Archaeologies of the Greek Past by Susan E Alcock

Archaeologies of the Greek Past by Susan E Alcock

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Summary

Social memory is a powerful political and emotional force, although recovering the shared memories of past societies is notoriously difficult. Employing three case studies from the history of ancient Greece, this 2002 book explores how the evidence of landscape and monuments can reveal commemorative practices and collective amnesias in such societies.

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Archaeologies of the Greek Past by Susan E Alcock

Social memory - the shared remembrances of group experience - creates shared identity, and provides people with both an image of their past and a design for their future. But how are we to conceive the memories of past peoples such as, for example, the ancient Greeks? This 2002 book makes a strong case for the use of archaeology, particularly the evidence of landscape and of monuments, to trace patterns in commemoration and forgetfulness. Three detailed case studies (early Roman Greece, Hellenistic and Roman Crete, and Messenia in Archaic to Hellenistic times) focus on societies undergoing different types of social transformation. Material evidence allows us to observe how groups responded to these challenges, and how they made different uses of the past, in the past.
'… the book is never dull' Minerva
'The possibility of exploring interpretations of the past within the past is an exciting one, and Alcock's book provides a welcome call for more intensive exploration of this theme within Greek archaeology, a field in which (with a few notable exceptions) its potential has not been sufficiently realised … Overall, this volume, written in an engaging and accessible style, constitutes an inspiring introduction to an intriguing subject.' The Anglo-Hellenic Review
'… pioneering and fascinating study.' Journal of Hellenic Studies
'Alcock offers an insightful study of that dynamic relationship between monument and landscape and encourages students of antiquity to recontextualise the archaeological evidence of the past in the past. All historians, not just landscape historians, should read this book.' Landscape History
Susan E. Alcock is Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology and Classics at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Graecia Capta (Cambridge University Press, 1993).
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780521890007
ISBN 10 0521890004
Title Archaeologies of the Greek Past
Author Susan E Alcock
Series The W B Stanford Memorial Lectures
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Year published 2002-08-15
Number of pages 240
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.