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Oxford University Press, USA
A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean
A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean
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Greek civilization and identity crystallized not when Greeks were close together but when they came to be far apart. It emerged during the Archaic period when Greeks founded coastal city states and trading stations in ever-widening horizons from the Ukraine to Spain. No center directed their
diffusion: mother cities were numerous and the new settlements (colonies) would often engender more settlements. The Greek center was at sea; it was formed through back-ripple effects of cultural convergence, following the physical divergence of independent settlements. The shores of Greece are
like hems stitched onto the lands of Barbarian peoples (Cicero). Overall, and regardless of distance, settlement practices became Greek in the making and Greek communities far more resembled each other than any of their particular neighbors like the Etruscans, Iberians, Scythians, or Libyans. The
contrast between center and periphery hardly mattered (all was peri-, around), nor was a bi-polar contrast with Barbarians of much significance.
Should we admire the Greeks for having created their civilization in spite of the enormous distances and discontinuous territories separating their independent communities? Or did the salient aspects of their civilization form and crystallize because of its architecture as a de-centralized network?
This book claims that the answer lies in network attributes shaping a Small Greek World, where separation is measured by degrees of contact rather than by physical dimensions.
Author: Irad Malkin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 08/01/2013
Pages: 306
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780199315727
diffusion: mother cities were numerous and the new settlements (colonies) would often engender more settlements. The Greek center was at sea; it was formed through back-ripple effects of cultural convergence, following the physical divergence of independent settlements. The shores of Greece are
like hems stitched onto the lands of Barbarian peoples (Cicero). Overall, and regardless of distance, settlement practices became Greek in the making and Greek communities far more resembled each other than any of their particular neighbors like the Etruscans, Iberians, Scythians, or Libyans. The
contrast between center and periphery hardly mattered (all was peri-, around), nor was a bi-polar contrast with Barbarians of much significance.
Should we admire the Greeks for having created their civilization in spite of the enormous distances and discontinuous territories separating their independent communities? Or did the salient aspects of their civilization form and crystallize because of its architecture as a de-centralized network?
This book claims that the answer lies in network attributes shaping a Small Greek World, where separation is measured by degrees of contact rather than by physical dimensions.
Author: Irad Malkin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 08/01/2013
Pages: 306
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780199315727
About the Author
Irad Malkin is Cummings Chair for Mediterranean History and Culture and Professor of Ancient Greek History at Tel Aviv University. He is the 2014 recipient of the Israel Prize for general historical research.
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