Archaic Greece Research Articles

Guy Hedreen: The Image of the Artist in Archaic and Classical Greece. Art, Poetry, and Subjectivity.

Guy Hedreen: The Image of the Artist in Archaic and Classical Greece. Art, Poetry, and Subjectivity.

Cold Comfort: Empathy and Memory in an Archaic Funerary Monument from Akraiphia

Focusing on a single funerary monument of the late archaic period, this paper shows how such a monument could be used by a bereaved individual to externalize and communalize the cognitive, perceptual, and emotional effects of loss. Through a close examination of the monument’s sculpted relief and inscribed epigram, I identify a structural framework underlying both that is built around a disjunction between perception and cognition embedded in the self-identified function of the monument as a mnema or memory-object. Through the analysis of other epigrams and literary passages, this disjunctive framework is shown to be derived, in turn, from broader conceptualizations in archaic Greece about how both mental images, including memories, and works of art allowed continued visual, but not cognitive-affective, access to the deceased. From this perspective, the monument’s relief opens up to us the experience of the bereaved individual who is only able to connect with the deceased through a remembered mental image.

Homeric Reciprocities

A modified version of Marshall Sahlins’s model of reciprocity, which maps the modes of reciprocity across kinship distance, helps elucidate reciprocity in Homer. With important qualifications, Homeric reciprocity can also elucidate the social realities of Archaic Greece. There are three primary modes of Homeric reciprocity: general, or altruistic giving, balanced exchange, and negative taking. The model for general reciprocity is family relationships, and it characterizes a ruler’s relationship with the community, where it masks the reality that the upward flow of chiefly tribute exceeds the downward flow of the ruler’s largesse. Balanced reciprocity is practiced between peers within the same community: exchange items are notionally of equivalent value and the transaction is completed within a limited timeframe. Exchanges outside the community tend to be negative: ‘stranger’ is often synonymous with ‘enemy’. Walter Donlan further distinguishes between balanced reciprocities that are compensatory, and tend to be (but are not always) negative, and positive compactual reciprocities such as guest-friendship (xenia). Significantly, compensatory reciprocity includes reciprocities that begin as negative, in which the victim is able to exact compensation (poin?) or revenge (tisis). In Homer, balanced reciprocity consists of seven primary ritual practices: marriage (gamos) and supplication (hiketeia) can be related to xenia, as can sacrifice (iera rezein), somewhat more distantly; ransom (apoina) is related to poin? and tisis. In addition to systematizing further and refining Sahlins’s model, this paper shows that the plots of both Homeric epics are comprehensively structured by reciprocity: whereas the Iliad consists of a causal chain of balanced exchanges, generalized, though not redistributive, reciprocities predominate in the Odyssey. The causal link between exchanges is attenuated as a consequence.

Basileus, tyrannosand polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece

SummaryThe article scrutinizes the development of the forms of leadership in the Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece, questioning the traditional view that personal leadership as described in the Homeric epics (the ‚Homericbasileia‘) was the rule during the Early Iron Age, but was replaced in the Archaic period by collective aristocracies, and by tyrannies as a principally new kind of monarchy. The article questions the strict distinction between the ‚constitutional‘ forms of government likebasileiaand oligarchy, andtyrannisas an illegal break of the constitutional order. The Early Iron Age archaeology supplies no evidence for institutionalised and permanent personal leadership, and the Homeric epic, presenting a controversial vision of an ostensibly distant past, cannot be accepted as a reliable guide to the socio-political order of the Early Iron Age. The termsbasileusandtyrannoswere used largely synonymously until ca 400, demonstrating that the Archaic Greeks did not distinguish between legitimatebasileiaand illegaltyrannisin their contemporary world. The evidence, including the half-legendary accounts concerning particular poleis, suggests that the more or less firmly established monarchies emerged from the eighth century onwards. On the other hand, it infers constant tensions between competing elite groups striving for power, and the consequent fluctuation of the forms of government in the Archaic. The situation could have been similar during the Early Iron Age, which suggests that Early Iron Age Greeks were familiar with both collective and personal leadership. The emergence of tyrannies and collectively governed poleis can be seen as varying, alternative, ways of polity formation resulting from the quickening development and growing tensions from the eighth century onwards; the legitimacy of both depended on local circumstances. Tyranny appears not as a break of established aristocratic order, but as the monarchic form of elite leadership; the legitimacy of both depended on local circumstances. Tyranny appears as the monarchic form of elite leadership in the early polis, which proved, however, unacceptable in the long term as personal rule became increasingly regarded as an undesirable negation of consensual order.

