Alcaeus and Antimenidas: Reassessing the Evidence for Greek Mercenaries in the Neo-Babylonian Army

Klio ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Fantalkin ◽  
Ephraim Lytle
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Near Eastern

SummaryThe alleged testimony of Alcaeus about the mercenary service of his brother Antimenidas in the Neo-Babylonian army has long served as the inspiration for a range of theories concerning the possible employment of Greek mercenaries in Near Eastern armies and their assumed role in the transfer of eastern influences to Greece during the Archaic period. A careful reassessment of Alcaeus’ fragments and Strabo’s testimony as well as the historical and archaeological evidence at hand suggests that there is little reason to believe that Antimenidas served Nebuchadnezzar II as a mercenary, and the evidence is certainly insufficient to conclude that Greek mercenaries were routinely employed in the Neo-Babylonian army.

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte R. Potts
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Detailed History ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Religious Architecture ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC presents the first comprehensive treatment of cult buildings in western central Italy from the Iron Age to the Archaic Period. By analysing the archaeological evidence for the form of early religious buildings and their role in ancient communities, it reconstructs a detailed history of early Latial and Etruscan religious architecture that brings together the buildings and the people who used them. The first part of the study examines the processes by which religious buildings changed from huts and shrines to monumental temples, and explores apparent differences between these processes in Latium and Etruria. The second part analyses the broader architectural, religious, and topographical contexts of the first Etrusco-Italic temples alongside possible rationales for their introduction. The result is a new and extensive account of when, where, and why monumental cult buildings became features of early central Italic society.

scholarly journals Wandering wives or foreign fillies? The women of archaic Greek colonisation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Harriet Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Area ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Magna Graecia ◽  
Different Types ◽  
New City ◽  
Geographical Scope

<p>Greek colonisation in the archaic period encompassed an enormous geographical area. But for all its prevalence, the textual evidence is limited in both quantity and quality and the archaeological evidence goes only some way towards helping decipher social change and ethnicity. These issues become even more apparent when considering the position of women in the new city foundations. Did Greek colonists take their own wives with them to their new homes? Were Greek women sent out at a later date once the colony had become established? Did Greek colonists intermarry with indigenous women on arrival? Or did something else happen, including a mix of these options? The weight of scholarly opinion currently falls in favour of intermarriage, though frequently little evidence is proffered to support this view. This thesis focuses on this hypothesis and examines the evidence (or lack thereof) to support this conclusion.  Chapter One examines the problems associated with archaic Greek colonisation generally, particularly those issues connected with the ‘language of colonisation’. The study of Greek colonisation has been complicated by imprecise and ambiguous terminology, which frequently draws comparison with more modern (although altogether different) instances of the phenomenon. A major repercussion of this is the tendency to overlook both women and any indigenous peoples. The opening chapter also examines the various reasons behind the foundation of colonies, as well as the different types of settlements, so that an assessment can be made as to whether Greek women might have been more likely to accompany colonising expeditions in some instances over others. Chapter Two looks at the concept of intermarriage more closely and assesses Greek attitudes towards foreign women. It also evaluates the evidence typically called upon by scholars to argue for and against intermarriage in Greek colonisation. Chapter Three assesses the evidence for the presence of women in ten different colonies. Presented roughly in chronological order, these colonies were selected for their geographical scope, covering different regions from the Western Mediterranean, Magna Graecia, North Africa, and the Black Sea. This discussion explores both the literary and archaeological evidence (where possible) for each of these colonies and assesses the potential for intermarriage. This thesis demonstrates that broad conclusions about intermarriage as a widespread practice are unsustainable and concludes that colonisation in the archaic period cannot be considered a uniform phenomenon.</p>

The Specialist in Athenian Written Rhetoric During the Classical Period: A Reconsideration of Technical Rhetoric and Rhetorical Iconography

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728162110385
Author(s):  
Richard Leo Enos
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Artistic Expression ◽  
Classical Rhetoric ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Ancient Athens ◽  
Literate Practices ◽  
Craft Skills

