Kim Jong-un, Ptolemy VIII and a Roman legation to the Alexandrian court

January 29, 2019 - 6:15 - 8:00 p.m.

 Stefan Pfeiffer, Halle (Saale)

Seminarstraße 19a/b, Room 02/E05

In 140 BC, a high-ranking delegation of Roman senators traveled to Egypt to visit King Ptolemy VIII. Arriving at the court in Alexandria, the Romans were in for a culture shock. Coming from a world that counted ideals of physical perfection and efficiency, simple living and personal effort among its ideals, they met the king of an empire who presented himself in all his splendor, staging himself before the Romans as an obese bon vivant in transparent robes. In this lecture, Roman and royal ideals are juxtaposed and an explanation for this failed communication is sought.