Lynette G. Mitchell, The Heroic Rulers of Archaic and Classical Greece

Lynette G. Mitchell, The Heroic Rulers of Archaic and Classical Greece

Głos ludu w archaicznej Grecji – pomiędzy Tersytesem a Hezjodem

The aim of this paper is to present the role that might have been played by people in archaic Greece, already before the full development of People’s Assemblies. Already at the time of formation of Greek poleis, the voice of this social group had an increasing importance and exerted an influence on the rulers. As an example, two earliest works of Greek culture will be presented: The Iliad of Homer and Works and Days by Hesiod. They will help realize how important for rulers were actions taken by their army, which in The Iliad represents the people, and what effects soldiers’ decisions could have. Contrasting the character of Thersites from The Iliad with the self-portrait of Hesiod in the Works and Days allows noticing how the role of people’s representatives evolved – from those deprived of an opportunity to express their opinions to individuals, who can present their own views and criticize the government. These elements enable us to observe the role of people and their influence on rulers at the first stage of development of polis, as well as how they gradually gained more and more extensive power to influence affairs of the state, which in turn led to a legally sanctioned possibilities to intervene and to the emergence of People’s Assemblies in ancient Greece.

Briana C. Jackson. Review of "Tan Men/Pale Women: Color and Gender in Archaic Greece and Egypt, a Comparative Approach" by Mary Ann Eaverly.

Briana C. Jackson. Review of "Tan Men/Pale Women: Color and Gender in Archaic Greece and Egypt, a Comparative Approach" by Mary Ann Eaverly.

The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece by Kirk Ormand (review)

The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece by Kirk Ormand (review)

Giorgos Bourogiannis, Christina Ioannou. ‘Phoinikeia Grammata’ at Cos: A New Case of Phoenician Script from Archaic Greece

Giorgos Bourogiannis, Christina Ioannou. ‘Phoinikeia Grammata’ at Cos: A New Case of Phoenician Script from Archaic Greece

The Genealogy of the Muses: An Internal Reconstruction of Archaic Greek Metapoetics

This article puts forward a novel approach to the history of poetic forms in Archaic Greece. By investigating the evolution of the “diegetic frames” involving the figure of the Muse(s), it seeks to trace mutual influences between different genres (Homeric epic, catalogue poetry, the Homeric Hymns, early choral lyric) and, in the case of the Iliad and Hesiod’s Theogony , to identify distinct strata in the composition of one text. This genealogical analysis of the invocation of the Muses demonstrates that choral lyric had a significant impact on the evolving forms of hexameter poetry.

The age of love: gender and erotic reciprocity in archaic Greece

Archaic Greece (eighth to sixth centuries BCE) is a society which we might term “before sexuality”: in the sexual and romantic relations that characterize it, the criterion of age plays a different role from that in modern Western societies. This applies not only within the framework of marriage, but also in the context of homoerotic relations – known as pederastic – as celebrated in the poetry of the aristocratic banquet (Theognis, Anacreon) and other communitarian contexts (Alcman, Sappho). Greek marriage was asymmetrical in terms of age, and it is necessary to challenge the preconceived idea that female homoerotic relations between women were any more egalitarian than those between men. Consequently, if we are to understand the connection between age and sexuality in Archaic Greece, the approach to Greek matters of love (éros) must distinguish between asymmetry of age and romantic reciprocity (philótēs).

The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece, written by Ormand, K.

The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece, written by Ormand, K.

