Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition (Amsterdam Archaeological Studies)

353 Pages·2009·5.64 MB·English

by  Ton Derks

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Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity
  
   13
Editorial Board:
Prof. dr. E.M. Moormann
Prof. dr. W. Roebroeks
Prof. dr. N. Roymans
Prof. dr. F. Theuws
Other titles in the series:
N. Roymans (ed.): From the Sword to the Plough
Three Studies on the Earliest Romanisation of Northern Gaul
ISBN 90 5356 237 0
T. Derks: Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices
The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values in Roman Gaul
ISBN 90 5356 254 0
A. Verhoeven: Middeleeuws gebruiksaardewerk in Nederland (8e – 13e eeuw)
ISBN 90 5356 267 2
F. Theuws / N. Roymans (eds): Land and Ancestors
Cultural Dynamics in the Urnfield Period and the Middle Ages in the Southern Netherlands
ISBN 90 5356 278 8
J. Bazelmans: By Weapons made Worthy
Lords, Retainers and Their Relationship in Beowulf
ISBN 90 5356 325 3
R. Corbey / W. Roebroeks (eds): Studying Human Origins
Disciplinary History and Epistemology
ISBN 90 5356 464 0
M. Diepeveen-Jansen: People, Ideas and Goods
New Perspectives on ‘Celtic barbarians’ in Western and Central Europe (500-250 BC)
ISBN 90 5356 481 0
G. J. van Wijngaarden: Use and Appreciation of Mycenean Pottery in the Levant, Cyprus and Italy
(ca. 1600-1200 BC)
The Significance of Context
ISBN 90 5356 482 9
F.A. Gerritsen: Local Identities
Landscape and community in the late prehistoric Meuse-Demer-Scheldt region
ISBN 90 5356 588 4
N. Roymans: Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power
The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire
ISBN 90 5356 705 4
J.A.W. Nicolay: Armed Batavians
Use and significance of weaponry and horse gear from non-military contexts in the Rhine delta (50 bc to ad 450
ISBN 978 90 5356 253 6
M. Groot: Animals in ritual and economy in a Roman frontier community
Excavations in Tiel-Passewaaij
ISBN 978 90 8964 0 222
Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity
  f p w n n

  n 
n k &  yn
  p
 nv y 
This book meets the requirements of ISO 9706: 1994, Information and documentation – Paper
for documents – Requirements for permanence.
Cover illustration: Reverse of an Augustan denarius (RIC 201a), showing a barbarian in Germanic dress
who hands over a child as hostage to emperor Augustus (cf. Roymans this volume fig. 9).
Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam
Lay-out: Bert Brouwenstijn, ACVU Amsterdam
ISBN 978 90 8964 078 9
NUR 682
© Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2009
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may
be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the written permission of both
the copyright owner and the editors of this book.
n  y f
k wk
(25 b 1929 - 28 n vb 2008 )

nn
Introduction 1
Ton Derks / Nico Roymans
Ethnic expression on the Early Iron Age and Early Archaic Greek mainland
Where should we be looking? 11
Catherine Morgan
The Ionians in the Archaic period. Shifting identities in a changing world 37
Jan Paul Crielaard
From Athenian identity to European ethnicity. The cultural biography of the myth of Marathon 85
Hans-Joachim Gehrke
Multi-ethnicity and ethnic segregation in Hellenistic Babylon 101
Bert van der Spek
The Galatians in the Roman Empire. Historical tradition and ethnic identity in
Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor 117
Karl Strobel
Material culture and plural identity in early Roman Southern Italy 145
Douwe Yntema
Foundation myths in Roman Palestine. Traditions and reworkings 167
Nicole Belayche
Ethnic discourses on the frontiers of Roman Africa 189
Dick Whittaker
Cruptorix and his kind. Talking ethnicity on the middle ground 207
Greg Woolf
Hercules and the construction of a Batavian identity in the context of the Roman empire 219
Nico Roymans
Ethnic identity in the Roman frontier. The epigraphy of Batavi and other Lower Rhine tribes 239
Ton Derks
Grave goods, ethnicity, and the rhetoric of burial rites in Late Antique Northern Gaul 283
Frans Theuws
The early-medieval use of ethnic names from classical antiquity. The case of the Frisians 321
Jos Bazelmans
Index of names and places 339
List of contributors 343

Introduction
Ton Derks / Nico Roymans
The present volume derives from two meetings that were organised in the framework of the research
programme entitled The Batavians. Ethnic identity in a frontier situation. This programme, launched by the
Archaeological Centre of the VU University Amsterdam, was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research (NWO) and ran between 1999 and 2005. Both at the beginning and the end of the
project’s term, small-scale expert meetings were organised in order to present the results of the research
group to an international audience. The first meeting was a two-day round table discussion held under
the title of the present volume at the VU University Amsterdam in December 2001. Its chronological and
thematic scope ranged from Archaic Greece to Early Mediaeval Western Europe. In December 2004, on
the occasion of a large temporary exhibition focussing on the history and archaeology of the Batavi, as
well as on the impact of the ‘Batavian myth’ on Dutch national history and popular culture from the 16th
century onwards, the Museum Het Valkhof at Nijmegen hosted a one-day workshop on Tribal identities in
the frontier provinces of the Roman empire. Papers were read by Karl Strobel, Dick Whittaker and Greg Woolf
as well as the present authors. All papers presented at these three days have been gathered in the present
volume. A further article, written by Bert van der Spek, was added in the editorial process.
Both the round table discussion and the workshop aimed for an interdisciplinary, comparative explo-
ration of the complex themes of ethnicity and ethnogenesis in the ancient world, such with reference to
recent discussions in the social and historical disciplines. The volume’s starting point is the current view
of ethnicity as a subjective, dynamic construct that is shaped through interaction with an ethnic ‘other’.
If ethnicity was the central focus of both meetings, we were well aware that ethnic identities cannot
be studied in isolation from other forms of identity. The thirteen case studies collected in this volume
demonstrate that ethnic identity is often related to questions of power, religion, law, class and gender.
Ethnicity may be expressed through language, material culture or social practices. Given these complex
interrelationships, it will come as no surprise that, despite shared views on the concept of ethnicity and
fruitful exchanges of ideas during each of the meetings, some areas of disagreement between the indi-
vidual contributors have remained. The following pages aim to draw some general conclusions whilst
making explicit and bringing up for discussion the most important differences of opinion or approach. It
is hoped that these lines may thus serve not just as a general introduction to the volume, but as a stimulus
for further discussion in the future.
n n , p w n n
Ethnic identities are always constructed in close association with political systems. It is politics that define
ethnicity, not vice versa. Ethnic affiliation may be expressed at different scales of social organisation. At
the highest level, there are macro-ethnic formations (Großstamme) such as Ionians and Achaians, or Gauls
and Germans. At a local or regional level, smaller social groups may be discerned that coincide with
localised political communities (e.g. poleis, civitates, or tribes). Despite frequent claims by ethnic groups
to the contrary, all ethnic formations are intrinsically unstable and dynamic over time. Much of this
dynamism is to be understood in close association with conflict, violence and changing constellations
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