Literature and the kings

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the position and function of literature at the royal courts of the Hellenistic kingdoms, starting with a brief outline of the court culture, in which Achaemenid, Macedonian, and Greek traditions came together and developed into a new phenomenon which, transmitted to Western Europe via the Roman Empire, left its imprint on the courts of the Renaissance and the Ancien Regime. It looks at the position of men of letters within the court society and look at the reasons why they aspired to become courtiers, and, conversely, why kings attracted them to their court. The chapter also argues that Hellenistic court patronage in general was characterized by an atmosphere of experiment and innovation. Hellenistic court poetry was not “art for art's sake,” but it was produced in, and for the sake of, an ivory tower: the ivory tower of the court.