Ancient road transport devices: Developments from the Bronze Age to the Roman Empire

The development of transportation systems has significantly enhanced the welfare and modernization of society. Wooden vehicles pulled by animals have been used for land transportation since the early Bronze Age. Whole-body gharries with rigid wheels pulled by oxen appeared in Crete by 2000 BC or earlier. Horses originating from the East were depicted in early Cretan seal-rings of the same period. The two-wheeled horsedrawn chariot was one of the most important inventions in history. This vehicle provided humanity its first concept of personal transport and was the key technology of war for 2000 years. Chariots of Mycenaean and Archaic Greece with light and flexible four-spoked wheels acting as spring suspensions were depicted in vase paintings. The development of this vehicle incorporated the seeds of a primitive design activity and was important for engineering. The Trojan horse since 1194 BC and the helepolis since 700 BC were the first known machines on a wheeled base transported by horses or self-powered. Ancient engineers invented bearings lubricated with fat, and Romans introduced the ancestors of ball bearings for their wagons and carts. The historic evolution of wheeled transportation systems, along with early traction, suspension, and braking systems, is presented in this paper. Analytical and numerical methods are incorporated to analyze the most conceivable loading situations of typically reconstructed wheeled transportation systems in ancient times. Traction requirements both for horse-driven machines and the power for internal motors are also analyzed. This study can serve as a basis for further development of detailed reconstruction of transportation systems in antiquity.

The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece by Kirk Ormand (review)

The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece by Kirk Ormand (review)

Nino Luraghi (Ed.), The Splendors and Miseries of Ruling Alone. Encounters with Monarchy from Archaic Greece to the Hellenistic Mediterranean. (Studies in Ancient Monarchies, Vol. 1.) Stuttgart, Steiner 2013

Nino Luraghi (Ed.), The Splendors and Miseries of Ruling Alone. Encounters with Monarchy from Archaic Greece to the Hellenistic Mediterranean. (Studies in Ancient Monarchies, Vol. 1.) Stuttgart, Steiner 2013

Greek History

This review commences with two important recent books on archaic Greek history. Hans van Wees sees fiscality as a main aspect of the development of Greek communities in the archaic period. He explores the trajectory of Greek, and more specifically Athenian, fiscality in the course of the archaic period from personal to institutional power, from informal to formal procedures, and from undifferentiated to specialized offices and activities. Van Wees argues convincingly that navies based on publicly built and funded triremes appeared from 530s onwards as a Greek reaction to the emergence of the Persian Empire; the resources for maintaining such navies revolutionized Greek fiscality. This means that the Athenian navy emerged decades before its traditional attribution to the Themistoclean programme of the 480s; but this revolution would have been impossible without the gradual transformation of Athenian fiscality in the previous decades from Solon onwards, as regards the delimitation of institutional and specialized fiscal offices, such as thenaukraroiandkolakretai, and the creation of formal procedures of taxation like theeisphora. This is a very important book that should have significant repercussions on the wider study of archaic Greece and Athenian history; but it also raises the major issue of the nature of our written sources for archaic Athens. While van Wees's use of the sources is plausible, there does not seem to be any wider principle of selection than what suits the argument (very sceptical on the tradition about Solon's fiscal measures, or Themistocles’ mines and navy policy; accepting of traditions about Hippias’ and Cleisthenes’ fiscal measures). We urgently need a focused methodological discussion of the full range of sources and the ways in which tradition, anachronism, ideology, and debate have shaped what we actually have.

