius possessed. The ships were necessary to protect the Seleucid empire from a possible attack by former coalition allies Lysimachus and Ptolemy, associates of Alexander the Great (Diod. XXI. 20. 1).

Thus, by According to the available information, Seleucus, being an experienced politician and diplomat, could hardly make the decision to transfer his wife to his son, guided only by personal motives. Of course, we cannot exclude the fact of Antiochus' love for his stepmother, but, as in the case of Alexander the Great and Roxana, this marriage pursued a political goal – to strengthen the dynasty by demonstrating to other rulers the absence of discord in the family between father and son. Unfortunately, Stratonics did not play a significant role in these political games.

It is worth noting that in addition to the political context, this plot should also be considered in a religious aspect. We know that in Smyrna Stratonica was revered as the "goddess Stratonica" (OGIS 229), and at the same time there was also a sanctuary of Aphrodite Stratonikida (OGIS 228), she had a personal cult on Theos together with Antiochus (CIG 3075), and also patronized the sanctuary of Aphrodite in Bambika (OGIS 14) and She received a cult statue and, possibly, a sanctuary on the island of Delos ^{[4, p. 187]}. But in the royal iconography, Stratonica is identified with the goddess Artemis, the sister of Apollo, which is quite logical, because her second husband introduced the image of Apollo into the royal mint, and the deity himself became considered the patron saint of the entire dynasty ^{[17, p. 33]}. Identification with the goddess Aphrodite hints at the love story of Antiochus and Stratonica ^{[18, p. 130]}.

It is also worth saying that there is evidence of the religious veneration of Stratonics in the Eastern tradition, too. According to the cylinder of Antiochus from Borsippa, her name is mentioned in connection with the goddess Astarte — "Astartanikku" (BM 36277). This is also indirectly evidenced by the version of this story, according to which an astrologer was able to help the son of Seleucus.

The form used by ancient authors in conveying this story also attracts attention. The existence of different versions of this story among ancient authors suggests that it is not the fruit of their creative imagination, on the contrary, they considered this episode historical (Luc. De Dea Syr.17-18), perhaps several versions existed at about the same time (Luc. De Dea Syr. 17-18; Luc. De Dea Syr. 19–27). In fact, this story has been retold so often that it has overgrown with some local features, its variations have appeared, and the story has turned into a historical myth. And already in this form it got into written sources.

Probably, this legend appeared at the court of Antiochus I Soter in order to substantiate the role of Stratonics in the royal cult and the royal dynasty ^{[19, p. 18]}. Such an idea could have arisen due to his close contact with sacred shrines and priests during his co–reign ^{[20, p. 200]}. This version is indirectly confirmed by the fact that Diodorus Siculus and Pompey Trogus, whose work has come down to us in the abridgment of Justin, do not mention this event, i.e. it was not known to their common source of the "History of the Diadochi" by Hieronymus of Cardia.

It is worth noting that according to the tone of the narrative and the author's sympathies, these versions can be divided according to the types of sources: proselevkid (Val. Max. 7. 3. 1; Plut. Dem. 38; App. Syr. 59-61) and anti-Seleucid (Luc. De.Dea Syr.17–18). It is quite possible that this is due to the fact that pro-Jewish authors relied on the lyrical Philarchus, and Lucian may have relied on oral tradition rather than Hieronymus from Cardia ^{[19, p. 29]}.

It can be noted that the Seleucids thought out the religious justification for such a precedent at the origins of their dynastic line. In addition to the content of this story, another factor is of interest. So, according to one version, the Greeks could consider this event itself an oriental tradition, therefore, the founder of the Seleucid dynasty gave a completely oriental justification for his act, in the spirit of a despotic monarch. And the description of Seleucus's address to the Macedonian soldiers before the wedding resembles the famous scene of the mass wedding in Susa, organized by Alexander. However, these two events are similar in appearance, since Alexander emphasized the union of Asia and Europe, hoping for the future consolidation of the state through the joint children of Macedonians with Iranians, and his successor "connected" Asia and Europe through the marriage of his son Antiochus, a half-Iranian, with the Macedonian Stratonica. In addition, this marriage led to a certain strengthening of the royal power, and not to the unification of peoples ^{[15, p. 78]}.

