Coming of the back of Homer, Troy & the Early Iron Age, in these next few episodes, we'll look at the Archaic Age, with a focus on the evolution of the Polis, the main urban model in Ancient Greece. In this episode I talk about some basic foundations and terms & explore how we might define a Polis archaeologically with reference to Aristotle's own definitions in his Poetics.
Overview of topics in this episode:
🏛️ Foundations of the Polis - The emergence of the Greek Polis, the defining city-state of ancient Greece.
🏺 Cultural Dynamics -The regional variations in art, pottery, and architecture that characterized the Archaic Period. There is also a discussion of the influence of Orientalizing art and iconography from the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
📜 Homeric Influence -The impact of Homer’s works on Greek identity and cultural development.
🌍 Regionalism and Unity -The interplay between regional cultures and the concept of Panhellenism in unifying Greece.
🔍 Archaeology of the Polis -Key archaeological findings from Athens, Corinth, Crete, and other significant sites that helps us define a Polis archaeologically rather than relying on ideological works such as Aristotle's Poetics.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this period, it's one of my favourites, and lays the foundation for the Greek Colonies that we will see soon appearing in Magna Graecea. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more archaeology!
Sources & Bibliography:
Haggis, D.C., 2015: The archaeology of urbanisation: research design and the excavation of an Archaic Greek city on Crete. Classical Archaeology in Context: Theory and Practice in Excavation in the Greek World, pp.219-58
Whitley, J. 2019: The Re‐Emergence of Political Complexity. In I.S. Lemos and A. Kotsonas (eds.) A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean. Wiley, Chapter 2.3
Morris, I. 1991: The early polis as city and state in J. Price and A. Wallace-Hadrill (eds) City and country in the ancient world, 25-57
Polignac, F. de. 2005: Forms and Processes: some Thoughts on the Meaning of Urbanization in Early Archaic Greece in B. Cunliffe and R. Osborne (eds) Mediterranean Urbanization 800-600 BC, 45-69
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I am currently teaching a lecture series on Ancient & Late Antique Hermeticism. Do check it out! www.mystai.co.uk/way-of-hermes
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