Court Culture

The present article studies a number of texts produced at the court of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in order to argue that there was a rise in prestige for various fields of knowledge such as mathematics, geography and astronomy. While these texts certainly fulfilled a political function (elucidating the cosmos for Mughal universalist claims), they also reflected aspects of the intellectual climate and practices of the sixteenth century that were undergoing a realignment with the expansion of royal authority throughout much of the globe.

The article analyses one of the hexametric poems copied on a second century AD papyrus, possibly from Hermupolis, P.Lit.Goodspeed 2: a Hellenistic hymn to Aphrodite celebrated as a patroness of the sea and of wedded love. This portrayal of the goddess perfectly fits with Ptolemaic royal propaganda in III BC. The address to a "Ptolemai[c] Arsinoe" (II 5) reveals that here the goddess is worshipped as a divine image of a queen Arsinoe, most probably Arsinoe II Philadelphos, who had strong links with key-figures of the Ptolemaic navy. The hymn is compared with contemporary Alexandrian poetry, like the epigrams of the Milan papyrus P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309. Some hypotheses are also presented about the context for the composition and the performance of the hymn (a Cypriot cult of Arsinoe Philadelphos?).

The claim by certain rulers to universal empire has a long history stretching as far back as the Assyrian and Achaemenid Empires. This book traces its various manifestations in classical antiquity, the Islamic world, Asia and Central America as well as considering seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European discussions of international order. As such it is an exercise in comparative world history combining a multiplicity of approaches, from ancient history, to literary and philosophical studies, to the history of art and international relations and historical sociology. The notion of universal, imperial rule is presented as an elusive and much coveted prize among monarchs in history, around which developed forms of kingship and political culture. Different facets of the phenomenon are explored under three, broadly conceived, headings: symbolism, ceremony and diplomatic relations; universal or cosmopolitan literary high-cultures; and, finally, the inclination to present universal imperial rule as an expression of cosmic order.

• Proposes a new view of the notion of universal empire across world history • Adopts a wide-ranging and boldly comparative approach across time and geography • Examines imperial universalism from a multiplicity of disciplinary perspectives

Contents

1. 'Elephant of India' – universal empire through time and across cultures Peter Fibiger Bang with Dariusz Kołodziejczyk; Part I. Eurasia – Antiquity till Early Modernity: 2. Propaganda and practice in Assyrian and Persian imperial culture Gojko Barjamovic; 3. Between Aśoka and Antiochos – an essay in world history on universal kingship and cosmopolitan culture in the Hellenistic ecumene Peter Fibiger Bang; 4. The making of Oriental Rome: shaping the Trojan legend Rolf Michael Schneider; 5. Pseudo-Aristotelian politics and theology in universal Islam Garth Fowden; 6. The Christian imperial tradition, Greek and Latin Judith Herrin and Dimiter Angelov; 7. Khan, Caliph, Tsar and Imperator: the multiple identities of the Ottoman Sultan Dariusz Kołodziejczyk; 8. How the Mughal Padshahs referenced Iran in their visual construction of universal rule Ebba Koch; 9. Ideologies of state building in Vijayanagara and Post-Vijayanagara South India: some reflections Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam; 10. Sons of Heaven: the Qing appropriation of the Chinese model of universal empire Evelyn S. Rawski; Part II. Contrasting Universalisms – Old and New World; 11. Aztec universalism: ideology and status symbols in the service of empire-building Justyna Olko; 12. From empire to Commonwealth(s) – orders in Europe, 1300–1800 Peter Haldén; 13. Imperial universalism – further thoughts John A. Hall.

Contributors

Peter Fibiger Bang, Dariusz Kołodziejczyk, Gojko Barjamovic, Rolf Michael Schneider, Garth Fowden, Judith Herrin, Dimiter Angelov, Ebba Koch, Velcheru Narayana Rao, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Evelyn S. Rawski, Justyna Olko, Peter Haldén, John A. Hall

This article treats the first entry of a new prince as the start of a series of exchanges between the prince and his subjects. On the occasion of an entry, gifts in all kind of forms, subsistence, luxury and symbolic goods, were exchanged with the intention of establishing a bond between the new ruler and the subjects. These gifts were not standardized in the Burgundian Low Countries. There was a wide range of gifts, from wine to silverware and from money to horses. Some gifts can be linked to the princely right of lodging in places he passed on his itinerary, whereas others refer to marks of honour offered by the host. However, not all gifts were given spontaneously, but were the result of a negotiating process between the town and the prince’s officials on the one hand and between the different towns of a principality on the other. Those officials benefited as well from entry gifts that trickled down to lower levels in the official hierarchy. Therefore, the gifts can be considered as personalized items in a bigger process of exchange and as a confirmation of the outcome of political negotiations.

