My teacher briefly mentioned that fibulae (dress pins) were banned in ancient/archaic (not sure what period exactly) Greece because of a mass stabbing. I've never thought of random mass killings occurring in older times (like random mass stabbings today) so I'm curious to find more information on the subject. If you know any more about this event or similar ones, please let me know! Thanks :)
This is undoubtedly a very loaded and problematic question, but what can be said in response to it?
I did intend to present Shang China and the polis makeup of classical Greece as arbitrary, referential contrasts, though not necessarily opposites or antitheses of each other.
I recently found a theory that the straps seen surrounding the interior of a hoplite shield (as seen on pottery figures) may have existed in part so the large, round shields could act as a form of a stretcher, allowing the injured and the dead to be carried off the battlefield and potentially all the way home.
I know proper burial rights were extremely important throughout Greece, though somewhat differed from city to city, but I thought generally that soldiers often had the expectation of being buried in / near their own homeland.
Was there the expectation to carry the bodies of dead soldiers home, even if the war had taken them hundreds of kilometers from home?
How did things change for cities like Athens who cremated their dead, were ashes carried home from battles, or bodies and the cremation happened back at Athens?
What happened to the dead on longer campaigns, when the surviving soldiers had to continue on, even as far later as Alexander, specifically for the non-elites who did not have the lavish burials?
Thank you!
Hey all,
Looking for some recommendations for any contemporary histories of Dark Ages (yes I know, asking for a history on that is a tad ironic) and the Archaic Period. Pretty much any kind of historical narrative that runs up to 500 BCE. Any ideas?
I can provide recommendations on Hellenistic and Late Classical Greece in return. ΟΞ±Ξ―ΟΞ΅ΟΞ΅!
So I've always played 2nd Ed. AD&D, but I've been hearing about how good 5e is. For that reason, I tried my hand at some setting design. 5e seems fit for something much more heroic than the gritty medieval stuff I normally run, so I figured why not Archaic Greece?
Here are the results.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JEp82_UBHHVsKB-x5peTx7z4dR3Du4WxtPIz_IONrBc/edit?usp=sharing
I'm writing a paper on pederasty in ancient Greece and this looks like the perfect source but the only digital formats I can find it in are on super sketchy websites, and the google books preview doesn't have the information I need. I even considered buying a copy of the book but it's a minimum of 95 dollars and it wouldn't get here in time. If this isn't the right sub, I apologize, I wasn't sure where to ask
When I say unique I don't mean it has to be unique, if you want to copy and paste Athens' constitution you can.
Hello,
I've done a search for this here but not found this specific question.
I've been reading a fair amount about the lives of women in ancient Greece and I'm seeing a general trend suggesting life for women (especially those in Athens) was not particularly great by contemporary standards.
For all the reading I've done, however, I keep asking myself - "does this mean they were unhappy?" because so many of the things I've been reading suggest (or outright state) that life must have been "miserable." I have been asking myself, "if women were raised in this society, and they knew what was expected of them, and saw how all their female relatives were living, would it have just seemed "normal" to them? Did they resent it and we have no idea because they had no voice, or did they not mind because it was all they knew?"
Perhaps it's a bit of both. I'm sure individual opinions would have varied wildly.
As an example, I know a lot of my friends look at a Niqab as oppressive and misogynistic but I've also read the opinions of Muslim women who wear them proudly and view them as part of their culture and religion. One viewpoint looks at that practice as something that is oppressive, the other sees it as an expression of heritage and tradition.
So I'm wondering, do we have any idea of what ancient Greek women thought about their daily lives and position in society? Do we have any idea if they were miserable, content, or happy?
Thanks for your time :)
I realized that my knowledge of Greek history and culture is pretty much limited to the classical era(Socrates, Plato, Herodotus, etc), and I don't really know anything about it outside of that time period, especially not the archaic period. Also, I realize ancient Greece was not a monolith, but I just mean in general.
It is said before Greece and Rome became republics, Tyrants ruled in both; in Greece in its Archaic Period (800-480 BC) and somewhat later(I assume?) in the Etruscan civilzation (800-264 BC) that eventually paved the way for ancient Rome. What is known about these rulers and their interactions with the Pre-Socratic and early Greco-Roman intellectuals such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus etc whom I assume lived in their time. Did any of them acquire fame or notoriety as later rulers such as Nero, etc did? Who were they? How did they even come to power and how was their society structurally different from modern "tyrants" such as those which rose from 20th century communism?
For starters, I understand that women's standing varied by location even during the same era (for example, classical Athens versus classical Sparta). So I'm wondering if Alexander's conquests and the new Hellenistic empires mixed the situation up even more.
I was thinking either Artemis/Apollo as the gods associated with puberty or Aphrodite for her dealings with physical appearance. Does anyone know which god would have been prayed to about acne?
Looking through the internet, I found no mention of archaic/ancient Greeks clapping after a performance. What did they do to praise the performer? (especially in archaic Greece)
How were the ancient Greek temples organized? Were they under control of aristocratic families who provided funds? Would they also provide the priests and priestesses? The maintenance of these temples, especially the larger ones, must have been quite a lot of work. Were there free men or slaves working in the temples? Or were these 'volunteers' (such as members of the aristocracy who could afford to spend their lives workin for the gods)?
Did women have a prominent place in the temples (and so some form of societal power)? For example: Aristarche, the priestess of the temple of Artemis in Ephesos, joined the people from Phocaea to found Massalia. I can imagine she was a powerful and respected woman, both in her old city as in the new one. Would she, or someone in her position, have some form of political power in her polis?
Or would it be a mixture of all of the above (and more)? I realize in a couple of hundred years time and spread out across the entire Mediteranean and Black Sea, the customs and systems of organization probably varied a lot. Are there any examples of different types of organization?
Any recommendations for books or articles on this topic are welcome. Relevant information on Hellenistic or even Roman organization of temples is also appreciated. You can contact me directly if your answer is just a book or article recommendation (since those kind of short answers aren't generally allowed here, I think).
Heya :) I recently made a character for a p&p whose homeland is oriented towards ancient greece, and I'd like to know more about the clothing aspect.
- What clothes were common, for what ocassion (work, travel, etc) and for whom (social class, gender)?
- What were common colours?
- How many (different) clothes did one posses?
- How did that change through (those three) eras?
- I would appreciate any useful references, though ideally they should be in English or German
