Feasting and Polis Institutions

Feasting and Polis Institutions PDF Author: Floris van den Eijnde
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004356738
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Feasting and commensality formed the backbone of social life in the polis, the most characteristic and enduring form of political organization in the ancient Greek world. Exploring a wide array of commensal practices, Feasting and Polis Institutions reveals how feasts defined the religious and political institutions of the Greek citizen-state. Taking the reader from the Early Iron Age to the Imperial Period, this volume launches an essential inquiry into Greek power relations. Focusing on the myriad of patronage roles at the feast and making use of a wide variety of methodologies and primary sources, including archaeology, epigraphy and literature, Feasting and Polis Institutions argues that in ancient Greece political interaction could never be complete until it was consummated in a festive context.

Feasting and Polis Institutions

Feasting and Polis Institutions PDF Author: Floris van den Eijnde
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004356738
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Get Book Here

Book Description
Feasting and commensality formed the backbone of social life in the polis, the most characteristic and enduring form of political organization in the ancient Greek world. Exploring a wide array of commensal practices, Feasting and Polis Institutions reveals how feasts defined the religious and political institutions of the Greek citizen-state. Taking the reader from the Early Iron Age to the Imperial Period, this volume launches an essential inquiry into Greek power relations. Focusing on the myriad of patronage roles at the feast and making use of a wide variety of methodologies and primary sources, including archaeology, epigraphy and literature, Feasting and Polis Institutions argues that in ancient Greece political interaction could never be complete until it was consummated in a festive context.

The Roman Emperor and his Court c. 30 BC–c. AD 300: Volume 1, Historical Essays

The Roman Emperor and his Court c. 30 BC–c. AD 300: Volume 1, Historical Essays PDF Author: Benjamin Kelly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009081519
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 767

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Book Description
At the centre of the Roman empire stood the emperor and the court surrounding him. The systematic investigation of this court in its own right, however, has been a relatively late development in the field of Roman history, and previous studies have focused on narrowly defined aspects or on particular periods of Roman history. This book makes a major contribution to understanding the history of the Roman imperial court. The first volume presents nineteen original essays covering all the major dimensions of the court from the age of Augustus to the threshold of Late Antiquity. The second volume is a collection of the ancient sources that are central to studying that court. The collection includes: translations of literary sources, inscriptions, and papyri; plans and computer visualizations of archaeological remains; and photographs of archaeologic sites and artworks depicting the emperor and his court.

Archaeology of the Ionian Sea

Archaeology of the Ionian Sea PDF Author: Christina Souyoudzoglou-Haywood
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789256747
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
Presents a thematic collection of papers dealing with the Stone Age and Bronze Age archaeology of the Ionian Sea, situated off the south western Balkan peninsula. It is based on an international conference held in Athens, Greece in January 2020. The eastern Ionian occupies a geographically complex area, which since the Pleistocene has undergone significant alterations due to tectonic activity and sea-level fluctuations. This dynamic environment, where islands, mainland, and sea intertwined to present different landscapes and seascapes to the human communities exploring the region at different times in the past, provides an ideal setting for their study from a diachronic perspective. This book deals thematically with the processes of circulation of people, materials, artefacts and ideas by examining patterns of settlement, burial and multi-layered interconnections between the different communities via land and sea. It investigates aspects of regional and interregional communication, isolation, collective memory and the creation of distinct identities within and between different cultural and social groups. It focuses on the islands of the Central Ionian Sea, offering new data from excavations and surveys on Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Ithaki and the smaller islands of the Inner Ionian Archipelago between Lefkada and Akarnania. The cultural interchange between the islands and the continental coasts is reflected in the volume with the addition of chapters dealing with contemporary sites in west Greece and southeast Italy. The Ionian, often regarded as 'at the fringes' of the Aegean, the Balkan and the central Mediterranean archaeological discourse, has lately offered new and exciting data that not only enrich but also alter our perceptions of mobility, settlement and interaction. The collection of papers in this book enhances theoretical discussions by offering a geographically and culturally comparative approach, ranging from the earliest Palaeolithic evidence of human presence in the region to the end of the Bronze Age.

Around the Hearth

Around the Hearth PDF Author: Jérémy Lamaze
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110733765
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
From basic needs, such as lighting, heating or cooking, to symbolic or ritual engagement, hearths in indoor contexts serve as a focal point. This is especially evident, both spatially and architecturally, in structures containing central hearths. In assessing any gathering around a hearth, the types of social groups involved need to be determined and their interactions clearly assessed in each specific case. Beyond clearly domestic contexts, many rooms or buildings have been deemed religious or cultic places often based solely on the presence of a hearth, despite other possible interpretations. This volume appraises and contextualises diversity in practice centering on the hearth in the Aegean and, more widely, in areas of the Western Mediterranean closely connected to Greek civilization, notably through its colonies, revealing surprising similarities but also local adaptations. In the West, the use of the hearth often has a unique character arising from local adaptations born of indigenous practices. The combined approach presented here, detailing technical aspects of the hearths themselves, their architectural settings and any associated artefacts or furnishings, affords a rich spectrum for cross-cultural analysis between these Mediterranean regions.

Poverty in Ancient Greece and Rome

Poverty in Ancient Greece and Rome PDF Author: Filippo Carlà-Uhink
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000644995
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This volume presents an innovative picture of the ancient Mediterranean world. Approaching poverty as a multifaceted condition, it examines how different groups were affected by the lack of access to symbolic, cultural and social – as well as economic – capital. Collecting a wide range of studies by an international team of experts, it presents a diverse and complex analysis of life in antiquity, from the archaic to the late antique period. The sections on Greece, Rome, and Late Antiquity offer in-depth studies of ancient life, integrating analysis of socio-economic dynamics and cultural and discursive strategies that shaped this crucial element of ancient (and modern) societies. Themes like social cohesion and control, exclusion, gender, agency, and identity are explored through the combination of archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence, presenting a rich panorama of Greco-Roman societies and a stimulating collection of new approaches and methodologies for their understanding. The book offers a comprehensive view of the ancient world, analysing different social groups – from wealthy elites to poor peasants and the destitute – and their interactions, in contexts as diverse as Classical Athens and Sparta, imperial Rome, and the late antique towns of Egypt and North Africa. Poverty in Ancient Greece and Rome: Discourses and Realities is a valuable resource for students and scholars of ancient history, classical literature, and archaeology. In addition, topics covered in the book are of interest to social scientists, scholars of religion, and historians working on poverty and social history in other periods.

The Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World

The Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient World PDF Author: Diana Stein
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000464733
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
For millennia, people have universally engaged in ecstatic experience as an essential element in ritual practice, spiritual belief and cultural identification. This volume offers the first systematic investigation of its myriad roles and manifestations in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. The twenty-nine contributors represent a broad range of scholarly disciplines, seeking answers to fundamental questions regarding the patterns and commonalities of this vital aspect of the past. How was the experience construed and by what means was it achieved? Who was involved? Where and when were rites carried out? How was it reflected in pictorial arts and written records? What was its relation to other components of the sociocultural compact? In proposing responses, the authors draw upon a wealth of original research in many fields, generating new perspectives and thought-provoking, often surprising, conclusions. With their abundant cross-cultural and cross-temporal references, the chapters mutually enrich each other and collectively deepen our understanding of ecstatic phenomena thousands of years ago. Another noteworthy feature of the book is its illustrative content, including commissioned reconstructions of ecstatic scenarios and pairings of works of Bronze Age and modern psychedelic art. Scholars, students and other readers interested in antiquity, comparative religion and the social and cognitive sciences will find much to explore in the fascinating realm of ecstatic experience in the ancient world.

