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Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity

01 Jan 1997-
TL;DR: The nature and expression of ethnicity: an anthropological view 3. The discursive dimension of ethnic identity 4. Ethnicity and genealogy: an Argolic case-study as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: 1. Phrasing the problem 2. The nature and expression of ethnicity: an anthropological view 3. The discursive dimension of ethnic identity 4. Ethnography and genealogy: an Argolic case-study 5. Ethnicity and archaeology 6. Ethnicity and linguistics 7. Conclusion.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a century-long history of research into a particular set of archaeological finds is explored, including the "princely graves" from the early Iron Age (seventh to fifth centuries BC).
Abstract: This article critically explores the century-long history of research into a particular set of archaeological finds. The 'princely graves' – funerary assemblages dated to the early Iron Age (seventh to fifth centuries BC) containing, among other things, luxurious objects produced in Archaic Greek workshops – are known from various parts of temperate Europe, and were first recorded in the central Balkans region by the end of the nineteenth century. By their very nature, these finds pose several important theoretical and methodological problems, one of them being the need to bridge the divide between the procedures of prehistoric and classical archaeologies. The first attempts to account for these exceptional finds, in Europe as well as in the Balkans, were guided by the culture-historical procedure, typical of the archaeological investigation of the time. During the 1960s New Archaeology brought about the notion of chiefdom as a tool to account for the Iron Age societies. The concept was introduced...

21 citations


Cites background from "Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity"

  • ...This constructive nature of ethnicity has also been insisted upon in the case of the ancient Greeks and their relations to non-Greek-speaking peoples with whom they came into contact (J.M. Hall 1997)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argued that the recurring appeal to kinship diplomacy undermines a fixed idea of 'nation' in Archaic Greece, especially in the first two decades of the fifth century BC, and pointed out that kinship ties could sometimes fortify ethnic relationships, as in the case of Aristagoras' mission to Sparta (Hdt 5.49.3), since the common Greekness could elicit the Spartan to help to the Ionians.
Abstract: Abstract The present paper suggests that the recurring appeal to kinship diplomacy undermines a fixed idea of ‘nation’ in Archaic Greece, especially in the first two decades of the fifth century BC. It aims to present a series of test cases in Herodotus that explain why contemporary patterns and theories on ancient ethnicity can hardly explain the totality of the historical spectrum. Blood ties could sometimes fortify ethnic relationships, as in the case of Aristagoras’ mission to Sparta (Hdt. 5.49.3), since the common Greekness could elicit the Spartan to help to the Ionians. In other times, the same blood ties were applied to divine genealogies, and they could also be used to show the feeble devotion of cities like Argos to the Greek cause (7.150.2: Xerxes expects the Argives to join the Persian cause, since they descend from Perses). Habits and traditions, often taken as indicia of national feeling, could be thought of as clues of ancient migrations (so the Trojans became Maxyes in Lybia: 4.191). Even language might not help in justifying ethnic relationships: for instance, the Greeks living in the Scythian Gelonus spoke a mixed language (4.108). These few case studies may shed a different light on the classical definition of Greekness (to hellenikon) in terms of blood, language, cults, and habits, all given by Herodotus (8.144). Far from being a valid label for all the Greeks of the fifth century, this statement owes much to a specific variety of the language of kinship diplomacy. The final section argues for the opportunity to avoid the later and misleading idea of nation when studying Herodotus and the age of the Persian Wars, which are instead characterized by various and contrasting strategies. Greek groups and ethne can be better described as networks of lightly defined communities.

21 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2003-Hesperia
TL;DR: A series of finds made in 2000 at Tel Dor, Israel, during excavations sponsored jointly by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of California at Berkeley are described in this article.
Abstract: This article is a preliminary publication of a series of finds made in 2000 at Tel Dor, Israel, during excavations sponsored jointly by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of California at Berkeley. A limestone Nike and a group of architectural fragments are conjectured to come from a 3rd- or early-2nd-century Doric temple or propylon. Fragments of a superb theatrical mosaic or mosaics in the opus vermiculatum technique are attributed to an andron or oecus and are compared with mosaics from late-3rd-century Alexandria and 2nd-century Delos, Pergamon, Rhodes, and Pompeii. The finds suggest the presence of a sophisticated Hellenized community at Hellenistic Dor.

21 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The French immigrants of early modern London are recorded as having been a clearly recognizable community with similarities in language, religion, occupation and material culture as discussed by the authors, however, analysis of the excavated and documentary evidence of their domestic artefacts reveals few differences when compared with their English counterparts.
Abstract: The French immigrants of early modern London are recorded as having been a clearly recognizable community with similarities in language, religion, occupation and material culture. However, analysis of the excavated and documentary evidence of their domestic artefacts reveals few differences when compared with their English counterparts. Although isolated artefacts may reasonably be linked to an immigrant identity, the majority of refugees do not appear to have commonly expressed their group identity through their domestic material culture in historically identifiable ways. This may indicate that the nature of French immigrant identity was more complex and varied than contemporary accounts imply.

21 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...3 Jones 1999; MacSweeney 2009,122; Fisher & DiPaolo Loren 2003, 225; Jones 1997, 61; Hall 1998, 269; Tarlow 2007, 130–1....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1980
TL;DR: Bourdieu as mentioned in this paper develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood.
Abstract: Outline of a Theory of Practice is recognized as a major theoretical text on the foundations of anthropology and sociology. Pierre Bourdieu, a distinguished French anthropologist, develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood. With his central concept of the habitus, the principle which negotiates between objective structures and practices, Bourdieu is able to transcend the dichotomies which have shaped theoretical thinking about the social world. The author draws on his fieldwork in Kabylia (Algeria) to illustrate his theoretical propositions. With detailed study of matrimonial strategies and the role of rite and myth, he analyses the dialectical process of the 'incorporation of structures' and the objectification of habitus, whereby social formations tend to reproduce themselves. A rigorous consistent materialist approach lays the foundations for a theory of symbolic capital and, through analysis of the different modes of domination, a theory of symbolic power.

21,227 citations

Book
01 Jan 1973
TL;DR: The INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES CLIFFORD GEERTZ Books files are available at the online library of the University of Southern California as mentioned in this paper, where they can be used to find any kind of Books for reading.
Abstract: THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES CLIFFORD GEERTZ PDF Are you searching for THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES CLIFFORD GEERTZ Books files? Now, you will be happy that at this time THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES CLIFFORD GEERTZ PDF is available at our online library. With our complete resources, you could find THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES CLIFFORD GEERTZ PDF or just found any kind of Books for your readings everyday.

20,105 citations

Book
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: Sian Jones as mentioned in this paper argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation, and presents a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences.
Abstract: The question of ethnicity is highly controversial in contemporary archaeology. Indigenous and nationalist claims to territory, often rely on reconstructions of the past based on the traditional identification of 'cultures' from archaeological remains. Sian Jones responds to the need for a reassessment of the ways in which social groups are identified in the archaeological record, with a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences. In doing so, she argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation.

816 citations