- American School of Classical Studies
54 Souidias Street
GR-106 76 Athens
Greece
Julia L. Shear
American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Senior Associate Member, Department Member
- Current Research My research currently focuses on the city of Athens and particularly on its social and cultural his... moreCurrent Research
My research currently focuses on the city of Athens and particularly on its social and cultural history. I use both historical evidence and evidence from material culture and epigraphy to provide a holistic view of Athenian society and culture and I also apply theories and approaches developed in the social sciences to the ancient Greek material. I am currently working on a monograph about how the Athenians’ collective remembrances were constructed, used, and reused, sometimes over very long periods of time, across a range of occasions, media, and locations in the city. I argue that collective memory is not singular, but multiple, so that it takes place in interlinked spheres. The interactions between these different spheres in themselves create additional memories for the group. To understand these processes, I use interpretative strategies developed in Memory Studies to explain the ancient material.
Previous Research
Another part of my research focuses on Athenian religion. A monograph entitled Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities (Cambridge, 2021) looks at the ways in which the festival was an occasion for constructing Athenian identities and how it affected those identities. I argue that participation played an especially important role in these dynamics because not everyone took part in the same way. This differential participation articulated individuals’ relationships both to the goddess and to the city so that the festival played an important role in negotiating what it meant to be Athenian (and non-Athenian). To understand these processes, I use theories of identity formation which were developed in the social sciences.
My work on Athenian collective memory has developed out of my interests in the ways in which the Athenians remembered and responded to the city’s past(s). My monograph Polis and Revolution: Responding to Oligarchy in Classical Athens (Cambridge, 2011) examines the Athenians’ responses to the oligarchic revolutions in 411 and 404-403 B.C. It focuses on the recreation of the democracy and the city, both ritually and physically, in the aftermath of the coups and on the ways in which the city remembered and forgot these revolutions. Polis and Revolution was shortlisted for the Runciman Award 2012. A series of articles on Athenian collective memory also developed out of this monograph.
Biography
As an undergraduate, I studied Classics at Harvard University and I spent a semester in Rome at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies. After I received my degree (A.B. magna cum laude 1992), I spent a year in Athens where, as the John Williams White Fellow, I participated in the regular programme of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. I then went to the University of Pennsylvania in the first class of students in the Graduate Group in Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. Interested already both in history and in archaeology, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the history and development of the Panathenaia. While I was working on this project, I received funding from a number of sources: a dissertation fellowship from the 1984 Foundation, the Eugene Vanderpool Fellowship at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and a Junior Fellowship from the Kolb Foundation (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology).
Having completed my doctoral degree in 2001, I spent four years in Cambridge as a post-doctoral researcher on the AHRB Anatomy of Cultural Revolution Project which was jointly located in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge and King’s College and was directed by Professor Robin Osborne. My book Polis and Revolution represents my primary contribution to this project. Subsequently, I spent four years as a lecturer in Classics at the University of Glasgow where I taught Greek history, Greek and Roman visual and material culture, and Greek and Latin language. Between 2009 and 2013, I was based at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Subsequently, I held a position funded by the Onassis Foundation in the Department of History at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul where I taught ancient Greek history and classical archaeology. During the academic year 2019-2020, I held an NEH fellowship at the American School in Athens; in 2020-2022, I was a fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C., while, in the spring semester of 2021-22, I was a fellow at the National Humanities Center. Since 2022, I have been based again at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. I have also excavated extensively in Greece, Cyprus, and Italy.edit
In ancient Athens, the Panathenaia was the most important festival and it was celebrated in honour of Athena from the middle of the sixth century BC until the end of the fourth century AD. This in-depth study examines how this... more
In ancient Athens, the Panathenaia was the most important festival and it was celebrated in honour of Athena from the middle of the sixth century BC until the end of the fourth century AD. This in-depth study examines how this all-Athenian celebration was an occasion for constructing identities and how it affected those identities. Since not everyone took part in the same way, this differential participation articulated individuals' relationships both to the goddess and to the city so that the festival played an important role in negotiating what it meant to be Athenian (and non-Athenian). I apply theories of identity formation which were developed in the social sciences to the ancient Greek material and I bring together historical, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence to provide a better understanding both of this important occasion and of Athenian identities over the festival's long history.
