Unthinking the Greek polis: ancient Greek history beyond Eurocentrism PDF
Preview Unthinking the Greek polis: ancient Greek history beyond Eurocentrism
This page intentionally left blank UNTHINKING THE GREEK POLIS ThisstudyexploreshowmodernscholarscametowriteGreekhistory from a Eurocentricperspective andchallenges orthodox readings of Greek history as part of the history of the West. Since the Greeks lacked a national state ora unified society, economy or culture, the polis has helped to create a homogenising national narrative. This book re-examines old polarities such as those between the Greek poleis and Eastern monarchies, or between the ancient consumer and the modern producer city, in order to show the fallacies of standardapproaches.ItarguesfortherelevanceofAristotle’sconcept ofthepolis,whichisinterpretedinanovelway.Finally,itproposes an alternative way of looking at Greek history as part of a Mediterranean world-system. This interdisciplinary study engages with modern debates on globalisation, nationalism, Orientalism and history writing, while also debating recent developments in classicalstudies. KOSTAS VLASSOPOULOS is Lecturer in Greek History at the UniversityofNottingham. UNTHINKING THE GREEK POLIS Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism KOSTAS VLASSOPOULOS DepartmentofClassics UniversityofNottingham CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521877442 © Kostas Vlassopoulos 2007 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2007 ISBN-13 978-0-511-36406-8 eBook (Adobe Reader) ISBN-10 0-511-36406-7 eBook (Adobe Reader) ISBN-13 978-0-521-87744-2 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-87744-X hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. To the liberty of oppressed peoples Contents Acknowledgements pageix Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 PART I DEFINING THE CONTEXTS OF THINKING 11 ABOUT THE POLIS 1 Anarchaeologyofdiscourses 13 2 Theancientdiscoursesonthepolis 68 3 MakinguseofAristotle:conceptsandmodels 85 PART II RETHINKING THE CONTEXTS. THE POLIS AS AN ENTITY: A CRITIQUE 97 4 EastandWest,GreeceandtheEast:thepolisvs.Oriental despotism 101 5 Theconsumercity:ancientvs.medieval/modern 123 PART III BEYOND THE POLIS: THE POLIS AS PART OF A SYSTE`ME-MONDE 143 6 Thepolisasaunitofanalysis:poleisandkoinoˆniai 147 7 Poleisandspace 156 8 Poleisandpolities 190 vii viii Contents 9 Poleisandtime 203 10 TowardsnewmasternarrativesofGreekhistory? 221 References 241 Index 284
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