LECTURE 1 2 Things to Ask Yourself About Material in this Class Why do I have to know this What is this trying to tell me 3 Basic Ideas What do we know How do we know it Why is it important Start looking at Greece c 1200BCE Late Bronze Age Idea of Greece beginning in Bronze Age began in early 19th century when archaeologists discovered Greek artifacts from Bronze Age Greece was around before that What survives in context tells us more than what survives without context IMG vase by Greek workman black with gold designs technically a Crater mixing bowl Used to mix wine water Ancient wine needed additives because it wasn t very tasty called the Red Figure because the figures have red on them was looted from Italy the images on the vase are representative of the performance of a specific play Scene a play of aristophenes play is no longer extant Dates to c 5th century Who Were the Greeks Some imperial expansion esp w Alexander but location mostly in Mediterranean basin Begin w sites assoc w Aegean where Troy was located depends on who is asking an insider looking at fellow Greeks they d say that there were many differences among Greeks Diff political systems dialects customs laws etc an outsider looking at Greeks as a whole would focus on commonalities Same divinities same general language same festivals activities brought Greeks together Problems of Interpretation Reading Greek it s hard Wear tear on texts makes it hard We don t actually know what Ancient Greek sounded like can only guess Privileging Athens Readings are dominated by Athenian culture Most famous authors were Athenian Hard to see Greek culture independent of Athenian culture Rich Over Poor Rich people control what survives to future generation Record tends to be dominated by upper classes Public Over Private Public record survives more often than private record Written Record Over Material Record Written record overshadows material record Even if there is a material record we commonly try to interpret objects using texts Expected Over Unexpected Destroying challenging stereotypes Coping with myth reality Who Owns the Past IMG Bronze statue found in the Adriatic called the Getty Bronze because the Getty has it for now was on a ship from Greece to Italy Italians had taken it from Greeks stolen or otherwise So who really has claim to it The Getty Italy Or Greece Where Do We Start Where Greeks themselves look to define themselves The Trojan War One of the landmarks starting points of Greek heritage Homeric Poems The Iliad The Odyssey Values of the poems are to Greek values Interaction bet humans immortals Mortals vs immortals