An essential component in understanding the structure and organisation of the Assyrian imperial court is its physical manifestation. The court as a social institution was set in the spatial framework of the royal palace. This was the setting in which the king and the imperial elite would interact, and a focal point of the imperial bureaucracy. It was a venue for the advertisement and manifestation of royal power and ideology, and a conspicuous backdrop for military reviews, politi- cal negotiations and the reception of foreign dignitaries. Finally, it was the home of the royal family. The present enquiry integrates the extensive written record of the activities of the Assyrian royal court with the material evidence obtained in excavations of the imperial state capitals and link the physical environment of the royal court to elements of function and conduct.

This article aims to put the Saljuq kingship (11th-12th c.) in its spatial context. By focusing on three distinct levels of analysis, I argue that the Saljuqs, even in peacetime, were highly mobile, and that instead of settling inside cities, they continued to live in tented encampments outside the walls, and sometimes in pasture grounds much farther away. From this point of view, and contrary to what Lambton had surmised in the 1970s, the Saljuq court presents striking similarities with that of later Turko-Mongol dynasties.
This introductory article is complemented by a case-study focusing on the reign of a particular sultan (“Where did the Saljūqs live? A case study based on the reign of sultan Mas‘ūd b. Muḥammad (1134-1152)”, Studia Iranica 2011, 42: 211-58) and a study dedicated to the tents of the Saljuqs (“The Tents of the Saljuqs”, in D. Durand-Guédy (ed.) Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life, Brill, Leiden, forthcoming 2013).

Whereas tournaments of the late thirteenth century were infused with cross-channel contact, whether in reciprocity of form or in the international composition of the participants involved, by the early fifteenth century, tournament forms in England and the Netherlands had significantly diverged. As has been thoroughly explored by recent historians, English tournaments became increasingly socially exclusive, whilst retaining an international dimension in the interests of diplomacy. However, this essay demonstrates that this development was by no means typical of all late medieval tournaments. The case of the Low Countries demonstrates that the more socially inclusive style tournaments did continue into the fifteenth century, and provided an opportunity for the ducal household and noblemen to come into contact with patrician townspeople and even more diverse urban audiences.

From 4 to 7 May 1439 a massive tournament (235 participants) was organized at the Grote Markt in Brussels, in which the Burgundian duke Philip the Good himself participated. This tournament was maybe one of the last in the massive (urban) melee-style in the fifteenth century. This article demonstrates that both the town and the duke had an interest in the organization of this tournament. The duke and his household officers were happy to exhibit the splendor of the court to the citizens of Brussels, the nobility of Brabant and the international community. The town considered the tournament as a stimulus for the local economy. At the same time the chivalric event would position Brussels as an attractive residence for the Burgundian duke.

"Contents:
1. Introduction: doriktetos chora and the ‘spear theme’
in Hellenistic court poetry
2. The text of the epigram for Neoptolemus
3. The identity of Neoptolemus
4. Historical background
4.1. Anatolia between Ptolemies and Seleucids in the third century BC
4.2. Galatian raids in Anatolia
4.3. A coalition of Pisidians, Paeonians and Agrianians
with Galatians against Tlos, a Lycian fortress. Possible scenarios
5. The typology of the statue
6. Other epigrams for Ptolemaic generals and soldiers
7. Some concluding remarks

------------------------------------
Expanded version of the paper presented at the Fédération internationale des Associations d'études classiques (FIEC) Kongress Berlin, 24. - 29. August 2009:
http://www.fiec2009.org/proposals/barbantani.pdf
http://www.fiec2009.org/panel1.html

Abstract 2009:
"Doriktetos chora. The symbol of the spear in funerary or honorary epigrams/inscriptions for
Ptolemaic philoi and soldiers."