Note that this book is now available in paper.
Note that this book is now available in paper.
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During the turbulent last years of the fifth century BC, Athens twice suffered the overthrow of democracy and the subsequent establishment of oligarchic regimes. In an in-depth treatment of both political revolutions, the volume examines... more
During the turbulent last years of the fifth century BC, Athens twice suffered the overthrow of democracy and the subsequent establishment of oligarchic regimes. In an in-depth treatment of both political revolutions, the volume examines how the Athenians responded to these events, at the level both of the individual and of the corporate group. Interdisciplinary in approach, this account brings epigraphical and archaeological evidence to bear on a discussion which until now has largely been based on texts. It particularly focuses on the recreation of democracy and the city, both ritually and physically, in the aftermath of the coups and demonstrates that, whilst reconciliation after civil strife is difficult and contentious, it is also crucial for rebuilding a united society. Theories of remembering and forgetting are applied and offer a new way of understanding the dynamics in Athens at this time.
Shortlisted for the Runciman Award 2012.
Shortlisted for the Runciman Award 2012.
Research Interests:
Unlike the four Panhellenic festivals with their focus on what it meant to be Greek, regional and city celebrations and their competitions concentrated on more local concerns. At the Panathenaia at Athens, the Eretrian Artemisia at... more
Unlike the four Panhellenic festivals with their focus on what it meant to be Greek, regional and city celebrations and their competitions concentrated on more local concerns. At the Panathenaia at Athens, the Eretrian Artemisia at Amarynthos, and the Delia on Delos, how one participated in the competitions and other spectacles was crucial to the dynamics of the festival and the construction of its politics. In the case of the Panathenaia, the restrictions on participation kept the focus on Athenians and those closely associated with the city. The Artemisia concentrated on local issues, particularly in the years after 340 BCE on recovering from civil strife, while the Delia functioned at the level of the region. Both the Artemisia and the Delia show how the politics of a celebration may change over time. These local festivals existed in tension between the needs of the sponsoring community and its relationships to other cities and region(s).
Note: for copyright reasons, the full text is not uploaded here. It is available via the link to the OUP website. The chapter was originally written in 2011 and has not been fully updated since then.
Note: for copyright reasons, the full text is not uploaded here. It is available via the link to the OUP website. The chapter was originally written in 2011 and has not been fully updated since then.
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This essay focuses on Athens after the Chremonidean War and asks how at that time the Athenians remembered the revolution from Demetrios Poliorketes in BCE. As the honours for Phaidros of Sphettos show, the past could not simply be... more
This essay focuses on Athens after the Chremonidean War and asks how at that time the Athenians remembered the revolution from Demetrios Poliorketes in BCE. As the honours for Phaidros of Sphettos show, the past could not simply be ignored. Since Phaidros' earlier actions were not consistent with the dominant narrative of the revolution, the past had to be reconfigured to make it suitable for the city's current circumstances, as I argue. Despite the initial success marked by the passing of the honours, this rewriting was inherently unstable. How the monument might be interpreted in the middle of the third century was very different from how it would be understood in BCE.
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After the Athenians regained their freedom from Demetrios Poliorketes, they voted honorary decrees for a variety of different individuals, including some who received the highest honours which the city could award. One of these men was... more
After the Athenians regained their freedom from Demetrios Poliorketes, they voted honorary decrees for a variety of different individuals, including some who received the highest honours which the city could award. One of these men was the orator Demosthenes who had died some forty-one years before. Since Demosthenes had taken no part in the fight against Demetrios Poliorketes, he was not necessarily the most obvious candidate for such awards. In this essay, I ask why the Athenians chose to honour him in this way at this time so many years after his suicide in 322 B.C. As I argue, honouring Demosthenes in 281/0 B.C. created a very particular picture of the honorand as a fighter of Macedonians and a democratic martyr. The composite memorial created by the honorary decree and the figure allowed the city to claim Demosthenes as an exemplary Athenian and the standard against which good citizens should be measured. It also permitted the Athenians to link the current democratic regime with the fourth-century past and to elide the difficult years between 322 and 286, when the city had not always been democratically ruled. The imagery presented in this composite monument, like the events of the past, may now have seemed fixed, but the erection of other structures and subsequent political developments were to demonstrate its mutability and instability. These changing circumstances not only required the past to be rewritten in the present, but they also changed the ways in which different monuments will have been perceived by viewers and readers.
