Greek History and Historiography

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Article

alcoholism, Greek  

John Maxwell O'Brien and Barney Rickenbacker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Literature
  3. Greek Material Culture
The ancient Greeks were unfamiliar with modern concepts of alcoholism, but they were well aware of self-destructive drinking and the effects of habitual drunkenness. In the Odyssey, *Homer makes a speaker note that wine is a bane to those who drink it excessively, and identify overindulgence as the cause of the *Centaur Eurytion's vile behaviour (21. 293–8). In *Hades, Homer's Elpenor admits that heavy drinking was a key factor in his fatal plunge from *Circe's roof (Od. 11. 61). *Pythagoras (1) is credited with the dictum that drinking to achieve drunkenness is a training-ground for madness, and he advises drunkards to take an unflinching look at their inebriate behaviour if they wish to alter it (Stob. Flor. 3. 18. 23, 33). In the Republic, *Plato (1) writes about men who welcome any excuse to drink whatever wine is available (475a). *Aristotle's treatise On Drunkenness has been lost, but his extant works confirm an abiding interest in wine's pernicious effects.

Article

archers, Greek and Hellenistic  

John F. Lazenby

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture
Archaeological evidence shows that both the ‘self’ (i.e. made of one piece) and the ‘composite’ bow were known to bronze age Greece, and the considerable quantities of arrow-heads—flint, obsidian, and bronze—suggest that it was used for more than hunting; a bronze tablet from Cnossus alone (see minoan civilization) records 8,640. Fewer arrow-heads are known from the early iron age, but late geometric Attic vases show that the bow was important again by the 8th cent. bce.In *Homer's Iliad it is only used by one or two heroes on either side, and there is some suggestion that archers were despised. *Pandarus' bow was clearly composite since horn was used in its construction (cf. 4. 105 ff.), and the epithet ‘back-springing’ (παλίντονος) applied to this and other bows is also appropriate to this type. Horn was also used in the construction of *Odysseus' bow (Od.

Article

Delion  

John F. Lazenby

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture

Temple of *Apollo on the NE coast of *Boeotia (now Dhilesi), where the Boeotians defeated the Athenians in 424 bce. The Athenians, with 7,000 *hoplites and some cavalry, but no proper light troops, had fortified the temple and were caught returning to Attica by a Boeotian army also of 7,000 hoplites, but with more than 10,000 light troops, 500 *peltasts, and some cavalry. The battle provides the first example of the Boeotian tactic of deploying hoplites in a deep *phalanx—here the Thebans (see Thebes (1)) on the right were 25 deep, whereas the Athenians were only eight deep. The Thebans defeated the Athenian left, and although the Athenian right was at first successful, it fled in panic at the sudden appearance of Boeotian cavalry, sent round behind a hill to support their left. Athenian losses, at over 14 per cent, were perhaps the worst ever suffered by a hoplite army.

Article

epigraphy, Greek  

H. W. Pleket

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Literature
  3. Greek Material Culture
The study of inscriptions engraved on stone or metal in Greek letters. Coin-legends (see coinage, greek) are for the numismatist, whereas painted mummy-labels and ink-written texts on *ostraca, especially popular in Egypt, are the realm of the papyrologist; inscriptions painted or incised on vases and pottery (see pottery (greek), inscriptions on) are the combined prey of vase-experts and epigraphists.1 (Superscript figures refer to the bibliographical notes at the end of the article.) Interest in inscriptions is not a modern phenomenon; already in antiquity people studied specific inscriptions. In the early 3rd cent. bce*Craterus (2) published a collection of decrees (Ψηφισμάτων συναγωγή); a hundred years later *Polemon (3) of Ilium received the nickname στηλοκόπας (‘tablet-glutton’) for his fanatical attention to inscriptions. With the Renaissance, interest in antiquities went hand in hand with admiration for the ancient literary inheritance. With Cyriacus of Ancona there began a long series of travelling scholars, who in their notebooks produced beautiful descriptions and drawings of ancient sites and the inscriptions on them. Initially, inscriptions tended to be disregarded or even despised by the champions of the revered literary sources; but when the latter came under the attack of Cartesian rationalism and Pyrrhonian scepticism, epigraphical shares increased in value on the historical stock exchange:2 inscriptions were authentic and direct and could not be disqualified as forgeries or highly biased accounts.