An interesting epigram, preserved by Stephanus of Byzantium, has been composed to accompany an honorary statue of Neoptolemos, a Ptolemaic general who, on the occasion of “barbarian” invasions, helped the city of Tlos, situated in the interior of Lycia, a region under the control of Egypt under Ptolemy Philadelphos. The poem suggests that Neoptolemos is portrayed as a doryphoros, like the Lysippean Alexander praised by many poetae docti active in Alexandria (see
Posid. 65, 70 A.-B.; Asclepiades A.P. XVI 120; cfr. Antiph. A.P. VI 97). The symbol of the spear, usually associated to Hellenistic kings both in poetry and in the visual arts, represents the martial aspect of the ruler, who, with the protection of the gods, conquers and preserves his domain, the «spear-won land» (dorivkthtoı cwvra). Scholars have generally overlooked the presence of this symbol in documents referring to the king’s generals, philoi and also private soldiers. I shall examine some of these, with special focus on the Ptolemaic kingdom.""

During the years 1627 and 1628, Charles I of England purchased the cream of the Gonzaga art collection, belonging to the dukes of Mantua, in what would become the greatest art deal of the 17th century. Among the treasures sold were ancient statues and stunning paintings by Titian, Raphael, Correggio, and Rubens. This book examines this fascinating and significant art sale from the perspective of the man who orchestrated it—Daniel Nijs (1572–1647), a Flemish merchant, collector, and dealer living in Venice.  Asserting that he was more than the avaricious and unscrupulous trader that most modern writers and scholars deem him to be, Christina Anderson describes Nijs’s unique talent as a dealer, rooted in superior commercial skills, connections to artistic and diplomatic circles, and a deep love of art. The narrative reveals that Nijs was ultimately the pivotal figure involved with the Gonzaga sale, though also—when he later fell into bankruptcy and dishonour due to a deal gone awry—the most tragic.

A pair of almost life-sized polychrome stucco sculptures attributed to the Seljuq period in Iran was closely-examined prior to the reinstallation of the Islamic galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011. Iconographical analysis of their crowns and other accoutrements suggests that they represent a pair of royal figures that were once part of a larger decorative program dated to 1050-1150 C.E. Given the itinerant nature of the Seljuq court, it is proposed that this stucco decoration was created for a temporary reception structure, or kushk, probably in Western Iran.  While scientific analyses have indicated that much if not all of the polychromy is modern, technical examination of the plaster used to create these figures and related examples in other collections is ongoing.

English: The Archivo General de Simancas (Valladolid, Spain) contains in the Patronato Real section (legajo nº 29, document nº 28) a document entitled "Relación de efectos que Pedro Fernández recibía y entregaba de orden del rey" ("List of Items Received and Delivered by Pedro Fernández on the King´s Orders"). This unpublished record contains information regarding the household of King Enrique III of Castile (1390-1406) between 27 August, 1397 and 18 August, 1398. This study aims at examining some of the institutional, cultural, material and historical aspects of the Court of Castile at the end of the fourteenth century | Spanish: En la sección Patronato Real del Archivo General de Simancas (Valladolid, España), bajo la signatura legajo nº 29, documento nº 28 se conserva el documento que, con el título atribuido de "Relación de efectos que Pedro Fernández recibía y entregaba de orden del rey", en la actualidad inédito, alude a la realidad de la cámara regia del rey Enrique III de Castilla (1390-1406), entre los días 27 de agosto de 1397 y 18 de agosto de 1398. El presente trabajo buscará estudiar algunos aspectos institucionales, culturales, materiales e históricos de la corte castellana a fines del siglo XIV.

Las series iconográficas de la realeza gozaron en los reinos de León y Castilla durante la Edad Media de gran popularidad. Éstas, a pesar de haber sido presentadas como series unitarias, respondieron a motivaciones y a promotores diferentes, pudiéndose establecer cuatro tipologías diferentes: galerías de reyes de los alcázares reales, series reales en las catedrales, series de retratos en los tumbos y retratos en obras genealógicas. En este artículo se estudian las principales series iconográficas y sus características generales / The royalty iconography series in the kingdoms of Leon and Castile became increasingly popular throughout the Middle Ages. Despite being presented as unified series, they were constituted thanks to a wide variety of motivations and manifold patrons. Four distinct types can be clearly identified: the royal portrait galleries in the royal palaces, the royal series in the cathedrals, the portraits in the cartularies, and the royal series present in geneology texts. The aim of this article is to analyze the main royal iconography series and to highlight their general characteristics

