The Archaeology of Democracy: Social transformations in Ancient Greece, ca. 900-323 BCE
a course with Christopher Witmore
Between 900 and 600 BCE profound socio-cultural, demographic and material transformations took place in the Aegean World. While these transformations gave rise to Greek poleis, they also set the stage for what is often described as a ‘revolution’ in political form: by 500 BCE Athens would be collectively governed by the whole of its citizen body. Drawing on perspectives from archaeology and sociology, this course takes a closer look at the mundane spaces and materialities behind the formation and maintenance of community and democratic politics in Greece between 900 and 323 BCE. Urbanism, public spaces, architectures of assembly and modes of boundary delineation and maintenance, writing and public display, standardizations in militaries and markets, aspects of travel and movement and the excluded: the course will reassess of the composition of the demos from the ground up.
For help on how to use this wiki, take a look at Using this Forum.