Article

glass, Greek  

Katherine A. Larson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
19 April 2023
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture
Glassmaking has traditionally not been considered a major accomplishment of Greek craft, but new research and archaeological discoveries have established Greek contributions to the history of glass. While there is no single ancient Greek term for glass, the term ὕαλος (hyalos) refers to a transparent, hard, luminous material, such as glass or rock crystal. In the 6th century bce, core-formed glass perfume and cosmetic containers began to appear throughout the Mediterranean, particularly in funerary contexts and dedicatory assemblages. Later, colourless glass, cast in moulds and sagged over forms and often decorated with gilding or cutting, appears as a major technical innovation in the late 5th to early 4th century bce. Although no workshops have been found, Rhodes and Macedonia were likely important producers of these products.The Hellenistic period saw a gradual diversification of forms, expansion of colours, and experimentation with new techniques. Always important luxury trade goods, glass drinking vessels and small objects such as beads and gaming pieces become more accessible to a wider segment of the population by the beginning of the 1st century bce, an important prelude to the spread of glassblowing under the Roman empire.

Article

Lyktos  

Antonis Kotsonas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2021
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture
Lyktos (or Lyttos, from the Classical period on) is an ancient city on the island of Crete. It is located on the central part of the island, a short distance to the east of the modern town of Kastelli Pediadas and close to the village of Xydas (also spelled Xidas). The ancient site occupies a double acropolis which is part of the northwest foothills of the Lasithi mountains, and is crowned by two modern chapels. The acropolis of Lyktos rises to an elevation of over 600 m (2,000 ft) and overlooks the fertile plain of Pediada. The name Lyktos may refer to the highland location of the site (Steph. Byz., s.v. Λύκτος).The history and culture of Lyktos is amply documented in ancient literature and epigraphy (I.Cret. I xviii), to a degree which is unusual for any Cretan city. Indeed, Lyktos has produced the second largest epigraphic record from anywhere on Crete (after .

Article

masturbation  

Kelly L. Wrenhaven

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 July 2016
Subjects:
  1. Gender Studies
  2. Greek History and Historiography
  3. Greek Literature
  4. Greek Material Culture
  5. Roman History and Historiography
In ancient Greece and Rome, masturbation was viewed with good-humored disdain. Although it was not apparently subject to the same kinds of scathing attacks that Greek comedy makes on male same-sex activity, it was certainly connected with a lack of sophistication. In line with sexual subjects in general, references are found primarily in Greek comedy and sympotic art of the Archaic and Classical periods, where it is typically associated with barbarians, slaves, and satyrs, all of whom fall into the category of the “Other,” or the anti-ideal. All were deemed lacking in sophrosyne (“moderation”) and enkratia (“self-control”) and were associated with uncivilized behavior. The Greeks had a varied terminology for masturbation. The most commonly found verb is dephesthai (“to soften”), but several other words and euphemisms were used (e.g. cheirourgon, “self-stimulation”).1The comedies of Aristophanes (1) provide the majority of references to masturbation and largely associate it with slaves. The lengthiest reference is a joke that occurs near the beginning of Knights, when Slave B tells Slave A to masturbate in order to give himself courage.

