Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia

In this volume Stephanie M. Langin-Hooper investigates the impact of Greek art on the miniature figure sculptures produced in Babylonia after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia were used as agents of social change by visually expressing and negotiating cultural differences. The scaled-down quality of figurines encouraged both visual and tactile engagement enabling them to effectively work as non-threatening instruments of cultural blending.Reconstructing the embodied experience of miniaturization in detailed case studies Langin-Hooper illuminates the dynamic process of combining Greek and Babylonian sculpture forms social customs and viewing habits into new hybrid works of art. Her innovative focus on figurines as instruments ofbothpersonal encounter and global cultural shifts has important implications for the study of tiny objects in art history anthropology classics and other disciplines.