Proskynesis

The Greek word for the act of prostrating oneself before a social superior, a common practice in the ancient Near East, including Mesopotamia. The Greek historian Herodotus described the custom (Histories 1.135) among the Persians, indicating that members of the lower classes performed it when approaching members of the upper classes. But proskynesis was especially prevalent in the royal courts, where subjects prostrated themselves before their kings. Most Greeks who witnessed the custom viewed it as degrading and thought such a gesture should be used only to show reverence to a god. Nevertheless, in 327 B. C. following his conquest of Persia, Alexander the Great instituted proskynesis when holding court in Asia, which, not surprisingly, displeased his Greek followers. Alexander’s ancient biographer Arrian quotes the comments of Callisthenes, one of Alexander’s officers, on the subject:

Do not forget that there is a difference between honoring a man and worshipping a god. The distinction between the two has been marked in many ways. ... Yet of all these things not one is so important as this very custom of prostration. Men greet each other with a kiss; but a god, far above us on his mysterious throne, it is not lawful for us to touch—and that is why we [pay] homage [by] bowing to the earth before him. ... It is wrong, therefore, to ignore these distinctions; we ought not to make a man look bigger than he is by paying him excessive and extravagant honor, or. . . [by] putting [the gods] on the same level as men. (Anabasis Alexandri 4.11)

Alexander’s move set a precedent; the Greek Seleucid rulers who followed him in Mesopotamia also demanded that their subjects prostrate themselves.

See Also: Alexander III (“the Great”); Persian Empire; Seleucid Empire