Article

Olympian Games  

Nicholas J. Richardson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture
These were held in the precinct of *Zeus (the Altis) at *Olympia, once every four years in August or September. They were in honour of Zeus, and were said to commemorate the victory of *Pelops in his chariot-race with king Oenomaus of Pisa (cf. Pind., Ol. 1. 67–88), but also to have been founded by *Heracles (Pind. Ol. 10. 24–77). Lists of victors begin in 776 bce (see hippias(2); time-reckoning), and a catalogue of the winners down to ce 217 is preserved by *Eusebius. They were abolished in ce 393 by the emperor *Theodosius (2) I.The original contest was the stadion, a sprint of about 200 m. (See stadium). Other contests were added between the late 8th and 5th cents. bce, including races for chariots and single horses. Early victors were often from Sparta, but by the 6th cent. competitors were coming from all over the Greek world. In the 5th cent. the festival lasted five days. The main religious ceremony was the *sacrifice of a hecatomb on the great altar of Zeus (Paus.

Article

Panskoye I  

Vladimir F. Stolba

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
25 January 2017
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Ancient Geography
  3. Greek History and Historiography
  4. Greek Material Culture
  5. Greek Myth and Religion
Panskoye I is one of the most prominent and best-studied settlements in the rural territory of Chersonesus on the Tarkhankut Peninsula (north-western Crimea). Founded in the late 5th century bce as a fortified outpost (tetrapyrgia) protecting the south-eastern frontiers of Olbian territory, around 360 bce it was subjugated to Tauric Chersonesus, a close relationship which it maintained until the settlement’s catastrophic destruction around 270 bce. In 1969–1994, a significant part of the settlement and associated necropolis were investigated by the Tarkhankut Archaeological Expedition of the Leningrad Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR (since 1991, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg). The settlement’s stratigraphy and size, as well as its unique structure and layout, representing an agglomeration of compactly placed free-standing farmsteads, adjoining house blocks, and monumental buildings accommodating more than one household, distinguish it from other rural settlements in the area. Its rich and original material culture shows a remarkable intermingling of various cultural components, both Greek and non-Greek.

Article

papyrology, Greek  

H. Maehler

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Law
  3. Greek Literature
  4. Greek Material Culture
Papyrus, manufactured in Egypt since c.3000 bce from a marsh plant, Cyperus papyrus (see books, greek and roman), was the most widely used writing material in the Graeco-Roman world. The object of papyrology is to study texts written on papyrus (and on ostraca, wooden tablets, etc. in so far as they come from the same find-spots) in Egyptian (hieroglyphs, demotic, Coptic), Hebrew, *Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Pahlavi, and Arabic. Greek papyrology also deals with Greek texts written on parchment (see palaeography, Introduction). The vast majority of Greek papyri have been found in Egypt, preserved in the dry sand; with the exception of some carbonized papyri from *Bubastis and Thmouis, no papyri have survived in the damp soils of the Delta or *Alexandria (1). Outside Egypt, Greek papyri have been found at *Herculaneum, at Dura-*Europus, in Palestine, and one text has come from Greece: the carbonized Orphic commentary found in a burial at Derveni near Salonica; see orphic literature; orphism.

Article

Piraeus  

Robert Garland

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Greek History and Historiography
  3. Greek Material Culture
Piraeus (Πειραιεύς), the great harbour complex of Athens, is a rocky limestone peninsula some 7 km. (4–5 mi.) south-west of Athens which *Themistocles began to fortify in 493/2 (Thuc. 1. 93. 3–7) as a strong base for Athens' rapidly expanding fleet in preference to the open roadstead of *Phaleron. It has three harbours, Zea (modern Pasalimani) and *Munichia (1) (Mikrolimani) on the east, used exclusively by naval shipping. Zea possessed 196 shipsheds and *Philon (1)'s Arsenal. The biggest harbour, Kantharos (Goblet) or Megas Limen (Great Harbour), lies to the west and accommodated, in addition to warships, a thriving emporium on its northern and eastern shoreline comprising ‘five stoas round about the harbour’ (schol. to Ar.Pax145), of which some traces remain. Its urban development dates to c.450 bce when *Hippodamus of Miletus ‘cut up (κατέτεμεν) Piraeus’ by laying it out according to an orthogonal plan (Arist.