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In this article, I ask what the Athenian funeral orations’ relationship to memory is and how exactly they worked to create it. Looking at these speeches through their politics of remembrance shows that they are not limited to celebrating... more
In this article, I ask what the Athenian funeral orations’ relationship to memory is and how exactly they worked to create it. Looking at these speeches through their politics of remembrance shows that they are not limited to celebrating the good death of citizens and to promulgating the ideology of the city, as the scholarly discourse currently suggests, nor are they focused only on adult male Athenians. As I argue, the processes of remembering are integral to the dynamics of these orations, the purpose of which is to create memory. The ritual context generates remembrances which would not otherwise exist both for the survivors, the children, parents, and brothers of the dead, and for the Athenians as a corporate group; it also ensures that these memories are ‘national’ ones shared by the whole city. The work of remembrance done in the epitaphioi intersected with other strategies of memorialisation elsewhere in the city and their juxtaposition brings out the complexities of remembering in classical Athens; indeed, the orations formed a critical part of this larger context and can not be understood without it. The speeches further show in exemplary fashion how one individual’s memory may become collective remembrance.
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This essay examines the choregia in Roman Athens. It particularly looks at the surviving choregic monuments from the late first and second century A.D. and situates them in the physical space of the city. It argues that these structures... more
This essay examines the choregia in Roman Athens. It particularly looks at the surviving choregic monuments from the late first and second century A.D. and situates them in the physical space of the city. It argues that these structures provided opportunities for linking the present with the city's historical past and for (re)negotiating what it meant to be Athenian at this time. This process focused on the city of Athens and it de-emphasised the importance of Rome. With their traditional forms, these monuments provided comparatively few opportunities for negotiating the larger issues of being Greek under Rome.
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The story of the Athenian Tyrannicides Harmodios and Aristogeiton is well known to modern scholars who agree that the two men were figures of cult. The occasion for these rituals has inspired rather less agreement and the rites have... more
The story of the Athenian Tyrannicides Harmodios and Aristogeiton is well known to modern scholars who agree that the two men were figures of cult. The occasion for these rituals has inspired rather less agreement and the rites have often been connected with the Epitaphia. In this article, I re-examine the ritual setting of the cult. As I argue, evidence not previously brought into these discussions identifies the Panathenaia as the primary occasion for the Tyrannicides’ rituals. This connection is further reinforced by other visual imagery (Panathenaic amphorae, sculpture, vase painting) which links Harmodios and Aristogeiton to the festival of Athena and its celebration of divine victory over the Giants.
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Using the cult of the Tyrannicides at Athens as a case-study, I ask whether polis religion could accommodate a multiplicity of views. I argue that polis religion can include multiple voices, but the groups promulgating them will need... more
Using the cult of the Tyrannicides at Athens as a case-study, I ask whether polis religion could accommodate a multiplicity of views. I argue that polis religion can include multiple voices, but the groups promulgating them will need constantly to counteract the influences of the city's dominant version.