This essay argues that technical rhetoric in ancient Athens is neither well nor fully understood in its present historical characterization but rather is best realized as occupying a position on a spectrum of literate skills ranging from an art to a craft. The dismissive views of technical writing advanced by Plato and Aristotle should be reconsidered and specialized literate practices be recognized as an important feature of rhetoric in Athens’ classical period. A review of discursive and material (archaeological) evidence reveals that technical writing was evolving into a craft-skill in Athens as early as the archaic period and, by the classical period, would be regarded as a respected “rhetorical” profession of artistic expression. This essay urges readers to reconsider the restrictive characterization of rhetoric advanced by some historians of rhetoric and include the specialist craft-skills of writing as a manifestation of technical rhetoric that both illustrates, and more accurately represents, the range of classical rhetoric in ancient Athens.

scholarly journals Wandering wives or foreign fillies? The women of archaic Greek colonisation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Harriet Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Area ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Magna Graecia ◽  
Different Types ◽  
New City ◽  
Geographical Scope

<p>Greek colonisation in the archaic period encompassed an enormous geographical area. But for all its prevalence, the textual evidence is limited in both quantity and quality and the archaeological evidence goes only some way towards helping decipher social change and ethnicity. These issues become even more apparent when considering the position of women in the new city foundations. Did Greek colonists take their own wives with them to their new homes? Were Greek women sent out at a later date once the colony had become established? Did Greek colonists intermarry with indigenous women on arrival? Or did something else happen, including a mix of these options? The weight of scholarly opinion currently falls in favour of intermarriage, though frequently little evidence is proffered to support this view. This thesis focuses on this hypothesis and examines the evidence (or lack thereof) to support this conclusion.  Chapter One examines the problems associated with archaic Greek colonisation generally, particularly those issues connected with the ‘language of colonisation’. The study of Greek colonisation has been complicated by imprecise and ambiguous terminology, which frequently draws comparison with more modern (although altogether different) instances of the phenomenon. A major repercussion of this is the tendency to overlook both women and any indigenous peoples. The opening chapter also examines the various reasons behind the foundation of colonies, as well as the different types of settlements, so that an assessment can be made as to whether Greek women might have been more likely to accompany colonising expeditions in some instances over others. Chapter Two looks at the concept of intermarriage more closely and assesses Greek attitudes towards foreign women. It also evaluates the evidence typically called upon by scholars to argue for and against intermarriage in Greek colonisation. Chapter Three assesses the evidence for the presence of women in ten different colonies. Presented roughly in chronological order, these colonies were selected for their geographical scope, covering different regions from the Western Mediterranean, Magna Graecia, North Africa, and the Black Sea. This discussion explores both the literary and archaeological evidence (where possible) for each of these colonies and assesses the potential for intermarriage. This thesis demonstrates that broad conclusions about intermarriage as a widespread practice are unsustainable and concludes that colonisation in the archaic period cannot be considered a uniform phenomenon.</p>

scholarly journals Why We Don't Know Much About the Archaic Period in Northeast Texas

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross C. Fields
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
The Subject

While there have been a few studies in recent years that have offered some interesting ideas about the lifeways of the Native Americans that occupied Northeast Texas during Archaic · times, most of what we know (or think we know) about the subject is based on limited data, and much of that data really is not of very good quality. For example, we think that Archaic peoples were nomadic hunter-gatherers who roamed the landscape, staying in one spot only for a few weeks or less until they had collected all the hickory nuts or hunted all the deer they could find there. In general, this notion is probably correct, but it does not present a very complete picture of their lifeways, and when you get down to it, it is not really based on much hard archaeological evidence.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of the Amphipolis Bridge in Northern Greece, Maintained and Functioned for 2500 Years

Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Maniatis ◽  
D Malamidou ◽  
H Koukouli-Chryssanthaki ◽  
Y Facorellis
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Ancient City

The remains of a wooden construction, recovered in the 1970s at the northwest sector of the walls of the ancient city of Amphipolis (northern Greece), have been recognized as foundation remains of a wooden bridge described by Thucydides in his description of the events that took place at Amphipolis in 424–422 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. Frequent repairs in the Roman, Byzantine, and even Ottoman periods are very probable. In the last 10 yr, conservation has been done to enhance this unique monument. This work involves systematic investigation with radiocarbon dating of all the verified or suspected phases of this wooden bridge. The dating results reveal the beginning of construction most probably in the Archaic period and confirm beyond a doubt that the major construction phase took place in Classical times. Successive phases, related to repairs rather than to major reconstructions, have been detected during the Hellenistic, Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine periods as well as the Ottoman era. The combined archaeometric and archaeological evidence leads to the remarkable conclusion that this bridge was functioning for about 2500 yr.

