The Royal Palace: A Stage for Royal Rituals
The Royal Palace: A Stage for Royal Rituals
Chapter 3 discusses palatial architecture. The focus is on the symbolism of the architecture and decoration of royal monuments, as well as on the function of royal architecture for facilitating the performance of the ‘theatre of kingship’. Not only was the palace an arena for the power games of the court, it also was, more than merely the material backdrop for royal ritual, itself instrumental in the construction and negotiation of power. If anything, Hellenistic palaces and royal monuments constituted performative space. It is furthermore argued that the architectural forms used in Hellenistic palaces were derived from religious architecture in order to stress the sacral qualities of kingship and distance the ruler and the court society from the socially inferior by presenting the court as a mysterious and inaccessible place.
Keywords: Palace, Architecture, Ritual, Alexandria, Antioch, Macedonia, Syria, Mesopotamia
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