Material sources for Greek history: archaeological evidence: inscriptions

1. Material sources for Greek history:archaeological evidence: inscriptions • Epigraphy: inscriptions on stone, metal, terracotta – durable materials • typically contemporary • often fragmentary • nearly useless if not dated • Genres • poetry, laws, decrees, votes • treaties, dedications, honors

2. Material sources for Greek history:archaeological evidence: papyri • Primary medium for … day-to-day activities • correspondence • petitions • edicts • receipts • Limited survival of texts • Aristotle’s Athenian Constitution • Oxyrhynchos Historian • many fragments of (un)known works

3. Material sources for Greek history:other archaeological evidence: coins • Field of numismatics (<νομίζειν, to use according to νόμος – “law” or “custom”) • post 550 BCE, so not applicable earlier • limited use as propaganda, so little internal evidence • long periods of usage, so broad range of dates

4. Material sources for Greek history:other archaeological evidence: architecture, sculpture, vase painting • Architecture • often can be dated • internal ideologies • evidence of wealth • evidence of skill • Sculpture, vase painting • -can be dated stylistically • reveals social customs • high level of sophistication

5. Material sources for Greek history:other archaeological evidence: field data • Pollen analysis, petrology, animal bones • trade • economics • social customs • settlement patterns • public vs. private space • diet • environmental conditions

6. All sources for Greek history:literary and material • Context is key • Congruence is rare • Historians must draw upon all sources to complete the picture • Next: datingschemes, climatetopography and demography

8. Dating schemes: caveat emptor • Each polis used different systems (& calendars) • Athens: eponymous archon lists: 683/2, reliable p.425/4 • Panhellenic festivals • Olympiads: 766 • reliable post 600 • Religious offices • priestess of Hera at Argos

9. Dating schemes: putting it all together • Synchronisms between • Olympiads and Biblicalevents • Olympiads and Romanemperors • Squaring with the Gregorian calendar • Archaeological evidence • pottery, architecture, sculpture • often based on stylistics – development varies widely • Thucydides’ colonial foundations in Sicily, southern Italy • dates are relative; are they reliable? • destruction level of 480 in Athens: all material predates 480 • confirmation from other cultures: Near Eastern destruction levels, Egyptian Pharoaonic dates

10. Periodization of Greek history

11. Greece: topography & resources

12. Pontus = Black Sea Asia Minor Propontis Pontus Thrace Chalkidike Macedonia PindosMtns Thrace Macedonia P I N D O S Propontis Chalkidike Thessaly Epirus Altitude High Low Asia Minor Boeotia Attica Peloponnese Epirus Thessaly Boeotia Attica Peloponnese Cyclades Crete (Arcadia, Laconia,Messenia, Argolid, Corinthia) Cyclades Crete

13. Blackboard questions • Matt, Ian, Lucy, Emily: What impact did the natural environment (e.g., climate and agriculture) have on Greek history? • unpredictability & inconsistency  diversification • self-sufficiency & autonomy hard  collaboration • Alex, Teddy, Sarah N.: What role did the demographic profile of ancient Greece play in its history? • demography affects & is affected by environment • mortality rate limited growth, fostering need for slaves • population growth slow & steady, averting epidemics

14. Greece: topography & resources Topography • mountains, rocky soil, jagged coasts, few large fluvial plains; Aegean Sea; islands. Result regarding communities and communication? • result: relative isolation; communication by sea Climate • hot, dry summers; mild, rainy winters. Result regarding agriculture? • result: agriculture difficult, unpredictable, necessitating diversification Resources: food • flocks: goats, sheep, pigs; cattle rare, horses (expensive, used for warfare, travel) • crop diversification: oil (cooking), grapes (wine), some vegetables, barley (primary foodstuff). Result regarding diet? • result: proteins: fish; beans; other goods (e.g., wheat) imported Resources: minerals, timber • durable: bronze: copper (plentiful), tin (non-existent); iron (plentiful) • luxury: gold (rare), silver (mines in Attica south of Athens) • stone: limestone (plentiful), marble (Paros, Attica) • timber: northern Aegean / Thrace (structures, shipbuilding) • obsidian (volcanic glass): islands – e.g., Melos. Result regarding access? • result: control of sea for food, travel, commerce

15. Natural resources in archaic Greece

16. Earliest occupation, 200,000 BCE to Franchthi Cave, 18,000 & beyond • Hunters / gatherers • Subsistence level • Self-sufficiency until interest in other goods • Embryonic trade • Franchthi in Argolid, Peloponnese

17. Neolithic Greece, 6000-3000 BCEEarly Bronze Age, 3000-2200 BCE Sesklo(6000-4400) Dimini (4800-3000) Lerna(2600-2200) FranchthiCave (18,000-3000)

18. Sesklo, 6000-4400 BCEDimini, 4800-3000 BCE

19. Lerna, House of Tiles, ca. 2500 BCE

20. Lerna, House of Tiles, ca. 2500 BCE