Beyond Courtesans and Whores: Sex and Labor in the Greco-Roman World

��� It was not until the late 1990s that scholarship on ancient prostitution came into its own in North America. Thomas McGinn’s important monograph, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome, was published by The University of Michigan Press in 1998, followed six years later by The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World: A Study of Social History and the Brothel (2004). Together they represent a comprehensive social history of prostitution for ancient Rome. The important studies of James Davidson’s Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens ( 1997) and Leslie Kurke’s Coins, Bodies, Games and Gold: The Politics of Meaning in Archaic Greece (1999) focused on cultural constructions of the Greek prostitute and discursive techniques used to distinguish the hetaira from the porne, while Laura K. McClure’s Courtesans at Table: Gender and Literary Culture in Athenaeus (2003) examined the hetaira as a cultural sign in the Second Sophistic. But a comprehensive social history of prostitution in ancient Greece is still waiting to be written. This gap may soon be filled, however, by Konstantine Kapparis’s monograph, Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World (forthcoming with The University of Pennsylvania Press and Edward E. Cohen, Athenian Prostitution: The Business of Sex (forthcoming with Oxford University Press). While prostitution is now recognized as a serious field of study inter secting as it does with issues of economy, sexuality, slavery, and gender, the questions and approaches remain diverse. The 2006 publication of C. Faraone and L. K. McClure’s edited collection, Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World, broadened the focus of prostitution studies to prostitutes themselves, as dedicators at sanctuaries, as laborers, as owners of prostitutes, and began to look at the effect of prostitution on the citizen body more generally. This work was followed by A. Glazebrook and M. M. Henry’s edited volume, Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE–200 CE (2011), which began to explore the margins of prostitution by focusing on the origins of Greek prostitution, the brothel, the terminology of prostitution, and the Greek prostitute in the Roman imagination, and by questioning previous approaches to interpreting

The Rites of Mourning in Archaic and Classical Greece and in Pre-Qin China

This article attempts to compare the mourning of the dead before burial in Archaic and Classical Greece with that in Pre-Qin China. It focuses on three main subjects of mourning before burial—lamentation, mourners’ gestures and behaviors, and mourning apparel—to demonstrate the cultural function and social influence of the mourning rituals through the analysis of the function and purpose of the mourning of two ancient peoples. We find that there are some differences in these two ancient societies, although the rites of mourning share some basic and similar procedures and functions.

Moses Finley and Politics , Edited by W. V. Harris = Columbia Studies In The Classical Tradition, Volume 40

����� ��� This volume collects papers from a conference held at Columbia University to honor the centenary of the birth of Moses Finley. A parallel volume on Finley edited by Robin Osborne is also due out. Together they attest, as if any such testimony were necessary, to the transformative contributions of Finley to the fi eld of ancient history. The title of this collection, however, attests to a specifi c dimension of Finley’s contributions and one particular fascination of his overall oeuvre and career, namely, the political emphasis of so much of his writing and the heavily political circumstances under which Moses Isaac Finkelstein became M. I. Finley, Cambridge don. Thus only two of the nine contributors to this slim volume (155 pages) are Hellenists, and only four are professional classicists. The editor, W. V. Harris, perhaps somewhat more a Romanist (his writing has covered the Mediterranean and Greek and Roman issues together), chose to include authors who could recreate the specifi c political context of Finley’s career in the United States, his specifi cally political activities, and his handling of issues of race and ethnicity. I should perhaps acknowledge that I have written at some length on Finley’s relation to Marxism in the introduction of my Class in Archaic Greece (2013), with substantial aid from the publications and email inputs of Daniel Tompkins, of whom Harris justly writes: “[His] acumen and encyclopaedic knowledge of the man and his work have been invaluable, to me as to others” (Harris 2013.vii). Needless to say, Tompkins cannot be responsible for the use any of us make of his unique contributions to this subject, and it is no surprise that the fi rst and in some respects most

Banquet et statut en Grèce archaïque : Achille et Ariane

In archaic Greece, gods and humans were often pictured in a banquet scene, reclining on eating-couches or klinai. It was also possible, however, to eat sitting up in a chair. Thus, the reclining position suggests a different social status and identity in the historical context of the early Greek city-state. Two examples, those of Achilles and the companion of Dionysus, Ariadne, allow us to study the relation between a character pictured in a banquet scene and his or her social status in archaic Greece. This paper suggests that the portrayal of Achilles is no longer that of a warrior but rather that of a hero in a cultual sense of the term. His depictions put an emphasis on his religious status, as a character that is becoming an immortal. Ariadne’s portrayals also indicate a change in social status: a woman becoming a god’s wife and, simultaneously, a divinity. This study is based mainly upon iconographic sources.