Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World

This volume examines the diversity of networks and communities in the classical and early Hellenistic Greek world, with particular emphasis on those which took shape within and around Athens. In doing so it highlights not only the processes that created, modified, and dissolved these communities, but shines a light on the interactions through which individuals with different statuses, identities, levels of wealth, and connectivity participated in ancient society.

By drawing on two distinct conceptual approaches, that of network studies and that of community formation, Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World showcases a variety of approaches which fall under the umbrella of 'network thinking' in order to move the study of ancient Greek history beyond structuralist polarities and functionalist explanations. The aim is to reconceptualize the polis not simply as a citizen club, but as one inter-linked community amongst many. This allows subaltern groups to be seen not just as passive objects of exclusion and exploitation but active historical agents, emphasizes the processes of interaction as well as the institutions created through them, and reveals the interpenetration between public institutions and private networks which integrated different communities within the borders of a polis and connected them with the wider world.

Claire Taylor, John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek History, University of Wisconsin-Madison,Kostas Vlassopoulos, Associate Professor in Greek History, University of Nottingham

Claire Taylor is John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


Kostas Vlassopoulos is Associate Professor in Greek History at the University of Nottingham.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
List of Contributors
1. Introduction: An Agenda for the Study of Greek History, Claire Taylor and Kostas Vlassopoulos
Part 1: The Diversity of Networks and Communities
2. Social Networks and Social Mobility in Fourth-Century Athens, Claire Taylor
3. Ancient Greek Religion: 'Embedded' ... and Embodied, Esther Eidinow
4. 'Playing with Scales' in the Classical City: The Case of the Marathonian Tetrapolis, Paulin Ismard
Part 2: Processes: Creating Communities and Networks
5. Plotting Strategies, Networks, and Communities in Classical Athens: The Evidence of Slave Names, Kostas Vlassopoulos
6. Trojan Slaves in Classical Athens: Ethnic Identity Among Athenian Slaves, Peter Hunt
7. Metics in Athens, Ben Akrigg
Part 3: Interactions: Poleis, Networks, and Communities
8. Naval and Grain Networks and Associations in Fourth-Century Athens, Vincent Gabrielsen
9. Beyond the Polis: Island koina and Other Non-Poleis Entities in the Aegean, Christy Constantakopoulou
Part 4: Looking Back and Looking Forward
10. Retrospect and Prospect, John Davies
Bibliography
Index