Description
Book SynopsisA Spartan lifestyle proverbially describes austerity; ancient Greek luxury was associated with Ionia and the oriental world. The contributions to this book, first presented at a conference held by the University of Nottingham's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, reverse the stereotype and explore the role of luxury and wealth at Sparta and among its Peloponnesian neighbours from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period. Using literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence, an international team of specialists investigates the definition and changing meanings of the term luxury and its nearest ancient Greek equivalents, providing new insights into Sparta's supposed abstention from luxury, and the way that this was portrayed by ancient writers. They analyse wealth production and private and public spending, emphasising features that were distinctive to Sparta and the Peloponnese compared with other parts of ancient Greece. Other chapters investigate issues still familiar in the contemporary world: economic crisis and debt, austerity measures, and relief provisions for the poor.
Table of ContentsIn Memory of Anton Powell -
Stephen Hodkinson Introduction -
Stephen Hodkinson and Chrysanthi Gallou Part I: General Perspectives 1. The Politics of Flashing: From Wealth of Material to Discourse of Luxury in a World Full of Gods
Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge, UK) Part II: Sparta and Lakonike 2. Alcman’s Early Transmission and Aarchaic Spartan Society -
P.J. Finglass (University of Bristol, UK) 3. ‘As We Carry a Robe to the Dawn Goddess’: Luxurious Textiles in Spartan and Lakonian Sanctuaries -
Chrysanthi Gallou (University of Nottingham, UK) 4. Kyniska: Production and Use of Wealth -
Annalisa Paradiso (Università della Basilicata, Italy) and James Roy (University of Nottingham, UK) 5. Closed Economy, Debt and the Spartan Crisis -
Alain Bresson (University of Chicago, USA) 6. Spartan Female Luxury? Wealth,
Truphe, and Sparta’s ‘Loose’ Women -
Ellen Millender (Reed College, USA) 7. Luxury, Lost in Translation:
Truphe in Plutarch’s Sparta -
Paul Christesen (Dartmouth College, USA) Part III: The Wider Peloponnese and Beyond 8. Funerary Luxury and Austerity in Pre-Classical Argos and Corinth: The Making of Citizen Communities -
Alain Duplouy (Université de Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, France) 9. Women in Gold: Luxurious Objects, Excellence and Prestige in the Peloponnese -
Elena Franchi (Università di Trento, Italy) 10. Marble: A Luxury Material in Early Greek Architecture -
Georgia Kokkorou-Alevras (University of Athens, Greece) 11. Paths to Wealth in Central Greece, Ionia and the Peloponnese -
Sarah C. Murray (University of Toronto, Canada) 12. Austerity for the Poor: Imposition and Relief -
Lucia Cecchet (Universität Mainz, Germany) 13. Civic and Religious Euergetism in the Hellenistic Peloponnese: The Epigraphic Evidence -
Sophia Aneziri (University of Athens, Greece) 14. Luxury and Wealth in the Hellenistic Peloponnese -
Selene Psoma (University of Athens, Greece) Index
