Greek protohistories

Abstract

ABSTRACT Following some definitions and etymologies of key terms – archaeology, history, prehistory, protohistory – the purpose of this paper is to review the history of Greek protohistories, chronologically beginning with the earliest writing in the Greek world, in the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1800 BC). Ironically, this early writing did not lead to a period that anyone would call ‘historic’ or ‘protohistoric’. From there, the author traces the passage of writing through the ‘prehistoric’ period, into the Early Iron Age, and beyond, where we find the first constructions of narrative history. Several early historians will feature prominently in this story: Hekataios, Hellanikos, Herodotos and Thucydides, whose work follows on from that of the earliest Greek alphabetic writing in the eighth century BC in the time of Homer and Hesiod. By so doing, the author’s aim is not just to problematize ‘prehistory’ and ‘protohistory’ as meaningful terms or appropriate categories of analysis, but to suggest that they are, for Greek antiquity, irrelevant.