Cambridge University Press

978-0-521-87744-2 - Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism
Kostas Vlassopoulos
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UNTHINKING THE GREEK POLIS

This study explores how modern scholars came to write Greek history
from a Eurocentric perspective and challenges orthodox readings of
Greek history as part of the history of the West. Since the Greeks
lacked a national state or a unified society, economy or culture, the
polis has helped to create a homogenising national narrative. This
book re-examines old polarities such as those between the Greek
poleis and Eastern monarchies, or between the ancient consumer
and the modern producer city, in order to show the fallacies of
standard approaches. It argues for the relevance of Aristotle’s concept
of the polis, which is interpreted in a novel way. Finally, it proposes
an alternative way of looking at Greek history as part of a
Mediterranean world-system. This interdisciplinary study engages
with modern debates on globalisation, nationalism, Orientalism
and history writing, while also debating recent developments in
classical studies.

KOSTAS VLASSOPOULOS is Lecturer in Greek History at the

University of Nottingham.

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-87744-2 - Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism
Kostas Vlassopoulos
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UNTHINKING THE GREEK

POLIS
Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism

KOSTAS VLASSOPOULOS
Department of Classics
University of Nottingham

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-87744-2 - Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism
Kostas Vlassopoulos
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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# Kostas Vlassopoulos 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

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ISBN 978-0-521-87744-2 hardback

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978-0-521-87744-2 - Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism
Kostas Vlassopoulos
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To the liberty of oppressed peoples

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-87744-2 - Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism
Kostas Vlassopoulos
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Contents

Acknowledgements page ix
Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 1

PART I DEFINING THE CONTEXTS OF THINKING

ABOUT THE POLIS 11
1 An archaeology of discourses 13
2 The ancient discourses on the polis 68
3 Making use of Aristotle: concepts and models 85

PART II RETHINKING THE CONTEXTS. THE POLIS

AS AN ENTITY: A CRITIQUE 97
4 East and West, Greece and the East: the polis vs. Oriental
despotism 101
5 The consumer city: ancient vs. medieval/modern 123

PART III BEYOND THE POLIS: THE POLIS AS PART

O F A S Y S T È M E - M O N D E 143
6 The polis as a unit of analysis: poleis and koinôniai 147
7 Poleis and space 156
8 Poleis and polities 190

vii

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viii Contents
9 Poleis and time 203
10 Towards new master narratives of Greek history? 221

References 241
Index 284

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Kostas Vlassopoulos
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Acknowledgements

Writing acknowledgements is of course a pleasure; it is a pleasure to thank

people; it is also a pleasure to talk to people through thanking them. But it
is also painful; for it requires reconstructing the history of your thought
and life within a number of years; and nobody knows better than the
historian how difficult and elusive this is. Yet, I will attempt it.
This book comes out of a thesis with the same title; the research for it was
undertaken in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, between
2001 and 2005. I would like to thank my supervisor, Robin Osborne, for
his help and his constant availability, before and after the completion of the
thesis. His insistence on providing evidence has been a necessary corrective
to a thesis that bended overtly towards the theoretical; my work on
Aristotle is the result of his encouragement. Paul Cartledge acted as my
supervisor for a term, but has always been willing to read and comment.
Discussing and, indeed, even disagreeing with Paul has been one of the
most stimulating experiences I have had. Dimitris Kyrtatas has been a
teacher and a friend for many years; he has been a constant source of
support and guidance; and he has been a chief stimulus to my historio-
graphical interests. Anna Missiou has acted as supervisor for the Greek
State Scholarship Foundation; my views on Orientalism go back to a
seminar she ran many years ago in Crete.
Nicholas Purcell and Paul Millett were the examiners of the thesis, and
I would like to express my deep gratitude for their suggestions, comments
and tolerance. I hope that the present outcome will fulfil some of their
expectations. Oswyn Murray has provided invaluable help with historio-
graphical and more general suggestions, and I have enjoyed our conversa-
tions immensely. Marc van de Mieroop has kindly read the whole
manuscript, has made very interesting suggestions, and has saved me
from a number of embarrassing mistakes. Finally, I would like to thank
the anonymous readers of Cambridge University Press for their suggestions
and comments. Unfortunately, I have not been able to take into account all
ix