The Archaeological Evidence of Cultivated Wheat and Barley in Near Eastern Prehistory

1953 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
Robert H. Dyson
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Near East ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Cultural Events ◽  
The World ◽  
Manuscript Study

The data for this paper are taken from a larger manuscript study (Dyson, ms.) aimed at the collation of the specific evidence available at the present time on the first occurrences of the major traits of material culture in each sub-area of the Near East for the period from 5000 to 2500 B.C. Such a survey has not previously existed and it provides a solid reference work for checking on the exact locations of key items in the fields of agriculture, husbandry, textiles, metallurgy, transportation, and so on.In making a survey of this nature the problem of chronology is paramount, for it is upon this basis that priority in discovery must be accredited to any one area, and that directions of diffusion must be determined. In this region, as in other parts of the world, the correlation of cultural events with Christian chronology has yet to be satisfactorily completed. We cannot, therefore, deal with any degree of accuracy in terms of particular years. The presence of stratigraphic deposits, however, does allow us to deal with periods of relative cultural time.

The divinatory kit from Pergamon and Greek magic in late antiquity

2002 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 173-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attilio Mastrocinque
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
The Future ◽  
New Evidence

Divination was one of the most important features of the learned magical arts in the Imperial period. Not only do the Graeco-Egyptian ‘magical papyri’ contain an abundance of recipes which claim to enable the practitioner to know the future, but several ancient authors attest that divination was of special interest to occultists. Recent scholarship has indeed recognised the importance of divination in ritual-magical practice, but the relevant archaeological evidence has not been much discussed since the publication of the second volume of Th. Hopfner'sGriechisch-ägyptischer Offenbarungszauberin 1924. The major new evidence here has been the Near-Eastern divination- and incantation-bowls. The present article, however, is concerned with the possible implications of a much older find, the divination kit from Pergamon, and its recently-discovered analogue from Apamea in Syria, for the study of specifically theurgic divination. The rôle of magical ritual within theurgy has received considerable attention in recent years, but the relevance of the divination kits has not hitherto been noticed. I shall argue that the physical instruments employed in theurgic divination help us to understand several features of theurgic practice. I shall also stress the possible contribution of magical gems in the same context, for in them we can recognise images and attributes of divine beings with whom magicians and theurgists identified themselves during their performances.

scholarly journals Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced and Why

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avraham Faust
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Unique Pattern ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
The One

Most scholars in the late 20th and early 21st century believed that cultic activity in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah was practiced in various temples that were scattered throughout the kingdoms. Still, a detailed study of the archaeological evidence on Israelite cult reveals that Israelite cultic buildings were extremely rare, both in absolute terms and when compared to other ancient Near Eastern societies, suggesting that cultic activity in temples was the exception rather than the norm and that typical Israelite cult was practiced in the household and in other, non-temple settings. Hence, the evidence suggests that rather than viewing temples, like the one in Arad, as exemplifying typical cultic activity, they should be viewed as exceptions that require a special explanation. The first part of the article develops and updates the suggestion, first raised about ten years ago, that Israelite temples were indeed extremely rare. Given the ancient Near Eastern context, however, such practices seems to be exceptional, and the second part of the article will therefore explain why was such a unique pattern not identified in the past, and will suggest a possible explanation as to how was such an outstanding practice developed and adopted.

The Archaic wall of Athens: reality or myth?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
City Wall

This paper reviews the philological and archaeological evidence for an Archaic, pre-Persian, city wall of Athens, and concludes that there was no Archaic enceinte separate from the fortifications of the Acropolis and Pelargikon. The extant testimonia, primarily Thucydides and Herodotos, can be interpreted in different ways, but there is nothing in these sources to suggest categorically fortifications other than those of the Acropolis/Pelargikon. Previous arguments put forward for the existence of such a putative wall do not stand up to closer scrutiny and, despite extensive excavations in those areas where the wall has been claimed, there is to date no archaeological evidence for an Archaic wall. The wall that the Persians breached in their sack of Athens in 480/79 B.C. was the Mycenaean circuit wall surrounding the Acropolis and Pelargikon; together these walls, built in the Mycenaean period, continued to serve through the Archaic period until 479 B.C. when work was begun on the Themistoklean Wall.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document