Athens at the Margins

Athens at the Margins PDF Author: Nathan T. Arrington
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691175209
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
How the interactions of non-elites influenced Athenian material culture and society The seventh century BC in ancient Greece is referred to as the Orientalizing period because of the strong presence of Near Eastern elements in art and culture. Conventional narratives argue that goods and knowledge flowed from East to West through cosmopolitan elites. Rejecting this explanation, Athens at the Margins proposes a new narrative of the origins behind the style and its significance, investigating how material culture shaped the ways people and communities thought of themselves. Athens and the region of Attica belonged to an interconnected Mediterranean, in which people, goods, and ideas moved in unexpected directions. Network thinking provides a way to conceive of this mobility, which generated a style of pottery that was heterogeneous and dynamic. Although the elite had power, they were unable to agree on the norms of conspicuous consumption and status display. A range of social actors used objects, contributing to cultural change and to the socially mediated production of meaning. Historiography and the analysis of evidence from a wide range of contexts—cemeteries, sanctuaries, workshops, and symposia—offers the possibility to step outside the aesthetic frameworks imposed by classical Greek masterpieces and to expand the canon of Greek art. Highlighting the results of new excavations and looking at the interactions of people with material culture, Athens at the Margins provocatively shifts perspectives on Greek art and its relationship to the eastern Mediterranean.

Livability and Sustainability of Urbanism

Livability and Sustainability of Urbanism PDF Author: Bagoes Wiryomartono
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811389721
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
This book is a fascinating, wide-reaching interdisciplinary examination of urbanism in the context of humanities and social sciences research, comprising cutting-edge theoretical and empirical investigations of urban livability and sustainability. Urban livability is explored as a phenomenon of happenings that gather people, things, and domains in the specific spatiotemporal context of the city; this context is the life-world of urbanism. Meanwhile, sustainability is conceived of as the capacity of urbanism that enables people to cultivate their sociocultural and economic existence and development without the depletion of their current resources in the future. In this study, phenomenology is uniquely incorporated as a way of seeing things according to their presence in space and time.

Karia and the Dodekanese

Karia and the Dodekanese PDF Author: Poul Pedersen
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789255112
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
The papers in Karia and the Dodekanese, Vol. I, focus on regional developments and interregional relations in western Asia Minor and the Dodekanese during the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic period. Throughout antiquity, this region was a dynamic meeting place for eastern and western civilizations. Cultural achievements of exceptional and everlasting importance, including significant creations of ancient Greek literature, philosophy, art and architecture, originated in the coastal cities of western Anatolia and the adjoining Aegean islands. In the fourth century BC, the eastern cities experienced a new economic boom, and a revival of Archaic culture, sometimes termed ‘The Ionian Renaissance’, began. The cultural revival furthered rebuilding of old major works such as the Artemision at Ephesos, the embellishment of sanctuaries and a new royal architecture, such as the Maussolleion at Halikarnassos. The rich cultural revival was initially promoted by the satrapal family of the Hekatomnids in Karia and in particular by its most famous member, Maussollos, whose influence was not confined to Asia Minor, but included the Dodekanese islands Kos and Rhodos. Partly under the influence of the Karian satrapy, a number of cities were founded on a new common urban model in Rhodos, Halikarnassos, Priene, Knidos and Kos. When Alexander the Great conquered the satrapies in western Asia Minor in 334 BC, the culture initially promoted at the satrapal courts was carried on by gifted thinkers, poets and architects, preparing the way for Hellenistic cultural centres such as Alexandria.

Citizenship in Classical Athens

Citizenship in Classical Athens PDF Author: Josine Blok
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108165737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
What did citizenship really mean in classical Athens? It is conventionally understood as characterised by holding political office. Since only men could do so, only they were considered to be citizens, and the community (polis) has appeared primarily as the scene of men's political actions. However, Athenian law defined citizens not by political office, but by descent. Religion was central to the polis and in this domain, women played prominent public roles. Both men and women were called 'citizens'. On a new reading of the evidence, Josine Blok argues that for the Athenians, their polis was founded on an enduring bond with the gods. Laws anchored the polis' commitments to humans and gods in this bond, transmitted over time to male and female Athenians as equal heirs. All public offices, in various ways and as befitting gender and age, served both the human community and the divine powers protecting Athens.