Classical and Hellenistic Greek history: a fruitful dialogue?
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Online
Classical and Hellenistic Greek history: a fruitful dialogue?
Virtual workshop Birkbeck College
Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 May 2022, 2–7 p.m. BST on both days
Organisers: Christy Constantakopoulou (c.constantakopoulou@bbk.ac.uk) and Ben Gray (b.gray@bbk.ac.uk)
This workshop will focus on the interaction between Classical and Hellenistic histories of the ancient Greek world, with a focus on narratives and methods of interpretation. Traditionally, the history of the two periods has relied on different approaches and highlighted different themes. But should the two narratives be seen as so drastically different? What can Hellenistic history, its narratives and approaches, offer Classical history, and vice versa? We would like to critically rethink periodisation and the classification of the ‘Classical’ and ‘Hellenistic’ through radical reappraisal of narratives, approaches, and methodologies associated with each period. How, for example, can viewing the two periods together advance understanding of the ambiguous boundaries between polis citizens and outsiders, or between Greeks and non-Greeks; reveal and illuminate the diversity of Greek political and cultural forms; or expose changing connections and barriers between different regions of the Greek-speaking (and wider) world?
The workshop aims to be informal and to open up discussion. Through the examination of diverse topics, such as the history of political institutions (including the phenomenon of the polis itself) and of cultural, economic, and religious practices and experiences, we would like to explore how the histories of the Classical and the Hellenistic periods can be written in the twenty-first century, in dialogue with each other or even as one.
Programme
Wednesday 11th May
2:00 Registration and welcome
2:30 Christy Constantakopoulou (Birkbeck College and National Hellenic Research Foundation), ‘Introduction: Classical and Hellenistic narratives’
3:10 Leah Lazar (Oxford), ‘Non-Athenian interaction with Athenian festival culture from the fifth-century empire to the second century BC: (dis)continuities?’
3:50 Paul Vadan (Copenhagen), ‘The inscribed body and the politics of bodily integrity in Classical and Hellenistic Greece.’
4:30 tea break
5:00 Christel Müller and Jules Buffet (Paris-Nanterre), ‘How (not) to bridge histories of Classical and Hellenistic federalism’ (shorter contribution to introduce discussion)
5:40 Claire Taylor (UW-Madison), ‘Poverty and the poor’
6:20 Matt Simonton (Arizona State University), ‘When was the 'golden age' of Greek demagoguery? Conceptual and historiographical Issues’
7:00 closing remarks
Thursday 12th of May
2:00 Paul Cournarie (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne), ‘Parrhesia between the Classical and Hellenistic periods’ (shorter contribution to introduce discussion)
2:30 Benjamin Gray (Birkbeck), ‘Philosophy and the polis, from Classical to Hellenistic’
3:10 Henry Heitmann-Gordon (München), ‘Hostility to money - a linchpin of Greek economics of legitimacy?’
4:00 tea break
4:30 Kostas Vlassopoulos (University of Crete), ‘Greek slavery between the Classical and Hellenistic periods’
5:10 John Ma (Columbia), ‘Why the Hellenistic?’
5:50 round table discussion
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This event is part of the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology's Discover the Past events series, open to the public and students. To see the full list of events, visit the Discover the Past web page.
The Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck has a distinguished tradition as an international centre of excellence. We are the only university department in London to include archaeologists, classicists and historians investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. Join us to discover the past and engage with the present across continents and cultures.
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