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The early third century B.C. was a time of turmoil for the city of Athens. The freedom given to the city in 307 by Demetrios Poliorketes had not lasted, there were periods of both tyranny and oligarchy, good democrats were in exile, and... more
The early third century B.C. was a time of turmoil for the city of Athens. The freedom given to the city in 307 by Demetrios Poliorketes had not lasted, there were periods of both tyranny and oligarchy, good democrats were in exile, and the city was under Macedonian control. In either 287 or 286, revolution (and stasis) occurred and the city regained her freedom. At this point, the Athenians faced a series of problems, most particularly how to remake democracy and how to remember the difficult events of the revolution. As I argue, the Athenians addressed these issues by looking to the past and particularly to the ways in which they had responded collectively to the oligarchic revolutions at the end of the fifth century. Modelling their responses on those of their ancestors, the third-century Athenians restored democracy and remembered the difficult events as external war. That they chose to reuse earlier strategies testifies to the strength of their collective memories of the events at the end of the fifth century, over 100 years earlier. By now, responding to oligarchy had a history of its own.
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This article examines the position of the Great Panathenaia in the Olympic cycle during the second and third centuries A.D. According to scholarly opinion, the Panathenaia was shifted from the third year in the Olympic cycle, its date... more
This article examines the position of the Great Panathenaia in the Olympic cycle during the second and third centuries A.D. According to scholarly opinion, the Panathenaia was shifted from the third year in the Olympic cycle, its date before Hadrian's reign, to the fourth year. Since years in which the Great Panathenaia were held happened on a fixed cycle and are easily identified, this understanding of the festival’s chronology has had important ramifications for the dating of the eponymous archons of Roman Athens. The dossier of letters from Hadrian which was recently found at Alexandria Troas (SEG LVI 1359), however, shows that this understanding of the Panathenaia and its chronology is incorrect. As I argue, these letters, together with other evidence from Athens, show that the Panathenaia continued to be held in third year of the Olympiad, rather than the fourth. Additional evidence further suggests that they continued to be held on this cycle until at least the middle of the third century.
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This essay looks at the cancellation of the Great Panathenaia of 286 and it re-examines the crucial section of text in the great honorary decree for Kallias of Sphettos (SEG XXVIII 60). It shows that the festival of 286 was certainly not... more
This essay looks at the cancellation of the Great Panathenaia of 286 and it re-examines the crucial section of text in the great honorary decree for Kallias of Sphettos (SEG XXVIII 60). It shows that the festival of 286 was certainly not held and the Great Panathenaia of 282 was the first celebration after the city had been liberated. As I argue, cancelling any festival was an extremely serious decision indeed because such celebrations created, maintained, and displayed relationships between the divine and the human community. Since the Panathenaia was also an important occasion for putting Athenian democracy, unity, and freedom on show, not celebrating the festival of 286 meant passing up the opportunity to display the city’s newly won freedom and her unity after revolution to an international audience. Such a momentous decision requires further explanation. Our evidence suggests that the on-going military situation surrounding the recovery of Athens from Demetrios is the most likely reason why this important festival was cancelled.
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This essay looks at the changes in the politics of space in Athens between 430 and the 380s B.C. As I argue, between 410 and 390, the Agora ceased to be multi-use space and it was turned into the space par excellence of the democratic... more
This essay looks at the changes in the politics of space in Athens between 430 and the 380s B.C. As I argue, between 410 and 390, the Agora ceased to be multi-use space and it was turned into the space par excellence of the democratic citizen as one part of the democrats’ larger process of responding to the oligarchic revolutions of the Four Hundred and the Thirty. This remaking of the Agora was also accompanied by a revolution in the city’s practices of commemoration. The emphasis ceased to be on the Athenians as a corporate group and, instead, highly successful individual leaders were now the focus of commemoration. With this change came also a new type of statue, the honorary portrait, and a new place for erecting such statues, the Agora. By the end of this period, the market square was made into a new and heavily civic space, changes which then set the pattern for the area’s subsequent development in the fourth century and the Hellenistic period.
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This essay looks at the oath and decree proposed by Demophantos in the first prytany of 410/9 B.C. (Andok. 1.96-98). As I argue, this text provides crucial evidence for the ways in which the images of the Athenians and their city were... more
This essay looks at the oath and decree proposed by Demophantos in the first prytany of 410/9 B.C. (Andok. 1.96-98). As I argue, this text provides crucial evidence for the ways in which the images of the Athenians and their city were updated in response to the oligarchies of the Four Hundred and Five Thousand in 411. This imagery was promulgated not only by the inscribing of the document’s text, but also by the actual process of taking the oath. Sited in the city’s topography, the inscription and the images which it promoted firmly announced that the democracy was here to stay and would be protected by the citizens of the city.
