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Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach

  • Konstantinos Kalogeropoulos
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Sidelights on Greek Antiquity
This chapter is in the book Sidelights on Greek Antiquity

Abstract

It has been customary in recent times to study the cultural variation and regional diversity of Mycenaean Attica on two different scales: either at a micro-scale level (by examining connections between specific object categories, or traditions and innovations within specific categories, e.g. Attic ceramic forms and wares) or at a macro-scale level (by examining the impact of external cultural developments, such as the spreading of cultural influences from Crete to Attica). Surprisingly, one of the most useful areas of analysis, the meso-scale approach (i.e. the use of a broadly-based comparative approach to the study of cultural variation within Attica) has been more or less assumed rather than properly investigated and utilized. The purpose of this paper is to undertake such an assessment by reviewing the cultural expression and inter-relationships as exemplified in the archaeological record, within a framework of controlled comparison. The method proposed here demands that the geographical units through which the archaeological data is presented are rational and practicable ones: their definition is the first task undertaken. These units are termed ‘mesoregions’. In the second part of the paper the cultural variation within these newly established mesoregions is studied: a roughly diachronic cultural development of Mycenaean Attica is deduced from these data.

Abstract

It has been customary in recent times to study the cultural variation and regional diversity of Mycenaean Attica on two different scales: either at a micro-scale level (by examining connections between specific object categories, or traditions and innovations within specific categories, e.g. Attic ceramic forms and wares) or at a macro-scale level (by examining the impact of external cultural developments, such as the spreading of cultural influences from Crete to Attica). Surprisingly, one of the most useful areas of analysis, the meso-scale approach (i.e. the use of a broadly-based comparative approach to the study of cultural variation within Attica) has been more or less assumed rather than properly investigated and utilized. The purpose of this paper is to undertake such an assessment by reviewing the cultural expression and inter-relationships as exemplified in the archaeological record, within a framework of controlled comparison. The method proposed here demands that the geographical units through which the archaeological data is presented are rational and practicable ones: their definition is the first task undertaken. These units are termed ‘mesoregions’. In the second part of the paper the cultural variation within these newly established mesoregions is studied: a roughly diachronic cultural development of Mycenaean Attica is deduced from these data.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents XI
  4. List of Figures XIII
  5. Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
  6. Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
  7. Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
  8. Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
  9. Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
  10. De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
  11. Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
  12. Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
  13. Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
  14. Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
  15. Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
  16. “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
  17. Part II: Archaeology
  18. Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
  19. Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
  20. Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
  21. Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
  22. Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
  23. Philoktet in Attika 383
  24. Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
  25. Peiraieus in 1805 411
  26. Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
  27. Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
  28. Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
  29. List of Contributors 465
  30. Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
  31. Index Locorum 477
  32. Index of Mythological Names 483
  33. Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
  34. Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
  35. Index Rerum 505
  36. Index of Modern Personal Names 515
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110699326-015

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents XI
  4. List of Figures XIII
  5. Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
  6. Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
  7. Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
  8. Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
  9. Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
  10. De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
  11. Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
  12. Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
  13. Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
  14. Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
  15. Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
  16. “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
  17. Part II: Archaeology
  18. Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
  19. Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
  20. Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
  21. Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
  22. Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
  23. Philoktet in Attika 383
  24. Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
  25. Peiraieus in 1805 411
  26. Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
  27. Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
  28. Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
  29. List of Contributors 465
  30. Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
  31. Index Locorum 477
  32. Index of Mythological Names 483
  33. Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
  34. Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
  35. Index Rerum 505
  36. Index of Modern Personal Names 515
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