A Companion to Archaic Greece

by Kurt A. Raaflaub (Editor), Hans van Wees (Editor)

A systematic survey of archaic Greek society and culture which introduces the reader to a wide range of new approaches to the period.
The first comprehensive and accessible survey of developments in the study of archaic Greece Places Greek society of c.750-480 BCE in its chronological and geographical context Gives equal emphasis to established topics such as tyranny and political reform and newer subjects like gender and ethnicity Combines accounts of historical developments with regional surveys of archaeological evidence and in-depth treatments of selected themes Explores the impact of Eastern and other non-Greek cultures in the development of Greece Uses archaeological and literary evidence to reconstruct broad patterns of social and cultural development

Genres: History, Ancient History, Greece, Nonfiction, Classics, Reference, Ancient

800 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Kurt Arnold Raaflaub is a Swiss historian and Emeritus Professor of Classics and History at Brown University.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly in-depth academic study of the earliest Greek period, roughly from 800 to 500 BCE, so before the classical Golden Age. The book offers 33 articles by specialists from various countries, though the majority is Anglo-Saxon. After some introductory overviews, it delves deeply into various regions and a dozen themes. Naturally, there's considerable variation in quality between the articles. But for those who really want to look into this part of ancient history, this is definitely recommended. More information can be found in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Sense of History]

The editors of this book (Raaflaub and Van Wees) make it clear from the outset: the goal is “to offer, from the perspective of many specialists in various fields, a multi-authored survey of the current state of the evidence and the latest insights on the period, and to give new impulses or suggest new directions for future research.” And I must say: they have more than succeeded. Published in 2009, this is certainly state-of-the-art and up-to-date. Of course, this field of research remains constantly evolving, thankfully. For example, recent developments in ancient DNA research remain out of the picture. But the various contributors to this work clearly demonstrate how the view of archaic Greece (roughly 800-500 BCE), a period in which the sources that have come down to us are even more scarce than in the classical era, differs fundamentally in several respects at the beginning of the 21st century from that of 20-30 years earlier. They themselves mention three crucial areas where views are subject to profound change: the tyrants, the early colonization, and the so-called Hoplitic Revolution. In all three domains, much more nuance has been achieved, particularly through more in-depth archaeological work. This proves once again that simplistic theories (such as the highly popular Hoplitic Revolution) may be meritorious at some point, but ultimately succumb to the pressure of empirical evidence. As mentioned, we now await the results of more systematic ancient DNA research to clarify, for example, the rather mythical "Dorian invasion" (which has become already much more nuanced in recent decades). I dare say: in these gloomy times, the progressive insights gained through careful scientific research are one of the few bright spots!

[AskHistorians]

A thorough guide with over thirty chapters written by world experts.