Social Identity and Status in the Classical and Hellenistic Northern Peloponnese: The Evidence from Burials - Softcover

Dimakis, Nikolas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784915068 ISBN 13: 9781784915063

Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology, 2017

Synopsis

Classical and Hellenistic cemeteries can give us more than descriptions and styles of pottery, art and burial architecture; they can speak of people, societies, social conventions as well as of social distinctions. This book aims to employ and illustrate the unique strengths of burial evidence and its contribution to the understanding of social identity and status in the Classical and Hellenistic Northern Peloponnese. By thoroughly reviewing published burials from the regions of Achaia, Arcadia, the Argolid and Cynouria, Corinthia, Elis and Triphylia, spatial and temporal variations which led to a change in definitions of ‘society’ and perceptions of ‘community’ on the basis of shifting reactions to death and the dead are demonstrated. Social roles of men, women, children, elite and non-elite individuals as expressed or negotiated in the mortuary record are explored. Preconceived ideas and stereotypes within and about the Classical and Hellenistic burials are challenged. In spite of the many constraints imposed by the limited previous research, what clearly emerges from this study is the wide degree of variation in what are often loosely termed ‘customary’ or unappealing Classical and Hellenistic burial practices in the Northern Peloponnese. If death was indeed an occasion or ‘opportunity’, then the meaning of this opportunity varied along the shifting dimensions, in time and space, of identity and status.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Chapter 2 – A Case Study: The Argolid

Chapter 3 – Death and Space in the Northern Peloponnese during Classical and Hellenistic Times

Chapter 4 – The Mortuary Record

Chapter 5 – Burial Offerings

Chapter 6 – The Funeral Ritual

Chapter 7 – Conclusions

Bibliography

Appendix A: groups of burials (GB)

Appendix B: individual graves (IG)

About this title

About the Author

Nikolas Dimakis is a postdoctoral research fellow in Classical Archaeology at the University of Athens. He specialises in the funerary archaeology of Classical to Roman Greece and examines the interplay of emotions, ritual and identity in the burial context. Nikolas has coordinated and participated in international meetings and in many archaeological projects in Attica, the Peloponnese, Thrace and the Dodecanese.

Edition details

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784915068
• ISBN 13: 9781784915063
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 370