Migrations and Mobility in Archaic Greek History

History

The process of migrations during the late Archaic period when settlers from mainland Greece, the Aegean islands and Asia minor founded cities all over the coastal regions of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (c. 750 - c. 550 BCE) was one of the most important features of ancient Greek history. As a result, the surrounding indigenous civilisations were deeply influenced by Greek modes of behaviour and thinking. Usually conceived as Greek colonisation or even, in German, as Große Kolonisation, this course of events needs reconsideration, for two reasons: On the one hand, an enormous and ever-increasing amount of archaeological material has come to light, particularly during the last two decades. On the other hand, due to theoretical considerations and comparative analysis, new proposals have been made to conceptualize the Greek expansion in general.

Objectives

The aim is to use these innovative ideas as a point of departure and to confront them with our traditional sources and the results of recent archaeological research in order to elaborate an adequate synthesis of the phenomenon. It will be part of a major work ("Handbuch") on Greek history.