Basics, Sources and Methods

Question 1

What time period and places are we working with?

Answer 1

Time: 800 BC - 600 AD
Places: Ancient Greece, Greek Mediterranean Colonies, Hellenistic Kingdoms, Roman Empire

Question 2

List the order of the ages, and the significant events in those ages

Answer 2

1. Bronze Age: Minoan and Mycenaean Civilisations
2. Dark Ages: Loss of literacy, economic contractions (due to religious oppression)
3. Archaic Period: Formation of polis states. Reintroduction of literacy e.g. Homer, Hesiod. Sappho and other poets
4. Classical Period: Greco-Persian wars and establishment of Athenian Hegemony. Greek tragedies and Peloponnesian war. End of Athenian Hegemony (late 400s). Surviving Greek oratorical texts found. Writings of Plato and Aristotle
5. Hellenistic: Alexandria and other prominent cultural centres emerge. Roman conquest of Greek world begins
6. Roman Imperial: roman conquest of Egypt, Augustus establishes monarchy. Entire Mediterranean world under Roman rule. Julio-Claudian dynasty. Lots of legal texts composed, Christianity established
7. Late Period: breakup of Roman Empire, end of Mediterranean political and cultural unity

Question 3

What are some constants in the Greek and Roman empires, and what are some variations?

Answer 3

Constants:
1. Pretty agrarian (rural) societies, they have a little bit of urbanization, literacy, and social complexity
2. Strongly patriarchal societies with unequal gender norms
3. Mostly binary constructions of gender
4. Pagan religious culture largely the same until Christian dominance in 300 AD
Variation:
1. Growing Social complexity and Inequality
Greek and Roman are not one after the other

Question 4

What types of sources are there?

Answer 4

1. Textual Sources:
   a) Literary Works: Primarily preserved through medieval manuscript traditions, very few works by women preserved
   b) Documentary Sources: Inscriptions, letters, legal texts
2. Material Sources: Archaeological sites, Objects, biological remains. e.g. Spindle Whorls that would have messages on them, pottery
3. Visual Sources: Sculptures, paintings, coin legends

Question 5

What are some issues with methodology?

Answer 5

1. Sources require proper interpretation
2. Most of the sources we have are written for men, by men
3. When studying ancient constructions of gender, we can’t assume that they’re the same as today, that they are uniform, or even consistent