Localism in Hellenistic Greece: (Phoenix Supplementary Volumes)

Localism in Hellenistic Greece explores, in exemplary fashion, how ancient societies positioned themselves in a swiftly expanding world. The Hellenistic age witnessed a dynamic increase of cultural fusion and entanglement across the Mediterranean and Eurasian worlds. Amid seismic changes in the world writ large, the regions of central Greece and the Peloponnese have often been considered a cultural space left behind. Localism in Hellenistic Greece explores how various processes impacted the countless small-scale, local communities of the Greek mainland. Drawing on notions of locality, localism, local tradition, and boundedness in place, Sheila L. Ager and Hans Beck delve into some of the main hubs of Hellenistic Greece, from Thessaly to Cape Tainaron. Along with their contributors, they explore how polis and ethnos societies positioned themselves in a swiftly expanding horizon and the meaning-making force of the local. The book reveals how local discourses were energized by local sentiments and, much like an echo chamber, how discourses related back to the community and the place it occupied, prioritizing the local as the critical source of communal orientation. Engaging with debates about cultural connectivity and convergence, Localism in Hellenistic Greece offers new insights into lived experience in ancient Greece.

Table of Contents:
Preface  Sheila L. Ager and Hans Beck 1. Introduction: Localism in Hellenistic Greece Hans Beck 2. Localism and Environmental History in the Hellenistic Kopaic Basin Ruben Post 3. Healing a Battlefield: The Local World of Hellenistic Chaironeia Chandra Giroux 4. The Other Side of the Stone: Local Proxenia in the Hellenistic Euboian Gulf Alex McAuley 5. Notes on Matrimonial Strategies in Civic Contexts Sara Saba 6. Local Horizons for the Thessalian Eleutheria Denver Graninger 7. The Problematic Localism of the Hellenistic Aitolians Joseph B. Scholten 8. Aligning the Dots: Local Self-Assertion in a Politically Expanding World Peter Funke 9. The Local Voice of Enmity: Kleomenes III, Sparta, and Argos Elena Franchi 10. "Sparta is my country": Competitive Localism in Hellenistic Sparta Sebastian Scharff 11. Shaping and Reshaping Local Memories in Megalopolis: The Case of the Tyrants Aristodamos and Lydiadas James Roy 12. Global Activities in a Localized Context: Mercenaries, Proxeny, and the Small Local World of Hellenistic Mani Chelsea A.M. Gardner 13. Being Syracusan in the Hellenistic World Mark Thatcher 14. Between the Local and the Global: Intersectional Elites at Antiochia ad Cragum in Roman Rough Cilicia Tim Howe 15. Afterword: Reflections on Hellenistic Localism  Sheila L. Ager List of Contributors Index

About the Author :
Sheila L. Ager is a professor of ancient history and Dean of Arts at the University of Waterloo. Hans Beck is a professor and chair of Greek history at Münster University and adjunct professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University.

Review :
"This volume is a penetrating collective study in local meaningful diversity of political and cultural traditions against the framework of an ancient 'globalized' world."--Kostas Buraselis, Professor Emeritus of Ancient History, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Member of the Academy of Athens "A necessary and exciting book. A dive into the teeming concreteness of the life and culture of communities and individuals, with their persistent anchoring to a local dimension made up of landscapes and productions, but also of stories and civic pride. Many examples and diverse approaches effectively account for the vital contribution of these small universes, regional and civic identities to a densely interconnected and to some extent already 'globalized' Hellenistic world." --Roberta Fabiani, Associate Professor of Greek History, Università Roma Tre "The polis is almost invisible in most histories of Hellenistic Greece. Localism in Hellenistic Greece demonstrates that such neglect is unjustified. The thirteen case studies produced by the group of distinguished scholars assembled by Sheila L. Ager and Hans Beck leave no doubt that the richness and diversity of local identity characteristic of Classical Greece persisted into the Hellenistic period. This innovative volume will change the way we write the history of Hellenistic Greece."--Stanley M. Burstein, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles