The Greek world contained many slave societies from the beginning of the archaic age. By the time... more The Greek world contained many slave societies from the beginning of the archaic age. By the time of Homer and Hesiod, ownership of numerous non-Greek slaves was an integral part of elite status. Despite earlier views to the contrary, imported ‘barbarian’ slaves did not replace an older spectrum of ‘dependent’ native Greek workers but if anything preceded the forms of slavery imposed on indigenous populations. Debt-bondage emerged only in the late seventh century. This may also have been when so-called ‘helotic’ slaveries were extended across Messenia, Thessaly, and Crete, and when they were imposed on the native peoples of Syracuse and Byzantium. The latter part of the archaic age saw larger-scale employment of imported slaves in regions that began to specialize in labour-intensive forms of agriculture such as viticulture, but the basic patterns and practices of slave-owning emerged at the start of the archaic age and remained the same throughout.
... Homeric archaeology, and ethnicity. He is currently director of excavations atL'... more ... Homeric archaeology, and ethnicity. He is currently director of excavations atL'Amastuola, an archaic indigenous-Greek settlement in the periphery of Taras (Taranto). Recent Page 14. Contributors xiii publications pertinent ...
This chapter studies Thucydides’ account of early Greek history in the “Archaeology” (1.1.2–1.21.... more This chapter studies Thucydides’ account of early Greek history in the “Archaeology” (1.1.2–1.21.2). It shows that Thucydides’ criteria of development and his reconstruction of history are heavily influenced by power relations in Greece during the early stages of the Peloponnesian War. Comparison with other sources for both the legendary and the historical past reveals the extent to which Thucydides, by means of omission, selective emphasis, and skewed interpretation, manipulates traditions that were well known to Athenian audiences, in order to create his distinctive vision of history as reaching a peak of military and economic development and “modernity” in the Greece of his own day. The chapter concludes by exploring the ways in which Thucydides’ influential model of Greek history fails to do justice to the historical realities of archaic Greece.
Ancient people, like modern, spent much of their lives engaged in and thinking about competitions... more Ancient people, like modern, spent much of their lives engaged in and thinking about competitions: both organised competitions with rules, audiences and winners, such as Olympic and gladiatorial games, and informal, indefinite, often violent, competition for fundamental goals such as power, wealth and honour. The varied papers in this book form a case for viewing competition for superiority as a major force in ancient history, including the earliest human societies and the Assyrian and Aztec empires. Papers on Greek history explore the idea of competitiveness as peculiarly Greek, the intense and complex quarrel at the heart of Homer's "Iliad", and the importance of formal competitions in the creation of new political and social identities in archaic Sicyon and classical Athens. Papers on the Roman world shed fresh light on Republican elections, through a telling parallel from Renaissance Venice, on modes of competitive display of wealth and power evident in elite villa...
This article examines genocide in the ancient world, by examining European literature and compari... more This article examines genocide in the ancient world, by examining European literature and comparing the atrocities committed during the events of the Trojan War. The massacre of all Troy's male inhabitants and the enslavement of its women and children were fictional, but it had many counterparts in ancient history. It was almost the normative form of genocide in ancient Greece and some other parts of the ancient world, although mass enslavements and mass executions which made no distinctions of gender or age are also widely attested. The Greeks' reasons for treating the Trojans so brutally were typical of the motivations for genocide in antiquity: it was usually an act of ‘conspicuous destruction’, a display of force designed to assert the power and status of the perpetrator in the face of a perceived challenge. Ancient genocide sometimes had a religious dimension.
Book description: This volume offers a range of innovative approaches to Solon of Athens, legenda... more Book description: This volume offers a range of innovative approaches to Solon of Athens, legendary law-giver, statesman, and poet of the early sixth century BC In the first part, Solon's poetry is reconsidered against the background of oral poetics and other early Greek poetry. The connection ...
CHAPTER SEVEN POLITICS AND THE BATTLEFIELD Ideology in Greek warfare Hans van Wees He is one man ... more CHAPTER SEVEN POLITICS AND THE BATTLEFIELD Ideology in Greek warfare Hans van Wees He is one man wielding a spear amongst ten thousand others, And does no more than any single man. Yet greater fame is his. Euripides, Andromache 697-8 In 1943, Soviet ...
