Cultural Imperialism In Politics Among Nations

He tried to force a woman and her seven sons to eat pork against their own religion. After their refusal, he tortured one of the sons by cutting his tongue out. He had both his hands and feet cut off and he was promptly boiled in water. The six remaining boys all followed in a similar suit having their hands and feet removed. Some had their scalp removed and others had their tongue cut out. Finally, the mother was also killed. Antiochus Epiphanes made this happen.
He reigned from 175 to 164 B.C. Antiochus gave himself the name Epiphanes, which means “God among us.” Those who did not care for him called him Epimames, meaning “the mad man.” Antiochus had many unique character traits. He liked to rule, but he didn’t enjoy the monotony of ruling.

While bringing in other cultures, he was weakening the culture of those who were already living in the empire. He was destroying the culture of his own empire. Changing the culture of a nation is the easiest way to take a nation over. In Politics Among Nations, Hans Morgenthau writes, “What we suggest calling cultural imperialism is the most subtle and, if it were ever to succeed by itself alone, the most successful of imperialistic policies.” When taking over the Syrian kingdom, Antiochus didn’t stop at simply possessing the kingdom, he proceeded to change the intricate make-up of the kingdom—he changed the

Five thousand men in Roman armor were followed by five thousand Mysians, three thousand Cilicians armed as light infantry, three thousand Thracians, five thousand Gauls, twenty thousand Macedonians, two hundred and forty pairs of gladiators. Next, a thousand Nisaean cavalry, three thousand native horsemen, one thousand “companion cavalry,” about a thousand friends of the king, one thousand picked men, the Agema(or guard), numbered one thousand. Next came the “catapharact” cavalry numbering one thousand, one hundred six-horsed chariots, forty four-horsed chariots, a chariot drawn by four elephants, a chariot drawn by two elephants, and finally, thirty six elephants with all their furniture