In this article I give a comprehensive view of the relationship between Margaret of York (1446-1503), the wife of the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold, and Voorne, from 1477 onwards her dower lands in the south of the county of Holland. I will concentrate on three different aspects of this relationship. First, I will demonstrate the economic importance of the isle for the duchess. At the same time I will show the interests of the inhabitants of Voorne and explain how they benefited from the patronage of their new lady. Finally, I will treat Margaret’s charitable and devotional works on the isle. I will demonstrate how these fit into a pious tradition of the lords of Voorne on the one hand and into the devotional practises of Margaret and other members of the Burgundian-Habsburg dynasty on the other.

The Burgundian duke Charles the Bold (1433-1477) was not particularly well known for his liberality. According to De Barante, the nineteenth century historian of the Burgundian dukes, he was seen by his officers and the nobles as ‘bien avare et peu liberal pour un prince si jeune et si nouveau’. One of this article’s purposes is to investigate this claim, but my larger concern is to make sense of the patterns of gift-giving evidenced by the available sources. Although we do not have complete records of all Charles’s gift giving, the account of the highest financial officer, the argentier, combined with the household ordinances and a few narrative sources, provide a good overview of the importance and nature of gift-giving in Charles’s court. These texts reveal a charged and unstable culture of gift-giving, one in which the category of ‘gift’ itself is in some disarray and where bureaucratic pressures both distort the gift and ntensify Charles’s need to deploy gifts in order to secure his power.

"    A partir de la discusión de conceptos clave, como "corte" y "casa" del rey, y de un análisis de la clasificación de los oficiales regios presentada en el Espéculo y en las Partidas, el objeto del presente texto es comprender cómo se organizaba teóricamente la corte de Alfonso X. Los criterios de clasificación de los cargos político-administrativos en la obra alfonsina son muy peculiares, como la diferenciación entre clérigos y legos presentada en el Espéculo y la división de los oficiales regios entre los que guardan la poridad, el cuerpo y la tierra del rey de las Partidas. Asimismo, los textos legislativos analizados dejan entrever el que fue uno de los principales tópicos del pensamiento político alfonsí: el papel central que el rey deseaba tener en su corte, en torno al cual gravitarían los distintos oficiales de acuerdo con la importancia de su función y con el grado de proximidad al rey.

    Based on an analysis of two key concepts -court and royal household- and of the classification of royal officials, as presented in the Espéculo and the Partidas, the present text aims to discover how the court of Alfonso X was organized. The criteria for the classification of political and administrative posts were quite varied. The legal texts analysed reveal that the king was the central figure in the court, around whom gravitated the various officials in accordance with the importance of their office and their proximity to the king.
"

This book provides the first comprehensive, comparative study of the visual culture of monarchy in the reigns of William and Mary and Queen Anne. It makes innovative use of material evidence and new primary sources to re-evaluate the practice of kingship and queenship to produce an original interpretation of the British monarchy during a period of vital transformation. The quarter century between the Glorious Revolution and the Georgian era witnessed prolonged military conflict with France and the birth of what we now call Great Britain. This book argues that a new style of monarchy likewise emerged in this period and that its survival largely depended on the efforts of the royal family: two English queens, a Dutch king and a Danish prince. Through a study of art and material culture (paintings, prints, the decorative arts, architecture, dress and royal insignia) within the broader political context, the book explores how the English people were persuaded to transfer their loyalties from a traditional style of kingship, centred on ideas of divinely appointed rule and hereditary right, to one rooted in Protestantism and Parliament. The book argues that both ceremony and art played a vital role in the way the monarchy functioned after the Glorious Revolution. Crucially, it examines not only the production of images and use of ceremony but also the ways in which they were received by audiences, both in England and abroad. The book sets the ongoing changes in the ideology of British monarchy within the wider context of royal politicking in Europe and pays close attention to gender and the practice of queenship as well as the ways in which military conflict shaped royal representational culture. Using a method that is centred on the visual-ceremonies and art-and on visuality, the study makes an original and important contribution to our understanding not only of the monarchy but also the political culture of the post-Glorious Revolution era. JULIE FARGUSON is College Lecturer in History at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Cover image: Bernard Lens II, The Royal Family (1689-1702) © National Portrait Gallery, London. STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY

