Cinzia Tuena M.A.
Siblings, Spouses, Sovereigns. Gendered Power and Dynastic Strategies in Hekatomnid Karia
The familial networks surrounding rulers and the role women played within them are frequently marginalised in the extant historical sources. Despite this historiographical gap, it is apparent that these familial structures did not merely play a peripheral role but rather were instrumental in ensuring the stability and continuity of dynastic rule.
This dynamic is especially relevant in the case of the Hekatomnid dynasty, whose practice of sibling marriage merits close analysis. In the 4th century BCE, the Achaemenid Great Kings frequently entrusted regional administration to local rulers, among whom were the Hekatomnids of Karia. The dynasty’s eponym, Hekatomnos, was succeeded by his five children – Maussollos, Artemisia, Idrieus, Ada, and Pixodaros – each of whom assumed power. The deliberate choice to engage in sibling unions appears to have served multiple purposes: fostering political cohesion, reinforcing dynastic legitimacy, and distinguishing the ruling family from both the local aristocracy and the general population.
These practices raise a series of critical questions that this thesis seeks to address. To what extent did sibling marriage within the Hekatomnid dynasty shape the symbolic articulation of political authority and religious identity? In what ways did this dynastic strategy influence the Hekatomnids’ position within the broader, increasingly volatile geopolitical context (marked by the declining power of the Achaemenid Empire and the emergent threat posed by Macedonian expansion)? Furthermore, can these insights contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of regional dynamics in the culturally and politically complex interface between the Persian and Greek worlds?