Description
Book SynopsisShaping Regionality in Socio-Economic Systems: Late Hellenistic-Late Roman Ceramic Production, Circulation, and Consumption in Boeotia, Central Greece (c. 150 BC-AD 700) sheds some necessary light on local economies from the (late) Hellenistic to the Late Roman period. The concepts of regions and regionality are employed to explore the complexity of ancient economies and (ceramic) variability and change in Boeotia (Central Greece), largely on the basis of the survey data generated by the Boeotia Project for Thespiae, Askra, Hyettos, Tanagra and their surroundings. The analysis illustrates the existence of a range of (micro-)regions within Boeotia that are characterised by patterns and differences in ceramic production, variable intensities of interaction in larger networks, and consumer preferences and/or variability in aspects of consumption. By putting this patterning in a broader context, this study shows that spatio-temporal differences in the production and circulation of pottery (as well as differences in something which might be called the ‘performance’ of ancient economies) are shaped by geographical factors, by the ways in which communities and interaction were organised institutionally, by aspects of agency and by the unfolding of history. Although we can observe these three main factors that contributed to the shaping of regional differences, such processes were contextually-embedded and took root on a very local scale through various forms of agency and consumption practices. The book shows that we can gain a better understanding of the ways in which regions emerged, were articulated, and maintained, and how regions and local economies functioned from within through the detailed study of ceramics and other relevant data on Boeotia and the wider ancient world.
Trade Review‘The work is an excellent addition to our knowledge of ceramics in Greece and furthers an understanding of Late Hellenistic and Roman Greece that supersedes simple narratives of economic boom and bust.’ – Joseph Frankl (2023): Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Table of ContentsIntroduction ;
1. Approaching local economies, regions, and regionality in the ancient world ;
2. The Geographies of Boeotia ;
3. A (socio-economically geared) history and archaeology of Hellenistic-Late Roman Boeotia ;
4. Proxies to explore the economies of Hellenistic-Late Roman Boeotia with focus on Thespiae, Askra, Hyettos, Tanagra, and their surroundings ;
5. Ceramics and their value for gaining additional insights in ancient economies ;
6. Ceramic methodology ;
7. The ceramic production evidence from the surveys and rescue-excavations and the chronology and output of local production ;
8. Exploring the macroscopically defined fabric-groups on the basis of pXRF measurements ;
9. Different settings, different products? The location of Boeotian ceramic production: centripetal and centrifugal forces ;
10. An introduction of (imported) ceramics in circulation in Boeotia ;
11. Ceramic circulation and consumption in Thespiae and the Valley of the Muses ;
12. Ceramic circulation and consumption in Hyettos and its administrative hinterland ;
13. Ceramic circulation and consumption in Tanagra and its administrative hinterland ;
14. Ceramic circulation in Boeotia from a comparative perspective ;
15. Discussion and conclusions: Shaping ceramic and socio-economic regionality in (Late) Hellenistic-Late Roman Boeotia ;
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