Ancient Colonialism
in a Comparative Perspective

16 & 17 December 2021

This workshop analyses the colonial strategies deployed by different imperial powers that dominated the Mediterranean region in the Classical and Hellenistic period. Discussion will focus on identifying similarities and differences in colonial practices and ideologies, and their impact on local populations. Is it possible to discern general patterns in ancient colonial practices? How can differences be explained? To what extent have differences in source material and in historiographic traditions affected our understanding of ancient colonial strategies?

Register to participate in this online workshop

Program

Thursday 16 December (Chair: Peter van Dommelen)

12.45 – 13.00
Introduction, Jeremia Pelgrom

Defining Colonialism (13.00 – 16.15 / Central European Time, UTC+1)

13.00 – 13.45  Classical Greece, a colonialist culture? Gabriel Zuchtriegel
13.45 – 14.30  The Etruscan colonizations: ancient traditions and modern interpretations, Gianluca Tagliamonte

Break

14.45 – 15.30  
Estates, workers, scribes: traces of the imperial paradigm in the Achaemenid satrapies, Wouter Henkelman
15.30 – 16.15  Under Eastern Eyes?’  Roman Republican ‘Colonization’ through some Classical and Greek Hellenistic Filters, Ed Bispham

Demography and Economy (16.30- 19.00 / Central European Time, UTC+1)

16.30 – 17.15  The Balance Sheet of Empire: Athenian Colonization in Light of the Demographic/Productive Calculus, Thomas J. Figueira
17.15 – 18.00  Mobility and Migration in the Carthaginian Empire: The Colonization of the Cap Bon, Nathan L. Pilkington
18.00-18.45: The Autarchic Ideal. Roman Colonial Land Division Strategies in a Comparative Perspective, Jeremia Pelgrom

Friday 17 December (Chair: Nicola Terrenato)

Practice and Ideology (10.00- 12.30 / Central European Time, UTC+1)

10.00 – 10.45  Egalitarianism and First Lots (protoi kleroi) in Greek colonies, Irad Malkin
10.45 – 11.30  Macedonian ‘colonization’ within and outside Macedonia proper. From Philip II to the early Hellenistic period, Manuela Mari
11.30 – 12.15  Imagined Hegemonies: Practices of Hegemony and their Reception in the Hellenistic World, Manolis Pagkalos

Colonial Landscapes
(14.00- 16.30 / Central European Time, UTC+1)

14.00 – 14.45  The many faces of Greek colonization, Peter Attema
14.45 – 15.30  Comparing colonial and non-colonial rural settlement organisation: the case studies of Aesernia and Larinum, Anita Casarotto and Tesse Stek
15.30 – 16.15  The Western Phoenicians: the colonization of Land’s end, José Luis López Castro
16.30  Final Discussion, introduced and chaired by Nicola Terrenato

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