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This essay examines a small group of statue bases from the Athenian Akropolis. All of them originally carried bronze statues of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, but, in the Roman period, they were re-inscribed to honour important... more
This essay examines a small group of statue bases from the Athenian Akropolis. All of them originally carried bronze statues of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, but, in the Roman period, they were re-inscribed to honour important benefactors of the city, sometimes without removing the earlier inscriptions. This group of bases emphasises the complexities inherent in understanding the connections between specific inscriptions and specific works of art. Some of the bases are less resistant to interpretation than others; in these cases, the name of the individual sculptor was evidently important and reusing the statues allowed the Athenians to honour individuals with an ‘Old Master portrait’, as it were. Combining the bases and comments by Dio Chrysostom and Favorinus provides further evidence for reading the monuments and it suggests that the Roman honorands should be understood not just as Romans, but also as Greeks and, in many cases, as Athenians. These bases also emphasise the importance of the city’s cultural capital and they show the Athenians bestowing it where it would most benefit them.
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This essay examines the participation of the Ptolemies and Attalids in the Panathenaia in the second century B.C. Unlike other Hellenistic royals, these kings were also Athenian citizens and they competed not only in the open events, but... more
This essay examines the participation of the Ptolemies and Attalids in the Panathenaia in the second century B.C. Unlike other Hellenistic royals, these kings were also Athenian citizens and they competed not only in the open events, but also in those limited to Athenian citizens. As I argue, for them, winning contests restricted to Athenians proclaimed their Athenian status in the international setting of the Panathenaic Games. When the lists of victors were inscribed, their citizenship was listed on a public monument in the city and their status would have been apparent to anyone examining the lists. For the Athenians, the participation of these men emphasised the importance of the city’s festival which drew such politically powerful individuals. Their presence also reinforced the existing equation between participation in the celebration and one’s status as an Athenian. At the same time, by bestowing on these royals the right to take part in the festival as Athenians, the city was able to reward them for their political and military aid. This close relationship displayed between the city and the royals further suggested that the Athenians could expect royal support to continue in the future.
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Re-examination of the well-known Atarbos base in the Akropolis Museum shows that the monument had two distinct phases which have generally been ignored in previous discussions: it originally consisted of a pillar supported by the extant... more
Re-examination of the well-known Atarbos base in the Akropolis Museum shows that the monument had two distinct phases which have generally been ignored in previous discussions: it originally consisted of a pillar supported by the extant right block decorated with the relief of purrhikhistai; subsequently, the pillar was removed, the base was doubled in size, and three bronze statues were erected. Close examination of the remains and the style of the reliefs indicates that the original period dates to 323/2 B.C. with the second phase following within a year. In light of this chronology, the prosopography of the family is reviewed and new restorations are suggested for the base’s inscriptions. In its first phase, the monument belonged to a newly identified series of memorials consisting of rectangular bases with pillars supporting either a relief or a Panathenaic amphora. Such structures commemorated victories in various tribal events of the Panathenaia and were set up both by individuals and by tribes. The earliest known example appears in a vase painting of ca. 430-420 and the type continued to be used until at least 323/2. The identification of this series also provides further evidence for history of the purrhikhe, the cyclic chorus, the anthippasia, and the apobatic race at the Panathenaia, as well as the identities of specific victors in these contests.