Jean Rou (1638-1711), was a Huguenot scholar, educator and civil servant. Despite success working as a lawyer at the Parlement de Paris, he dedicated himself to the pursuit of intellectual activities. However, Rou's publications caused much controversy; the Catholic Church brought charges against him and he was imprisoned in the Bastille. Upon his release, Rou left France and travelled to England where he gained employment as a private tutor to a noble family. Returning briefly to his motherland, he then departed again for the United Provinces, settling in the The Hague. There, he had the good fortune to be hired to teach the sons of the future Governor of Suriname Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijk. Finally, Jean Rou was appointed translator of the States-General of the United Provinces in 1689.
This dissertation has two primary focuses: a comparative examination of the educational ideas and practices of Jean Rou and his position as an intellectual; and secondly, analysis of the means by which Jean Rou created and managed his career in France and abroad, through networking, accessing influential patrons, who gained him access to the court,  and intellectual activities.
The dissertation contains 5 chapters,  and 5 appendixes (timetable, family tree, written works, list of letters, unpublished letter from Jean Rou to Graevius)

See the Dutch summary in the attached PDF file.

"El período Trastámara dio forma a una cada vez más consolidada cultura del pacto en el marco de las relaciones políticas entre las cortes reales medievales, que se manifestó en un interés creciente por la diplomacia y en el impulso a la noción de guerra justa. En este trabajo se intentarán analizar, desde la perspectiva específica de las relaciones diplomáticas entre la corte castellana y portuguesa, la realidad de la cultura del pacto a través del análisis del léxico de la negociación y del acuerdo, de los espacios, prácticas e instrumentos de la negociación, de los argumentos legitimadores de tales prácticas o de su representación en torno a las diversas fórmulas de tratamiento y ceremoniales, en el período comprendido entre los años 1369 y 1504 / The Trastámara period shaped and consolidated a culture of the pact in the framework of political relations among royal medieval courts, manifested in a growing interest in diplomacy and in the impulse towards the notion of a just war. From the specific perspective of diplomatic relations between the Castilian and Portuguese courts between 1369 and 1504, this study examines the reality of the culture of the pact through an analysis of the lexicon of negotiation and agreement, the spaces, practices and instruments of negotiation, as well as the legitimating arguments of such practices and their representation in connection with the diverse forms of address and ceremonies"

Courtesy books have a special relationship to the age that produces them. By attempting to codify manners, styles, ideals and values of a society, they reveal the principles and presuppositions that shape and animate their world. Galateo does this brilliantly. It reflects the personal experience, wisdom, disappointments, and ambitions of its clerical but worldly-wise author as well as the fundamental values of his age. And, given that his age was that of the transformation from the High Renaissance in Italy to the world of the Counter-Reformation, and that Della Casa was an important actor in the events of his time, the lessons are particularly valuable and worth considering.

Archbishop Giovanni Della Casa (1503-1556) was an influential Vatican diplomat, papal nuncio to Venice, and instrumental in the establishment of the Venetian Inquisition and in its 1549 Index of Prohibited Books. He was also an accomplished poet, an arbiter of taste, and the most influential writer on social practice of his time. His book, Galateo, has in fact provided the modern Italian term for good manners: “not to know the galateo” is to have no manners at all!

"Princely windows. Donations of stained glass windows as an instrument of devotion, memory and representation (1419-1519).


