Prof Kyle Erickson PhD, MA, BA

Director of Academic Experience

My primary research interest is the political and cultural interactions between the Greek world and the Near East. I am interested in connections between divinity, legitimacy and power. As a result, my work has concentrated on the numismatic representation of divine figures and their potential multicultural interpretations.

My current research explores the creation of ruler cult in Asia Minor during the Hellenistic period, problems of Hellenistic kingship. I am also interested in the development of the Alexander legends and the potential existence of a Seleucus romance.

• Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies (External Research Associate) 
• Classical Association

My main areas of interest in teaching are the Hellenistic Period and the literature generated about Alexander the Great. However, I also teach a wide range of other subjects from Greek Poetry, particularly Hesiod, and have a strong interest in Roman History during the last century of the Republic.

Teaching in Lampeter highlights some of the best aspects of teaching, the individual interaction with students. Of fundamental importance to my teaching is the need to make students connect to the material in a way that was relevant to their own experiences, expectations and goals.

While this remains relatively easy when a student sets their own research agenda, it is more difficult when I set the assignments. On account of this, I strongly believe in the use of a variety of assessment mechanisms and differing approaches to lecturers and seminars which Lampeter offers.

My research has focused on how the Seleucids projected their identity as Greco-Macedonians to a non-Greco-Macedonian audience. This research forms the basis of my collaboration with Professor A. Coşkun and Professor D. Engels on a book entitled, “Construction of Seleucid Royalty: Studies in the Politics and Propaganda of Antiochus I”.

Our combined efforts have led to the creation of a Seleucid Study Network, which has held meetings in Exeter (UK), Waterloo (Canada), and the Classics Celtic Conference (Bordeaux, France), Montreal (Canada), Brussels (Belgium), Nippissing (Canada).

Furthermore, it informs my other current projects on the Seleucid Empire and approaches to the Hellenistic World. 

Another aspect of my work is the study of imperialism and the ways in which Greek powers negotiated with the non-Greek cultures of their subjects.

Monographs and Edited Volumes

2019   The early Seleukids, their gods and their coins. Routledge.

2018   The Seleukid Empire, 281 – 222 BC: War within the Family. Classical Press of Wales. 2018.

2012   The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East. Ancient Narrative Supplements 15. Barkhuis Publishing. 2012. Co-editor with Richard Stoneman and Ian Netton.

2011   Seleucid Dissolution: The Sinking of the Anchor. Philippika 50. Harrassowitz. 2011. Co-editor with Gillian Ramsey.

Articles/Book Chapters

2018  “Antiochus Soter and the War of the Brothers” in K. Erickson (ed.), The Seleukid Empire, 281 – 222 BC: War within the Family. Classical Press of Wales.

2018 “Another Century of Gods: A re-examination of Seleukid ruler cult in Asia Minor”. Classical Quarterly 68/1. 2018, 1-15.

2018 "Sons of Heracles: Antony and Alexander in the Late Republic” in K. Moore (ed.), Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great, 2018.

2016 “Apama and Stratonice: Marriage and Legitimacy” in A. Coşkun and A. McAuley (eds), Seleucid Royal Women: Roles and Representations. Co-authored with David Engels. Franz Steiner Verlag. 2016.

2014 “Zeus to Apollo and back again: shifts in Seleucid policy and iconography” Elkins, N.T. and Krmnicek, S. (eds) 2014. 'Art in the Round': New Approaches to Ancient Coin Iconography. Tübinger Archäologische Forschungen 16. Rahden/Westf.: Marie Leidorf, 97-108.

2012 “Seleucus I, Zeus and Alexander” in L. Mitchell and C. Melville (eds), Every Inch a King: Comparative Studies in Kings and Kingship in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, Brill. 2012.

2011 “Apollo-Nabû: the Babylonian Policy of Antiochus I” in K. Erickson and G. Ramsey (eds), Seleucid Dissolution: The Sinking of the Anchor. Philippika 50. Harrassowitz. 2011, 51-66.

2011 “The ‘royal archer’ and Apollo in the east: Greco-Persian iconography in the Seleukid Empire” in Holmes, N. (ed), Proceedings of the XIV International Numismatic Congress. Glasgow. 2011, 163-168. Co-authored with Nicholas Wright.

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

Current PhD Supervision:

First Supervisor – Christopher Fleming “Propaganda and Diplomacy in the Ancient Near East leading up to the Roman-Seleucid War (312-188BC)”

Second Supervisor – Thomas Humphrey “Materiality, Agency, and the Development of Identity in Late Bronze Age Cyprus”

External Supervisor – Elena Vagiona (University of Thessaloniki) “The Edict of Canopus. Religio-political Situation in Egypt during the Ptolemies”

Completed PhD Supervision:

Peter McCallum “Oracular Prophecy and Psychology in Ancient Greek Warfare” (viva 11 November 2016)

Eloise Govier “Creative Practice: how communities were made at Çatalhöyük” (viva 13 October 2017)

Stuart Rawson “Diverging concepts of the soul and the afterlife in Classical Greece” (viva 01 November 2019)

 Selected Invited Conference Papers

“Royal Biographies through Coins: the case of Antiochos I”, April 8-10, 2019. Of Coins and Kings: new perspectives through 3D technologies for schools in Brazil, Rio, Brazil (Keynote)  

 “Antigonid Princesses in the Seleucid Court”, June 8, 2018 Macedonia After Alexander: The Antigonids and Their Kingdom, Exeter University                             

  “Tokens of Authority: Coinage as Ideology in the Seleukid Empire”, September 1-3, 2017Seleukid Study Days VI: Reception, Response & Resistance, Nipissing University, Canada                      

 “Antiochos and Stratonike: Politics or Love?”, May 18-19, 2015 UWICAH annual meeting, Gregynog                       

 “Where are the wives? Royal Women in Seleukid Cult documents”, November 7^th 2016 Cardiff University Ancient History Research Seminar

 “Antiochos IV and Apollo”, August 21-23, 2015 Seleukid Study day 5, Université libre de Bruxelles                       

 “Dropping Anchors? Contested foundations in the early Seleucid empire”, May 14-15, 2015UWICAH annual meeting, Gregynog