Comparative Anthropology of Ancient Greece

Comparative Anthropology of Ancient Greece
Author: Marcel Detienne
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Ethnology
ISBN: 9780674021259

Comparative Anthropology of Ancient Greece looks at the anthropology of the Greeks and other cultures across space and time, and in the process discovers aspects of the art of comparability. Marcel Detienne tries to see how cultural systems react not just to a touchstone category, but also to the questions and concepts that arise from the reaction.

The Greeks and Us

The Greeks and Us
Author: Marcel Detienne
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2007-09-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0745639003

The human race is all too pre-disposed to think in terms of us and them. Europeans have always laid claim to the Ancient Greeks they are our Greeks, our ancestors but their legacy reaches further than we could ever imagine. Their influence stretches from the Japanese to the Cossacks, from Ancient Rome to Indonesia. In this path-breaking new volume, the great French historian Marcel Detienne focuses on Eurocentric approaches which have trumpeted the Greeks and their democratic practices as our ancestors and the superiority of the Western tradition to which they gave rise. He argues that such approaches can be seen as narrow-minded and often covertly nationalistic. Detienne advocates what he calls comparative anthropology which sets out to illuminate the comparisons and contrasts between the beliefs, practices and institutions of different ancient and modern societies. Detienne aims to put the Greeks in perspective among other civilisations and also to look afresh at questions of political structure, literacy, nationhood, intellect and mythology. The work of Marcel Detienne has made an enormous impact on our thinking about the Greeks in areas such as rationality, literacy and mythology, and in this new volume he challenges once again our conception of the Greeks and their impact on the modern world.

Brill's Companion to Classics and Early Anthropology

Brill's Companion to Classics and Early Anthropology
Author: Emily Varto
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2018-07-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004365001

The chapters in Brill’s Companion to Classics and Early Anthropology explore key points of interaction between classics and anthropology from the eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Ancient Greece and Rome played varying roles in early anthropological thinking, from the observations of colonial officials and missionaries, through the ethnography and evolutionary ethnology of the late nineteenth century, and into the professionalized social sciences of the twentieth century. The chapters illuminate these roles and uncover an intellectual history of fission and fusion, exposing common interests and opposing methodologies, shared theories and conflicting datasets, close collaborations and adversarial estrangements. In augmenting and reevaluating this history, the volume offers a new and nuanced picture of the early formative relationship between the two disciplines.

Kinship in Ancient Athens

Kinship in Ancient Athens
Author: S. C. Humphreys
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1627
Release: 2018-11-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191092401

The concept of kinship is at the heart of understanding not only the structure and development of a society, but also the day-to-day interactions of its citizens. Kinship in Ancient Athens aims to illuminate both of these issues by providing a comprehensive account of the structures and perceptions of kinship in Athenian society, covering the archaic and classical periods from Drakon and Solon up to Menander. Drawing on decades of research into a wide range of epigraphic, literary, and archaeological sources, and on S. C. Humphreys' expertise in the intersections between ancient history and anthropology, it not only puts a wealth of data at readers' fingertips, but subjects it to rigorous analysis. By utilizing an anthropological approach to reconstruct patterns of behaviour it is able to offer us an ethnographic 'thick description' of ancient Athenians' interaction with their kin that offers insights into a range of social contexts, from family life, rituals, and economic interactions, to legal matters, politics, warfare, and more. The work is arranged into two volumes, both utilizing the same anthropological approach to ancient sources. Volume I explores interactions and conflicts shaped by legal and economic constraints (adoption, guardianship, marriage, inheritance, property), as well as more optional relationships in the field of ritual (naming, rites de passage, funerals and commemoration, dedications, cultic associations) and political relationships, both formal (Assembly, Council) and informal (hetaireiai). Among several important and novel topics discussed are the sociological analysis of names and nicknames, the features of kin structure that advantaged or disadvantaged women in legal disputes, and the economic relations of dependence and independence between fathers and sons. Volume II deals with corporate groups recruited by patrifiliation and explores the role of kinship in these subdivisions of the citizen body: tribes and trittyes (both pre-Kleisthenic and Kleisthenic), phratries, genê, and demes. The section on the demes stresses variety rather than common features, and provides comprehensive information on location and prosopography in a tribally organized catalogue.