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This article re-examines the two fragments of the inscribed list of Panathenaic prizes (IG II2 2311) and produces a new edition of the text. Combining the evidence of this inscription with our other evidence for the games allows the... more
This article re-examines the two fragments of the inscribed list of Panathenaic prizes (IG II2 2311) and produces a new edition of the text. Combining the evidence of this inscription with our other evidence for the games allows the missing text to be restored and provides us with a better understanding of the programme of the Panathenaic games at this time. Further consideration of the prizes at this period also suggests a date for the list’s publication sometime in the 380s B.C. and no later than 380/79. Our evidence further suggests that the inscribing of the text should be connected with contemporary changes in the production of the sacred olive oil which was packaged in the prize amphorae and presented to the victors in the appropriate competitions in the games.
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This article examines various fragments of the fourth-century naval inventories found in the Athenian Agora. Two of them are published for the first time, while five other are republished with full commentaries. These fragments represent... more
This article examines various fragments of the fourth-century naval inventories found in the Athenian Agora. Two of them are published for the first time, while five other are republished with full commentaries. These fragments represent parts of at least three different documents belonging to the 350s B.C. None of these inscriptions belongs with any previously known inventories.
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This doctoral dissertation provides the first diachronic investigation of the history and development of the Panathenaia at Athens, the city's most important festival which honoured the goddess Athena. Through a detailed study of the... more
This doctoral dissertation provides the first diachronic investigation of the history and development of the Panathenaia at Athens, the city's most important festival which honoured the goddess Athena. Through a detailed study of the extensive literary and epigraphic testimonia and of the relevant visual material, this project shows that the celebration changed extensively during the course of its history from its reorganisation in 566/5 B.C. until the last decade of the fourth century A.D. It also demonstrates that the Panathenaia commemorated the gods' conquest of the Giants and was unified by its victory theme.
This historical investigation provides the foundation for studying the interrelationship between the Panathenaia and Athenian topography. The dissertation shows that the celebration activated the cityscape and directly affected the development of Athens. The festival's victory and mythological themes were used repeatedly on monuments so that they served to link different venues together and to create a Panathenaic network encompasing the city.
This historical investigation provides the foundation for studying the interrelationship between the Panathenaia and Athenian topography. The dissertation shows that the celebration activated the cityscape and directly affected the development of Athens. The festival's victory and mythological themes were used repeatedly on monuments so that they served to link different venues together and to create a Panathenaic network encompasing the city.
Research Interests:
Monday 4 April 2022 at 4.40 p.m. via Zoom (link on poster) In 200 B.C., the Athenians, under increasing external pressure, abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they had pursued since 229, when they literally bought... more
Monday 4 April 2022 at 4.40 p.m. via Zoom (link on poster)
In 200 B.C., the Athenians, under increasing external pressure, abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they had pursued since 229, when they literally bought back their freedom from the Macedonians. Now, they declared war on King Philip V of Macedon and engaged in a period of erasing Macedonians from their inscribed documents and their cityscape. In this talk, I ask how these erasures affected the images presented by the inscriptions and what the texts and their images tell us about the politics of space in Athens at this time. As I shall argue, the war against the Macedonian king required a change in the image of the good citizen and not all earlier honorary monuments could accommodate this new imagery. The processes of erasure did not take place evenly throughout the city, but were focused on areas which were already particularly connected with citizens.
In 200 B.C., the Athenians, under increasing external pressure, abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they had pursued since 229, when they literally bought back their freedom from the Macedonians. Now, they declared war on King Philip V of Macedon and engaged in a period of erasing Macedonians from their inscribed documents and their cityscape. In this talk, I ask how these erasures affected the images presented by the inscriptions and what the texts and their images tell us about the politics of space in Athens at this time. As I shall argue, the war against the Macedonian king required a change in the image of the good citizen and not all earlier honorary monuments could accommodate this new imagery. The processes of erasure did not take place evenly throughout the city, but were focused on areas which were already particularly connected with citizens.
