An Ancient Example of Cultural Diplomacy? The Informal Principles of Graeco-Roman Diplomacy

Abstract

Based on the methods of Historical Anthropology, the present study focuses on the main diplomatic principles that governed the first Graeco-Roman contacts in the early years of the 2nd century BC, emphasizing the importance of cultural semantics with regard to the communication process between Rome and the Greek poleis. Accordingly, the survey of diplomatic friendship takes the structural differences of the ancient societies into account, differences that ultimately led to diverging views on the concepts of philia and amicitia. Attention is also paid to the ancient vocabulary of freedom (eleutheria / autonomia - libertas), which, given the antagonism between the egalitarian notion of the Greeks and the hierarchical concept of the Romans, likewise constituted a potential source of intercultural misunderstandings. At the same time, a historiographical and interdisciplinary analysis of the applicability of modern-day approaches to cultural diplomacy is undertaken, advocating a constructionist course of action, which would suit the interests of comparative studies.