The Eighth-Century Revolution

20 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2009

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

Through most of the 20th century classicists saw the 8th century BC as a period of major changes, which they characterized as “revolutionary,” but in the 1990s critics proposed more gradualist interpretations. In this paper I argue that while 30 years of fieldwork and new analyses inevitably require us to modify the framework established by Snodgrass in the 1970s (a profound social and economic depression in the Aegean c. 1100-800 BC; major population growth in the 8th century; social and cultural transformations that established the parameters of classical society), it nevertheless remains the most convincing interpretation of the evidence, and that the idea of an 8th-century revolution remains useful.

Suggested Citation

Morris, Ian Peter, The Eighth-Century Revolution (2005). Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Paper No. 120507, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1426851 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1426851

Ian Peter Morris (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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