Research Interests:
19 November 2021, 4.30 p.m. Carpenter Library B21, Bryn Mawr College Under increasing external pressure, in 200 B.C., the Athenians abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they had pursued since 229, when they... more
19 November 2021, 4.30 p.m. Carpenter Library B21, Bryn Mawr College
Under increasing external pressure, in 200 B.C., the Athenians abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they had pursued since 229, when they literally bought back their freedom from the Macedonians. Now, they declared war on King Philip V of Macedon and engaged in a period of erasing Macedonians from their inscribed documents and their cityscape. In this colloquium, I ask how these erasures affected the images presented by the inscriptions and what the texts and their images tell us about the politics of space in Athens at this time. As I shall argue, the war against the Macedonian king required a change in the image of the good citizen and not all earlier honorary monuments could accommodate this new imagery. The processes of erasure did not take place evenly throughout the city, but were focused on areas which were already particularly connected with citizens.
Under increasing external pressure, in 200 B.C., the Athenians abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they had pursued since 229, when they literally bought back their freedom from the Macedonians. Now, they declared war on King Philip V of Macedon and engaged in a period of erasing Macedonians from their inscribed documents and their cityscape. In this colloquium, I ask how these erasures affected the images presented by the inscriptions and what the texts and their images tell us about the politics of space in Athens at this time. As I shall argue, the war against the Macedonian king required a change in the image of the good citizen and not all earlier honorary monuments could accommodate this new imagery. The processes of erasure did not take place evenly throughout the city, but were focused on areas which were already particularly connected with citizens.
Research Interests:
21 November 2019, 19.00, Cotsen Hall, ASCSA, Athens Under increasing external pressure, in 200 B.C., the Athenians abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they has pursued since 229, when they literally bought back... more
21 November 2019, 19.00, Cotsen Hall, ASCSA, Athens
Under increasing external pressure, in 200 B.C., the Athenians abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they has pursued since 229, when they literally bought back their freedom from the Macedonians. Now, they declared war on King Philip V of Macedon and engaged in a period of erasing Macedonians from their inscribed documents and their cityscape. In this lecture, I ask how these erasures affected the images presented by the inscriptions and what the texts and their images tell us about the politics of space in Athens at this time. As I shall argue, the war against the Macedonian king required a change in the image of the good citizen and not all earlier honorary monuments could accommodate this new imagery. The processes of erasure did not take place evenly throughout the city, but were focused on areas which were already particularly connected with citizens.
Under increasing external pressure, in 200 B.C., the Athenians abandoned the policy of strict external neutrality which they has pursued since 229, when they literally bought back their freedom from the Macedonians. Now, they declared war on King Philip V of Macedon and engaged in a period of erasing Macedonians from their inscribed documents and their cityscape. In this lecture, I ask how these erasures affected the images presented by the inscriptions and what the texts and their images tell us about the politics of space in Athens at this time. As I shall argue, the war against the Macedonian king required a change in the image of the good citizen and not all earlier honorary monuments could accommodate this new imagery. The processes of erasure did not take place evenly throughout the city, but were focused on areas which were already particularly connected with citizens.
Research Interests:
Every year on 28 Hekatombaion, the Athenians made sacrifices to the Athena as part of their celebration of the Panathenaia, their most important festival honouring the goddess. Every fourth year, the occasion was held in a grander form,... more
Every year on 28 Hekatombaion, the Athenians made sacrifices to the Athena as part of their celebration of the Panathenaia, their most important festival honouring the goddess. Every fourth year, the occasion was held in a grander form, the Great Panathenaia, which is well known to scholars and frequently mentioned in studies on ancient Athens and on Greek religion. Although the festivities continued for more than 950 years, the scholarship usually focuses on the Panathenaia in the archaic and classical periods and its origins and mythology. When scholars do discuss the celebration during the Hellenistic or Roman periods, there is a general assumption that we all know what it entailed and explicating its development in these periods is not the focus of the scholarship. In this seminar, I focus on the Great Panathenaia in the Hellenistic period and especially on the interrelationship between the festival and the polis. As I shall argue, the celebration and city remained closely intertwined in the Hellenistic period. These interrelationships are visible across a range of different areas, such as participation, the games, finances, and honours. As this evidence shows, the festivities reflected developments elsewhere in the city and they remained particularly sensitive to events in the political sphere, as they had been in the archaic and classical periods