It is important to understand that the Seleucids were not the only rulers who legitimized their power through their connection with the gods. For example, Berenice, the wife of Ptolemy III, sacrificed her hair to the goddess Aphrodite, which was a very deep and symbolic gesture ^{[21, p. 116]}. We can also find a certain parallel with this plot in the Seleucids. Thus, Stratonica, being the wife of Seleucus Nicator, refused to obey Hera's order to build a temple to the goddess (Luc. De Dea Syr. 19), so she lost her hair (Luc. Pro Imag. 5). Only unlike Berenice, who made this sacrifice voluntarily, Stratonica sacrificed them not of her own free will, built a temple to atone for disobedience (Luc. De Dea Syr. 26), and then, at the suggestion of Hera, was forced to "torment and cry for days in front of everyone" (Luc. De Dea Syr. 20). After this incident, Stratonica experienced such a strong fear of the goddess that she told the poet, who compared her to the wife of Zeus, that "she considered one thing unacceptable to herself: that you compared her to the goddesses Hero and Aphrodite" (Luc. Pro Imag. 7). Although these 2 plots described by Lucian were part of a single tradition, as evidenced by a similar description of the appearance of Stratonics, they did not remain united within the framework of one myth ^{[22, p. 181]}. Despite these differences, Berenice and Statonica are united by the religious worship of the eastern goddesses Isis ^{[21, p. 117]} and Atargatis ^{[23, p. 211]}, sacrifice and love.

Lucian examines the personality of Stratonica in two of his works (Luc. De Dea Syr.; Luc.Pro Imag.), which means it is necessary to make sure that in both cases we are talking about the same person. Thus, the author uses stable phrases: "Stratonica, wife of Seleucus" (Luc. Pro Imag. 5), "Stratonica, whom her stepson loved" (Luc. De Dea Syr. 17) and "Stratonica, the wife of the Assyrian king" (Luc. De Dea Syr. 17). These facts allow us to identify this woman as Stratonika Syriac, the wife of Seleucus Nicator and Antiochus Soter.

It is worth saying that this myth originated in the city that the Greeks called Hierapolis Syriac (Luc. De Dea Syr. 1), and the Syrians called Bambika, where the latter worshipped their goddess Atargatis (Strab. XVI. 1. 27). In the Hellenistic period, Syria was a region inhabited by a mixed population: Greeks, Macedonians, Syrians and Egyptians. It is important to note that the Greeks and Macedonians who arrived in this region after the campaign of Alexander the Great, "cut off" from their native polis cults, could themselves choose which deities to worship, so they increasingly felt religious feelings for such deities like Asclepius, Dionysus, Isis and Atargatis (Astarte). The Greeks got acquainted with deities alien to them due to the proximity of their residence, through the spread of the Greek language as the state language, participation in the cult, as well as assigning a Greek name to a new deity and holding leadership positions in the cult. This happened even if the similarity of the functions of the Greek and local deity was minimal ^{[23, p. 212]}. "In general, she still resembles Hera, although she has both from Athena, and from Aphrodite, and from Selene, and from Rhea, and from Artemis, and from Nemesis, and from Moira" (Luc. De Dea Syr. 32). It is important to note that the Greeks did not abandon their polis gods, but only added local deities to their personal pantheon ^{[23, p. 212]}. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was in this region that a mixed cult arose, and the identification of Stratonica with Aphrodite took place.

Conclusions. Thus, having considered the love story of Antiochus and Stratonica, it can be noted that the ancient authors, when presenting it, do not focus on any one - political or religious – explanation of the incident. Moreover, in fact, all sources cite only one historical fact — the marriage of Stratonica with Antiochus was arranged thanks to Seleucus' decision to transfer his wife to his son. Such an extraordinary decision, unusual, first of all, for the Greeks, ensured the preservation of this episode in historical sources. At the same time, later authors did not limit themselves to rewriting an interesting story, they provided it with explanations. But the attempts of ancient authors to rationalize this step of the king led to the opposite result, to the consolidation of the myth in history.

The widespread nature of this incident suggests that the love story turned out to be useful to Seleukus himself. Probably, already at that time, the mythological tradition of Seleucus Nicator and his family began to form. The original political motive for the marriage faded into the background. And at first, a love motive began to be put forward, which resonated with ordinary people, and a religious one, filled with symbols reinforcing the power of the tsar and hinting at the policy of "merging peoples" of Alexander the Great. Thus, the incident acquires a religious and mythological connotation. As a result of the fusion of these aspects – political and religious - the historical and literary form in which this story has come down to our days appeared and became popular.