Book/Printed Material Traces of the past : classics between history and archaeology

Title

• Traces of the past : classics between history and archaeology

Summary

• "What are we doing when we walk into an archaeological museum or onto an archaeological site? What do the objects and features we encounter in these unique places mean and, more specifically, how do they convey to us something about the beliefs and activities of formerly living humans? In short, how do visible remains and ruins in the present give meaning to the human past? Karen Bassi addresses these questions through detailed close readings of canonical works spanning the archaic to the classical periods of ancient Greek culture, showing how the past is constituted in descriptions of what narrators and characters see in their present context. She introduces the term protoarchaeological to refer to narratives that navigate the gap between linguistic representation and empirical observation--between words and things--in accessing and giving meaning to the past. Such narratives invite readers to view the past as a receding visual field and, in the process, to cross the disciplinary boundaries that divide literature, history, and archaeology. Aimed at classicists, literary scholars, ancient historians, cultural historians, and archaeological theorists, the book combines three areas of research: time as a feature of narrative structure in literary theory; the concept of 'the past itself' in the philosophy of history; and the ontological status of material objects in archaeological theory. Each of five central chapters explores how specific protoarchaeological narratives--from the fate of Zeus' stone in Hesiod's Theogony to the contest between words and objects in Aristophanes' Frogs--both expose and attempt to bridge this gap. Throughout, the book serves as a response to Herodotus' task in writing the Histories, namely, to ensure that 'the past deeds of men do not fade with time'"-- Provided by publisher.

Names

• Bassi, Karen, author

Created / Published

• Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2016]

Contents

• Introduction: Seeing the Past -- The Landscape of the Past in Hesiod's Theogony -- The Hypothetical Past and the Achaean Wall in the Iliad -- Blinded by Time : The Past "As If" in the Odyssey -- "Up to My Time" : The Fading of the Past in Herodotus' Histories -- Tragedy Vanishes : Reading the Past in Aristophanes' Frogs -- Epilogue: Reading the Past.

Headings

• -  Archaeology and history
• -  Archaeology--Philosophy
• -  Classical antiquities
• -  Classical literature--History and criticism
• -  Greek literature--History and criticism
• -  History--Philosophy
• -  Literature--Philosophy
• -  Material culture--Philosophy
• -  HISTORY / Ancient / Greece

Notes

• -  Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-225) and index.
• -  Description based on print version record; resource not viewed.

Medium

• 1 online resource (x, 246 pages)

Call Number/Physical Location

• CC77.H5

Repository

• e-GenColVU Electronic Resource

Digital Id

• https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/gdcebookspublic.2020715667

Library of Congress Control Number

• 2020715667

Rights Advisory

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode External

Access Advisory

• Unrestricted online access

Online Format

• image
• epub

LCCN Permalink

• https://lccn.loc.gov/2020715667

Additional Metadata Formats

• MARCXML Record
• MODS Record
• Dublin Core Record