Seleukids and Speech-Acts: Performative Utterances, Legitimacy and Negotiation in the World of the Maccabees For Fergus

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John Ma

Abstract

This paper looks at the documents in II and I Macc., using Austinian speech-act theory, to argue that the latter gives an index not of imperial power but of negotiation and ultimately imperial weakness. It attempts to relate this finding with the respective character of the two Maccabean narratives, but also to nuance the theoretical base for using speech-act theory as a tool of historical analysis

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