The Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World

The ancient Greek world consisted of approximately 1,000 autonomous polities scattered across the Mediterranean basin and was remarkable for both its diversity and its uniformity. As Greeks dispersed throughout the Mediterranean, the different environmental and human ecosystems they encountered created important differences among widely scattered settlements: each Greek community developed its own unique set of socio-political institutions and social practices. Nonetheless, despite their dispersal and diversity, Greek communities were bound together by a network of commercial, cultural, diplomatic, and military ties and shared important commonalities, most notably language and religion. The Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World, a collaborative effort by more than forty eminent scholars, offers twenty-two detailed and comprehensive studies of key sites from across the Greek world in the period between c. 750 and c. 480 BCE. During that period, Greeks confronted a series of demographic, political, social, and economic challenges and generated an array of responses that transformed the ways in which they lived, worked, and interacted. Much of what is now seen as distinctive about Greek culture--such as democracy, stone temples, and nude athletics--first developed during the Archaic period. The series is organized alphabetically by polis. Volume VI contains detailed and up-to-date studies of Rhodes, Sicyon, Syracuse, Thebes, and Western Sicily. Together with the other volumes in the series, The Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World offers a new and unique resource for the study of ancient Greece that will transform how we understand a crucial era in antiquity.

Paul Cartledge is A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge and Inaugural A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture emeritus in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge. His most recent books are Democracy: A Life and Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece. Paul Christesen is William R. Kenan Professor of Ancient Greek History at Dartmouth College. He is the author of three books, including most recently A New Reading of the Damonon Stele (2019).

- Series Editors' Preface - Acknowledgements - List of Contributors - Note to the Reader - Chapter 1: Rhodes - Lone Wriedt Sørensen and Adam Schwartz - with the assistance of Thomas Heine Nielsen - List of Illustrations - List of Abbreviations - 1.1 Introduction - 1.2 Sources - 1.3 Natural Setting - 1,4 Material Culture - 1.5 Political History - 1.6 Legal History - 1.7 Diplomatic History - 1.8 Economic History - 1.9 Familial/Demographic History - 1.10 Social Customs and Institutions - 1.11 Religious Customs and Institutions - 1.12 Cultural History - 1.13 Conclusion - Guide to Further Reading - Gazetteer - Bibliography - Chapter 2: Sicyon - Yiannis Lolos - List of Illustrations - List of Abbreviations - 2.1 Introduction - 2.2 Sources - 2.3 Natural Setting - 2,4 Material Culture - 2.5 Political History - 2.6 Legal History - 2.7 Diplomatic History - 2.8 Economic History - 2.9 Demographic History - 2.10 Social Customs and Institutions - 2.11 Religious Customs and Institutions - 2.12 Cultural History - 2.13 Conclusion - Guide to Further Reading - Gazetteer - Bibliography - Chapter 3: Syracuse - Franco De Angelis and Valentina Mignosa - List of Illustrations - List of Abbreviations - 3.1 Introduction - 3.2 Sources - 3.3 Natural Setting - 3,4 Material Culture - 3.5 Political History - 3.6 Legal History - 3.7 Diplomatic History - 3.8 Economic History - 3.9 Demographic History - 3.10 Social Customs and Institutions - 3.11 Religious Customs and Institutions - 3.12 Cultural History - 3.13 General Conclusion - Guide to Further Reading - Gazetteer - Bibliography - Chapter 4: Thebes - Hans Beck - List of Illustrations - List of Abbreviations - 4.1 Introduction - 4.2 Sources - 4.3 Natural Setting - 4,4 Material Culture - 4.5 Political History - 4.6 Legal History - 4.7 Diplomatic History - 4.8 Economic History - 4.9 Familial and Demographic History - 4.10 Social Customs and Institutions - 4.11 Religious Customs and Institutions - 4.12 Cultural History - 4.13 Conclusion - Guide to Further Reading - Gazetteer - Bibliography - Chapter 5: Western Sicily - Clemente Marconi and Andrew Farinholt Ward - List of Illustrations - List of Abbreviations - 5.1 Introduction - 5.2 Sources - 5.3 Natural Setting - 5,4 Material Culture - 5.5 Political History - 5.6 Legal History - 5.7 Diplomatic History - 5.8 Economic History - 5.9 Familial and Demographic History - 5.10 Social Customs and Institutions - 5.11 Religious Customs and Institutions - 5.12 Cultural History - 5.13 Conclusion - Guide to Further Reading - Gazetteer - Bibliography