Inventing Ancient Culture: Historicism, Periodization and the Ancient World

249 Pages·1997·16.719 MB·English

by  Mark Golden, Peter Toohey

INVENTING ANCIENT CULTURE
Inventing Ancient Culture discusses aspects of antiquity which we have
tended to ignore. It asks the reader how far we have reinvented antiquity, by
applying modern concepts and understandings to its study. Furthermore, it
challenges the common notion that perceptions of the self, of modern societal
and institutional structures, originated in the Enlightenment. Rather, the
authors and contributors argue, there are many continuities and marked
similarities between the classical and the modern world.
Mark Golden and Peter Toohey have assembled a lively cast of contributors
who analyse and argue about classical culture, its understandings of philo-
sophy, friendship, the human body, sexuality and historiography. To what
extent have cultural systems changed or remained the same since antiquity?
Are our understandings of marriage, of friendship or of romantic love really
that different from those in the ancient world? Inventing Ancient Culture
presents a wide array of positions on such questions, both from an empirical
and from a theoretical angle. Usefully illustrated, it will act as an exciting
introduction to new approaches in Classical Studies for both beginning and
more experienced students.
Mark Golden is Professor of Classics at the University of Winnipeg. He
is the author of Children and Childhood in Classical Athens (1990).
Peter Toohey is Associate Professor in Classics and Ancient History at th e
University of New England, New South Wales. He is the author of Reading
Epic (1992) and Epic Lessons (1996).

INVENTING ANCIENT
CULTURE
Historpiecriisomd,ia znadt ion,
thaen ciweonrtl d
EditbeMda rGko lden
y
anPde tTeoro he
y
LondaonnNd e wY ork
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Selection and editorial matter © 1997 Mark Golden
and Peter Toohey
individual chapters © the contributors
Typeset in Garamond by
Ponting-Green Publishing Services, Chesham,
Buckinghamshire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Inventing ancient culture: historicism, periodization and the
ancient world / edited by Mark Golden and Peter Toohey
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Greece-Civilisation-To 146 B.C. 2. Rome-Civilisation.
3. Greece-History-To 146 B.C.-Periodization.
4. Rome-History-Periodization. 5. Social change.
6. Social evolution. 7. Social structure.
I. Golden, Mark, 1948- . II. Toohey, Peter, 1951-
DE59.I58 1996
938-dc20 96-14853
CIP
ISBN 0-415-09959-5 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-09960-9 (pbk)
For
ft Katie Rose Becker-Golden, Max Becker-Golden,
Kathleen Toohey, and Matthew Toohey

CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
List of contributors x
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
Mark Golden and Peter Toohey
Part I Antiquity and the Enlightenment: Inventing the present
INTRODUCTION 13
Mark Golden and Peter Toohey
1 TOWARDS A HISTORY OF BODY HISTORY 16
Amy Richlin
2 PAINTERS AND PEDERASTS: ANCIENT ART,
SEXUALITY, AND SOCIAL HISTORY 36
Martin Kilmer
3 TRIMALCHIO'S CONSTIPATION: PERIODIZING
MADNESS, EROS, AND TIME 50
Peter Toohey
4 PHILOSOPHY, FRIENDSHIP, AND CULTURAL
HISTORY 66
David Konstan
5 CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN ROMAN SOCIAL
HISTORY: RETRIEVING 'FAMILY FEELING(S)' FROM
ROMAN LAW AND LITERATURE 79
Suzanne Dixon
Part II Reconstructing the past: The practice of periodization
INTRODUCTION 93
Mark Golden and Peter Toohey
vii
CONTENTS
6 PERIODIZATION AND THE HEROES: INVENTING
A DARK AGE 96
Ian Morris
7 RECONSTRUCTING CHANGE: IDEOLOGY AND THE
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES 132
Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood
8 THE PROBLEM OF PERIODIZATION: THE CASE OF
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 165
Barry S. Strauss
9 CHANGE OR CONTINUITY? CHILDREN AND
CHILDHOOD IN HELLENISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY 176
Mark Golden
10 DID ROMAN WOMEN HAVE AN EMPIRE ? 192
Phyllis Culham
References 205
Index 235
Vlll
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
Plate 1: Red-figure vase, c. 500-470 BCE by the Briseis Painter.
Paris G278, Florence ZB27. ARV2 407.16 (Briseis
Painter); Add 2 232 (=R539). 38
Plate 2: Red-figure vase, c. 500-470 BCE, by Douris. Munich
2631. ARV2 443.224 (Douris); Add2 240; GH R573
(=R573) 39
Plate 3: Red-figure cup, c. 510-500 BCE, by the Ambrosios
Painter. Rome, Villa Giulia 50458. ARV2 173.5.
(Ambrosios Painter) Para 338; Add2 184; (=R283). 40
Plate 4: Red-figure vase, c. 515-500 BCE, by the Carpenter
Painter. Malibu 85.AE.25. Bothmer 1986 (attr.
Carpenter Painter); Dierichs (1988) 117d; Halperin
(1990) Frontispiece (=R308.1) 41
Plate 5: Red-figure vase, c. 500 BCE, by the Kiss Painter. Berlin
2269. ARV2 177.1 (Kiss Painter); Para 339; Add2 185;
Dierichs (1988) 117a; GH 303; Keuls (1985) pi. 174
(=R303). 42
Plate 6: Red-figure vase, early fifth century BCE, by the
Triptolemos Painter. Mykonos. ARV2 362.21
(Triptolemos painter); Add2 222; Koch-Harnack (1983)
fig. 15; GH R502 (=R502). 43
Plate 7: Black-figure Tyrrhenian amphora, c. 550-530 BCE, by
the Guglielmi Painter. Guglielmi Painter (Bothmer),
Tyrrhenian, Orvieto, Faina 2664 (1955 VG 38). ABV
102. 100, 684; Para 38; Add2 27; Wojcik (1989) figs
1.1-1.4. 44
Plate 8: Tripod pyxis, c. 525-515 BCE, by the Amasis Painter,
from the Aphaia sanctuary on Aigina. 45
Plate 9: Black-figure amphora, c. 550-520 BCE, by the Affecter
Painter. London, British Museum 1836.2-24.46.
ABV 243.45; Add2 62 (=B153). 46
IX