This article (in Dutch) tries to explain why the Burgundian and Habsburg princes and their wives donated money for the installation of glass stained windows in religious and charity institutions in the Low Countries. The focus is on the windows that were donated between 1419, the year when Philip the Good succeeded his father John the Fearless, and 1519, the year when Maximilian of Austria died. Most of these windows did not survive the meteorological and political storms of the past centuries, except for some churches in Brabant and Hainault. Still, this aspect of Burgundian gift culture can be reconstructed by using the accounts of the receiver general of all finance, the highest financial officer of the prince, who registered the donations. These accounts and those of the receivers in the principalities at a regional and local level constitute the main source for the construction of a list of donated windows (see the ‘bijlage’). Next to these financial documents, some cartoons and drawings (especially those in the manuscripts of Arnoldus Buchelius) have been used.
It would be wrong to look at the donations only from the prince’s perspective; the prince could impossibly know which church needed new windows. Monasteries and churches had to lobby actively for donations to finance the building of new churches or the rebuilding of old ones. It is noteworthy that most of the donations for the installation of glass windows were given during or shortly after the prince had passed by, for example on his inauguration tour. A direct contact with the prince or one of his representatives was an effective method to obtain money, or at least to remind him of his duty to protect the church.
At the same time, a donation of a glass window was a relatively cheap contribution to memorial and devotional practices. It was a particular kind of gift exchange. Whereas the gift was tangible and immediate the counter gift was not: an asymmetric exchange occurs of material goods for spiritual goods. With these gifts the prince tried to establish a reciprocal relationship with the hereafter in obtaining divine compensation through the remission of sins. Still, it seems that the churches and convents were carefully selected. The prince had a preference for popular places of pilgrimage, especially for those churches that boasted miracle images of the virgin Mary, as for example the Sablon in Brussels, the Notre-Dame in Boulogne and the church of Our Lady in ‘s-Gravenzande. He also patronised the mendicant orders; they benefited of almost half of the donations for the convents. Next to the Dominicans who traditionally had access to the prince’s household and his favours, a good many observant communities within the Franciscan order received subsidies. Furthermore, the Burgundian dukes took a special interest in the reform congregations of Sion and Windesheim. This concern was also carried out by duchesses as Isabel of Portugal and Margaret of York who especially favoured the poor Clares. In doing so they joined (or lead?) a more general affection for those convents that were willing to observe the rule of their order more strictly.
Apart from the devotional and memorial aspects the article centres on the political function of the windows. On these ‘bill boards of the Middle Ages’ the princes showed themselves to the public as devote and generous persons. Moreover, by this means they could represent their dynasty, whose members were more and more absent from the Low Countries, continuously to the churchgoers, who were stimulated to pray for the salvation of their souls. This becomes particularly clear in churches with tombs of their predecessors, as for example St. Peters church in Lille, the church of the Carmelites in Brussels and the church of the Black Friars in The Hague. In these churches the prince could visually link his person and family to the reigning dynasty of the past and in this way represent and legitimize his power. So, on the one hand the prince contributed in a material way to the maintenance of the building, and on the other hand he appealed directly to the loyalty of the citizens."

Alexander of Medicis, first duke of Florence, was killed in 1537. His widow was Margaret of Austria, daughter of the emperor Charles V, who ordered to celebrate a funeral for the dead duke in the spanish city of Valladolid, where his imperial court was. This act was used as a symbol of the Habsburg power in the Tuscany area.

Power distance is one of the most researched dimensions of culture in Geert Hofstede’s framework. The vast majority of scholars refer to power distance as though it were something self-evident. Despite the hundreds of studies conducted on the basis of power distance, to date no one has seriously tried to propose a reconceptualization of power distance. Against that background, this paper aims to redefine Hofstede’s concept of power distance. It focuses on formulating a sketch of the three-level concept of power distance that essentially refers to Hofstedian tradition, but is at the same time entangled in different ontological and epistemological assumptions on the social world. The proposed way of understanding power distance creates space for, among other things, a more interaction focused study on power dynamics in various settings. It also provides the possibility of formulating completely new hypotheses concerning psychological and sociological dimensions of exercising power.

To judge from wisdom literature and artistic production, the ideal man in pharaonic Egypt was as polite and even-tempered as he was well groomed. This article examines the evidence for warrior burials from periods when the state was decentralized or relatively weak and argues that conceptions of manhood in fact oscillated between an irenic ideal and a more violent counterpart. Drawing upon comparative case studies
and advice given by Niccolò Machiavelli to his prince, I argue that hegemonic masculinity in Egypt did not simply reflect the character of the times. Rather, rulers actively promoted the type of masculinity that best served their purpose. To an ambitious local ruler engaged in enlarging his core territory, it was beneficial to appeal to and
encourage ideals of valor among potential soldiers and supporters. Once peace had been established, however, violent masculinities proved disruptive. Based on internal evidence as well as observations of authoritarian governments that aimed similarly to solidify their power and pacify their realms, I suggest that pharaohs and their advisors
likely employed five specific strategies to neutralize potential competitors and transform an honor-bound warrior aristocracy into courtiers and bureaucrats.