Benefactors and the Polis

Benefactors and the Polis PDF Author: Marc Domingo Gygax
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108901255
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Historians generally study elite public gift-giving in ancient Greek cities as a phenomenon that gained prominence only in the Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods. The contributors to this volume challenge this perspective by offering analyses of various manifestations of elite public giving in the Greek cities from Homeric times until Late Antiquity, highlighting this as a structural feature of polis society from its origins in the early Archaic age to the world of the Christian Greek city in the early Byzantine period. They discuss existing interpretations, offer novel ideas and arguments, and stress continuities and changes over time. Bracketed by a substantial Introduction and Conclusion, the volume is accessible both to ancient historians and to scholars studying gift-giving in other times and places.

Benefactors and the Polis

Benefactors and the Polis PDF Author: Marc Domingo Gygax
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108842054
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Analyses elite public generosity as a structural feature of the polis throughout all periods of ancient Greek history.

Benefactors and the Polis

Benefactors and the Polis PDF Author: Marc Domingo Gygax
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108901255
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

Get Book Here

Book Description
Historians generally study elite public gift-giving in ancient Greek cities as a phenomenon that gained prominence only in the Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods. The contributors to this volume challenge this perspective by offering analyses of various manifestations of elite public giving in the Greek cities from Homeric times until Late Antiquity, highlighting this as a structural feature of polis society from its origins in the early Archaic age to the world of the Christian Greek city in the early Byzantine period. They discuss existing interpretations, offer novel ideas and arguments, and stress continuities and changes over time. Bracketed by a substantial Introduction and Conclusion, the volume is accessible both to ancient historians and to scholars studying gift-giving in other times and places.

Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City

Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City PDF Author: Marc Domingo Gygax
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316586243
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 614

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Book Description
This volume presents for the first time an in-depth analysis of the origins of Greek euergetism. Derived from the Greek for 'benefactor', 'euergetism' refers to the process whereby citizens and foreigners offered voluntary services and donations to the polis that were in turn recognised as benefactions in a formal act of reciprocation. Euergetism is key to our understanding of how city-states negotiated both the internal tensions between mass and elite, and their conflicts with external powers. This study adopts the standpoint of historical anthropology and seeks to identify patterns of behaviour and social practices deeply rooted in Greek society and in the long course of Greek history. It covers more than five hundred years and will appeal to ancient historians and scholars in other fields interested in gift exchange, benefactions, philanthropy, power relationships between mass and elite, and the interplay between public discourse and social praxis.

Archaic and Classical Greece

Archaic and Classical Greece PDF Author: Michael H. Crawford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139935623
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
The aim of this book is to collect in one comprehensive volume a representative selection of ancient sources in translation, with commentary, on the history, institutions, society and economy of the Greek world from c. 750 to 338 BC - that is, the period best known and most important for the evolution of the polis, a form of political community which combined the aspects of city and state in a physical and psychological unity unparalleled either before or since. For us, the inheritors of much that the Greeks created, there is an inherent interest in the way in which they organised their society during these centuries. Although this book assumes no knowledge of Greek, the reader is introduced to a range of key Greek words and concepts which offer a direct insight into the mentality, both collective and individual, of the times. The sources themselves (all of which have been translated by the authors) are supported by introductory commentary, notes, bibliographies, chronological tables and maps. All students and teachers of the history of ancient Greece or of classical civilisation generally will find this book an invaluable tool.

Unthinking the Greek Polis

Unthinking the Greek Polis PDF Author: Kostas Vlassopoulos
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521188074
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This 2007 study explores how modern scholars came to write Greek history from a Eurocentric perspective and challenges orthodox readings of Greek history as part of the history of the West. Since the Greeks lacked a national state or a unified society, economy or culture, the polis has helped to create a homogenising national narrative. This book re-examines old polarities such as those between the Greek poleis and Eastern monarchies, or between the ancient consumer and the modern producer city, in order to show the fallacies of standard approaches. It argues for the relevance of Aristotle's concept of the polis, which is interpreted in an intriguing manner. Finally, it proposes an alternative way of looking at Greek history as part of a Mediterranean world-system. This interdisciplinary study engages with debates on globalisation, nationalism, Orientalism and history writing, while also debating developments in classical studies.

The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest

The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest PDF Author: M. M. Austin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521296663
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 514

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Book Description
This is the first comprehensive sourcebook in English concentrating entirely on the Hellenistic age.

The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire

The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire PDF Author: Arjan Zuiderhoek
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521519306
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
A study of public benefactions by elite individuals to their communities in Roman Asia Minor.

The Ancient City

The Ancient City PDF Author: Arjan Zuiderhoek
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521198356
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book provides a survey of modern debates on Greek and Roman cities, and a sketch of the cities' chief characteristics.

Aeschylus: The Oresteia

Aeschylus: The Oresteia PDF Author: Simon Goldhill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521539814
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
This is the only general introduction in English to Aeschylus' Oresteia, one of the most important and most influential of all Greek dramas. Simon Goldhill focuses on the play's themes of justice, sexual politics, violence, and the position of man within culture, and explores how Aeschylus constructs a myth for the city in which he lived. A final chapter considers the influence of the Oresteia on later theatre. Its clear structure and guide to further reading will make this an invaluable guide for students and teachers alike.

The Mechanical Hypothesis in Ancient Greek Natural Philosophy

The Mechanical Hypothesis in Ancient Greek Natural Philosophy PDF Author: Sylvia Berryman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113948026X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
It has long been thought that the ancient Greeks did not take mechanics seriously as part of the workings of nature, and that therefore their natural philosophy was both primitive and marginal. In this book Sylvia Berryman challenges that assumption, arguing that the idea that the world works 'like a machine' can be found in ancient Greek thought, predating the early modern philosophy with which it is most closely associated. Her discussion ranges over topics including balancing and equilibrium, lifting water, sphere-making and models of the heavens, and ancient Greek pneumatic theory, with detailed analysis of thinkers such as Aristotle, Archimedes, and Hero of Alexandria. Her book shows scholars of ancient Greek philosophy why it is necessary to pay attention to mechanics, and shows historians of science why the differences between ancient and modern reactions to mechanics are not as great as was generally thought.