Archaeology, Myth‐History and the Tyranny of the Text

Chaldike, Torone and Thucydides

Bibliographic Data

ID9394635
AuthorsJohn K Papadopoulos (0000-0003-2481-0246, J. Paul Getty Museum, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume18
Issue4
Pages377-394
Publication date1999-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOxford Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0262-5253 • E-ISSN: 1468-0092
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-0092.00091
OpenAlexW2018176375
LanguageEN
Citations received4

By focusing on Thucydides’‘Chalkidic Torone’ against the backdrop of modern historians’ neglect of archaeological evidence, this paper highlights not only another case of ‘history being written by the winners,’ but the persistent problem of privileging written documents over archaeological material in Aegean prehistory and classical archaeology. The practice of using literary historical records as direct historic analogues continues to be one of the methodological cornerstones of textual history. Such a neglect of archaeological evidence by historians of early Greece, South Italy and Sicily contributes to the current schism between prehistory and history. Even when the material record is used in historical inquiry, it is in a framework already defined or informed by written sources. By adopting a more integrated approach, this paper echoes Kent Lightfoot’s (1995) perspective that archaeology is poised to play a pivotal role in the reconfiguration of historical studies

Archaeological record · Archaeology · Art · Historical archaeology · Mythology · Perspective (graphical · Post-medieval archaeology · Prehistoric archaeology · Prehistory · Schism · Visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeological Research and Protection · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History · Law