The Royal Palace Institution in the First Millennium BC. Regional Development and Cultural Interchange between East and West, (Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens, 4), 2001, 317 p., br. -

The first millennium BC saw two great powers embracing the East-West divide: the Achaemenid and Hellenistic empires. The papers in this volume examine how their powerful new kings created palatial institutions suitable to reign subjugated lands with old monarchic traditions. The royal palace, both the building and the institution, is regarded here as a microcosmos, a sort of lens through which to view historical topics such as the relationship between conquered and conqueror, notions of kingship, the development of monarchic roles and the mutual acculturation of East and West.Simultaneously the centre of power and propagator of culture, the royal palace throws much light on other parts of society. For instance, the royal court played a normative role, creating buildings and social models that the aristocracy and urban upper class emulated.