Regimes of Comparatism

Regimes of Comparatism
Author: Renaud Gagné
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2018-11-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004387633

Historically, all societies have used comparison to analyze cultural difference through the interaction of religion, power, and translation. When comparison is a self-reflective practice, it can be seen as a form of comparatism. Many scholars are concerned in one way or another with the practice and methods of comparison, and the need for a cognitively robust relativism is an integral part of a mature historical self-placement. This volume looks at how different theories and practices of writing and interpretation have developed at different times in different cultures and reconsiders the specificities of modern comparative approaches within a variety of comparative moments. The idea is to reconsider the specificities, the obstacles, and the possibilities of modern comparative approaches in history and anthropology through a variety of earlier and parallel comparative horizons. Particular attention is given to the exceptional role of Athens and Jerusalem in shaping the Western understanding of cultural difference. Contributors are: Matei Candea, Philippe Descola, Renaud Gagné, Simon Goldhill, Anthony Grafton, Caroline Humphrey, Dmitri Levitin, Geoffrey Lloyd, Joan-Pau Rubiés, Jonathan Sheehan, Marilyn Strathern, Guy Stroumsa, and Phiroze Vasunia.

A Brief History of Ancient Greece

A Brief History of Ancient Greece
Author: Sarah B. Pomeroy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

The story of the ancient Greeks is one of the most improbable success stories in world history. A small group of people inhabiting a country poor in resources and divided into hundreds of quarreling states created one of the most remarkable civilizations ever. Comprehensive and balanced, A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture, Second Edition is a shorter version of the authors' highly successful Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, Second Edition (OUP, 2008). Four leading authorities on the classical world offer a lively and up-to-date account of Greek civilization and history in all its complexity and variety, covering the entire period from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Era, and integrating the most recent research in archaeology, comparative anthropology, and social history. They show how the early Greeks borrowed from their neighbors but eventually developed a distinctive culture all their own, one that was marked by astonishing creativity, versatility, and resilience. Using physical evidence from archaeology, the written testimony of literary texts and inscriptions, and anthropological models based on comparative studies, this compact volume provides an account of the Greek world that is thoughtful and sophisticated yet accessible to students and general readers with little or no knowledge of Greece.

Networks of Power in Modern Greece

Networks of Power in Modern Greece
Author: Mark Mazower
Publisher: C Hurst
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2008
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

A multidisciplinary collection of essays by leading scholars that provides new perspectives modern Greek society and its historical development. HelenAngelomatis draws our attention to the role of women in the Greek war of independence; Mark Mazower and Charles Stewart explore local arguments over the miraculous power of the Virgin Mary to shed new light on the role of religion in the early 19th century; Thanos Veremis analyses the popular radicalism of Andreas Papandreou, the man who dominated Greek politics in the Cold Wars final decades; while the ambiguities of the very idea of a modern Greece are highlighted by John Koliopoulos. Other chapters examine through an ethnographic lens various aspects of contemporary Greek society.

The Oxford Classical Dictionary

The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Author: Simon Hornblower
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 1650
Release: 2012-03-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199545561

The revised third edition of the 'Oxford Classical Dictionary' is the ultimate reference on the classical world containing over 6,200 entries. The 2003 revision includes minor corrections and updates and all Latin and Greek words in the text are now translated into English.

Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Author: Dr Alan Barnard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1058
Release: 2002-09-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1134450915

This Encyclopedia provides description and analysis of the terms, concepts and issues of social and cultural anthropology. International in authorship and coverage, this accessible work is fully indexed and cross-referenced.

Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Author: Alan Barnard
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 696
Release: 1996
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9780415099967

Providing a guide to the ideas, arguments and history of the discipline, this volume discusses human social and cultural life in all its diversity and difference. Theory, ethnography and history are combined in over 230 entries on topics