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x Acknowledgements
the various possibilities of exploration that the people above have sug-
gested. Hopefully, there will be time and space in the future.
Turning the thesis into a book took place while holding a temporary
lectureship in Greek history in the Department of Classics, University of
Nottingham. Nottingham has provided an excellent environment to pur-
sue this work, and I would like to thank my colleagues for their help and
support; a special thanks goes to Steve Hodkinson and Alan Sommerstein
for their trust and encouragement at a very difficult point of my life and
career.
It is perhaps indicative of the nature of this work that many of my key
interlocutors over all these years have been people who are either outsiders
to History or Classics, or have started as such. Chiara Ghidini, who works
on modern Japanese literature, has been the most Herodotean person
I have ever met in my life; she has opened for me horizons I never imagined
existed. Giorgos Kyriakou, who is a Chemist, has proved, time and again,
that the most stimulating interlocutors are those that do not share the
presuppositions of your discipline. We have consumed gallons of wine and
whisky, while talking about music, politics and history (and women, of
course). Aleka Lianeri has been an invaluable friend and adviser; and
she has kept boosting my morale by losing all these bets. Finally, Maro
Triantafyllou, the novelist, student of philosophy and historian, has
remained a close friend and interlocutor from the days of Crete till now;
I owe her much more than she thinks, and I deeply regret I see her so
infrequently. All four of them have been sincere and affectionate friends
over the years; without them, this work would have been very different.
This work has a political inspiration, in the broad sense of the word, as
one can surmise already from its title. But while living in the academic
ivory tower, it is often easy to forget the real meaning of words used often in
this work, words which have a deadly impact: war, imperialism, national-
ism, globalisation, exploitation, domination. In this respect the events of
the recent war have kept reminding me of the real meaning of words and
things. For myself, I can do no more in the present capacity than making an
appropriate dedication to a long-standing cause.
I would like to thank the Cambridge European Trust, the Board of
Graduate Studies and King’s College for funding my research during the
first year; the Greek State Scholarship Foundation for funding the last
three; and the Faculty of Classics and King’s College for funding fieldwork
and travelling expenses. I would also like to thank the Faculty of Classics,
Cambridge, for awarding me the Hare Prize for the best dissertation
for 2005.

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Kostas Vlassopoulos
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Acknowledgements xi
Lastly, I would like to thank the friends and family who have been a
constant source of support and joy over all these years. My parents, Makis
and Katerina; my brother, Nikos; Vassilis and Spyridoula, who have long
been my hosts in Athens; Kyriaki, who has been a wonderful housemate
and trusted friend in Nottingham; Sofia; Michalis; Olga; Evi; Alkis;
Ailiana; Aptin; Manpreet; Nandini; Ioanna; Kelli; Anastasia; Haris,
Artemis; Elton; Eytyxia.
The last word goes to Olga. Not only due to her love, care and tender-
ness, but especially for managing to convince me that, once I would finish
this book, I would be able to lie uf dä fuulä huut.

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Abbreviations

AE Archaiologikê Ephêmeris
AHR American Historical Review
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AJPh American Journal of Philology
AmAnt American Antiquity
ASNP Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
BCH Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
BSA Annual of the British School at Athens
CA Cultural Anthropology
CH Cahiers d’histoire
CPh Classical Philology
CQ Classical Quarterly
CSSH Comparative Studies in Society and History
EMC Echos du Monde Classique/Classical Views
G&R Greece and Rome
GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
H&T History and Theory
JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
JFA Journal of Field Archaeology
JHI Journal of the History of Ideas
JMA Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology
JS Journal des Savants
Magna Grecia Magna Grecia e Oriente mediterraneo prima dell’età ellenistica:
atti del trentanovesimo convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia.
Taranto, 2000.
MAS Modern Asian Studies
OJA Oxford Journal of Archaeology
PCPhS Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society
P&P Past and Present
Problemi Problemi della chora coloniale dall’Occidente al Mar Nero: atti del
quarantesimo convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia. Taranto, 2001.

xiii

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Kostas Vlassopoulos
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xiv Abbreviations
REA Revue des Etudes Anciennes
REG Revue des Etudes Grecques
Review Review, a Journal of the Fernand Braudel Center
SS Studi Storici
TAPhA Transactions of the American Philological Association
WA World Archaeology
ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

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