Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World
April Pudsey, Manchester Metropolitan University
One of the greatest benefits of studying the ancient Greek and Roman past is the ability to utilise different forms of evidence, in particular both written and archaeological sources. The contributors to this volume employ this evidence to examine ancient housing, and what might be learned of identities, families, and societies, but they also use it as a methodological locus from which to interrogate the complex relationship between different types of sources. Chapters range from the recreation of the house as it was conceived in Homeric poetry, to the decipherment of a painted Greek lekythos to build up a picture of household activities, to the conjuring of the sensorial experience of a house in Pompeii. Together, they present a rich tapestry which demonstrates what can be gained for our understanding of ancient housing from examining the interplay between the words of ancient texts and the walls of archaeological evidence.
- Employs textual and archaeological sources in tandem to explore ancient houses and households
- Draws on a broad range of archaeological sites and types of textual evidence
- Adopts a range of methodological approaches and critiques these in a historiographical context
Reviews & endorsements
'The volume will be mostly appreciated by researchers seeking to better understand the methodological and textual orientations towards housing in Classical archaeology.' Michael Eisenberg, Scripta Classica Israelica
'Scholars of domestic architecture, family, religion, and everyday life will find important insights … especially related to … methodological challenges in domestic archaeology.' Mattias Brand, Bibliotheca Orientalis
'… the contributions to the volume all show in different ways how fruitful it can be to move beyond debates about terminology and use the full potential of both written and material evidence to illuminate the rich diversity of houses and households across the ancient world.' Ruth Westgate, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Product details
No date availableAdobe eBook Reader
9781108960663
0 pages
54 b/w illus. 16 colour illus.
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Between Words and Walls: Material and Textual Approaches to Housing in the Graeco-Roman World Richard Alston, J. A. Baird, and April Pudsey
- 1. Kinship 'In the Halls': Poetry and the Archaeology of Early Greek Housing Emily Varto
- 2. Domesticating the Ancient House: The Archaeology of a False Analogy Caspar Meyer
- 3. Mind the Gap: Re-uniting Words and Walls in the study of the Classical Greek House Janett Morgan
- 4. A Family Affair: The Household use of Attic lekythoi Katerina Volioti
- 5. Textiles in Alkestis' Thalamos Amy C. Smith
- 6. Architectural Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Architecture: Athens and Macedon in the mid-fourth century BCE Lisa Nevett
- 7. The Reconstruction of an Agricultural Landscape: Seeking the Farmstead Maeve McHugh
- 8. Mudbricks and Papyri from the Desert Sand: Housing in the Ptolemaic and Roman Fayum Inge Uytterhoeven
- 9. Housing and Community: Structures in Houses and Kinship in Roman Tebtynis April Pudsey
- 10. The Elusive Vestibulum Simon Speksnijder
- 11. Living in the Liminal: Lares Compitales Shrines, Freedmen and Identity in Delos Crysta Kaczmarek
- 12. Experiencing Sense, Place and Space in the Roman Villa Hannah Platts
- 13. Houses and Time: Material Memory at Dura-Europos J. A. Baird
- 14. Spaces of Desire: Houses, Households, and Social Reproduction in the Roman World Richard Alston
- 15. A Response: 'Using the Material and Written Sources' Revisited Penelope Allison.