The Greek world contained many slave societies from the beginning of the archaic age. By the time... more The Greek world contained many slave societies from the beginning of the archaic age. By the time of Homer and Hesiod, ownership of numerous non-Greek slaves was an integral part of elite status. Despite earlier views to the contrary, imported ‘barbarian’ slaves did not replace an older spectrum of ‘dependent’ native Greek workers but if anything preceded the forms of slavery imposed on indigenous populations. Debt-bondage emerged only in the late seventh century. This may also have been when so-called ‘helotic’ slaveries were extended across Messenia, Thessaly, and Crete, and when they were imposed on the native peoples of Syracuse and Byzantium. The latter part of the archaic age saw larger-scale employment of imported slaves in regions that began to specialize in labour-intensive forms of agriculture such as viticulture, but the basic patterns and practices of slave-owning emerged at the start of the archaic age and remained the same throughout.
... Homeric archaeology, and ethnicity. He is currently director of excavations atL'... more ... Homeric archaeology, and ethnicity. He is currently director of excavations atL'Amastuola, an archaic indigenous-Greek settlement in the periphery of Taras (Taranto). Recent Page 14. Contributors xiii publications pertinent ...
This chapter studies Thucydides’ account of early Greek history in the “Archaeology” (1.1.2–1.21.... more This chapter studies Thucydides’ account of early Greek history in the “Archaeology” (1.1.2–1.21.2). It shows that Thucydides’ criteria of development and his reconstruction of history are heavily influenced by power relations in Greece during the early stages of the Peloponnesian War. Comparison with other sources for both the legendary and the historical past reveals the extent to which Thucydides, by means of omission, selective emphasis, and skewed interpretation, manipulates traditions that were well known to Athenian audiences, in order to create his distinctive vision of history as reaching a peak of military and economic development and “modernity” in the Greece of his own day. The chapter concludes by exploring the ways in which Thucydides’ influential model of Greek history fails to do justice to the historical realities of archaic Greece.
Ancient people, like modern, spent much of their lives engaged in and thinking about competitions... more Ancient people, like modern, spent much of their lives engaged in and thinking about competitions: both organised competitions with rules, audiences and winners, such as Olympic and gladiatorial games, and informal, indefinite, often violent, competition for fundamental goals such as power, wealth and honour. The varied papers in this book form a case for viewing competition for superiority as a major force in ancient history, including the earliest human societies and the Assyrian and Aztec empires. Papers on Greek history explore the idea of competitiveness as peculiarly Greek, the intense and complex quarrel at the heart of Homer's "Iliad", and the importance of formal competitions in the creation of new political and social identities in archaic Sicyon and classical Athens. Papers on the Roman world shed fresh light on Republican elections, through a telling parallel from Renaissance Venice, on modes of competitive display of wealth and power evident in elite villa...
This article examines genocide in the ancient world, by examining European literature and compari... more This article examines genocide in the ancient world, by examining European literature and comparing the atrocities committed during the events of the Trojan War. The massacre of all Troy's male inhabitants and the enslavement of its women and children were fictional, but it had many counterparts in ancient history. It was almost the normative form of genocide in ancient Greece and some other parts of the ancient world, although mass enslavements and mass executions which made no distinctions of gender or age are also widely attested. The Greeks' reasons for treating the Trojans so brutally were typical of the motivations for genocide in antiquity: it was usually an act of ‘conspicuous destruction’, a display of force designed to assert the power and status of the perpetrator in the face of a perceived challenge. Ancient genocide sometimes had a religious dimension.
Book description: This volume offers a range of innovative approaches to Solon of Athens, legenda... more Book description: This volume offers a range of innovative approaches to Solon of Athens, legendary law-giver, statesman, and poet of the early sixth century BC In the first part, Solon's poetry is reconsidered against the background of oral poetics and other early Greek poetry. The connection ...
CHAPTER SEVEN POLITICS AND THE BATTLEFIELD Ideology in Greek warfare Hans van Wees He is one man ... more CHAPTER SEVEN POLITICS AND THE BATTLEFIELD Ideology in Greek warfare Hans van Wees He is one man wielding a spear amongst ten thousand others, And does no more than any single man. Yet greater fame is his. Euripides, Andromache 697-8 In 1943, Soviet ...
A study of Homeric society with particular emphasis on the dynamics of internal and external conf... more A study of Homeric society with particular emphasis on the dynamics of internal and external conflict. Scan of out-of-print book.
Uploads
Papers by Hans van Wees