Books by Nikolaos Papazarkadas
In Greek Epigraphy and Religion Emily Mackil and Nikolaos Papazarkadas bring together a series of... more In Greek Epigraphy and Religion Emily Mackil and Nikolaos Papazarkadas bring together a series of papers first presented at a special session of the Second North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Berkeley 2016). That session was dedicated to the memory of Sara B. Aleshire, one of the leading Greek epigraphists of the twentieth century. The volume at hand includes a combination of previously unpublished inscriptions, overlooked epigraphical documents, and well-known inscribed texts that are reexamined with fresh eyes and approaches. The relevant documents cover a wide geographical range, including Athens and Attica, the Peloponnese, Epirus, Thessaly, the Aegean islands, and Egypt. This collection ultimately explores the insights provided by epigraphical texts into the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Greeks, but also revisits critically some entrenched doctrines in the field of Greek religion.
In From Document to History: Epigraphic Insights into the Greco-Roman World, editors Carlos Noreñ... more In From Document to History: Epigraphic Insights into the Greco-Roman World, editors Carlos Noreña and Nikolaos Papazarkadas gather together an exciting set of original studies on Greek and Roman epigraphy, first presented at the Second North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Berkeley 2016). Chapters range chronologically from the sixth century BCE to the fifth century CE, and geographically from Egypt and Asia Minor to the west European continent and British isles. Key themes include Greek and Roman epigraphies of time, space, and public display, with texts featuring individuals and social groups ranging from Roman emperors, imperial elites, and artists to gladiators, immigrants, laborers, and slaves. Several papers highlight the new technologies that are transforming our understanding of ancient inscriptions, and a number of major new texts are published here for the first time.
Over the past 20 years, Boeotia has been the focus of intensive archaeological investigation that... more Over the past 20 years, Boeotia has been the focus of intensive archaeological investigation that has resulted in some extraordinary epigraphical finds. The most spectacular discoveries are presented for the first time in this volume: dozens of inscribed sherds from the Theban shrine of Heracles; Archaic temple accounts; numerous Classical, Hellenistic and Roman epitaphs; a Plataean casualty list; a dedication by the legendary king Croesus. Other essays revisit older epigraphical finds from Aulis, Chaironeia, Lebadeia, Thisbe, and Megara, radically reassessing their chronology and political and legal implications. The integration of old and new evidence allows for a thorough reconsideration of wider historical questions, such as ethnic identities, and the emergence, rise, dissolution, and resuscitation of the famous Boeotian koinon.
This volume richly illustrates the multiple ways in which epigraphy enables historical analysis o... more This volume richly illustrates the multiple ways in which epigraphy enables historical analysis of the postclassical polis (city-state) across a world of geographically dispersed poleis: from the Black Sea and Asia Minor to Sicily via the Aegean and mainland Greece. The collection of 16 papers looks at themes such as the modes of interaction between polis and ruling powers, the construction of ethnic and social identity, interstate and civil conflict and its resolution, social economics, institutional processes and privileges, polis representations, ethics, and, not least, religious phenomena. The contributions range from "hard epigraphy" to sophisticated conceptual studies of aspects of the postclassical polis, and approach the inscriptions both as textual objects and as artefacts.
The aim of this volume is to identify the postclassical polis both as a reality and as a constructed concept, not only a monolithic block, but a result of tension in the exercise of different kinds of powers. All the individual contributions of this collective volume show that the postclassical polis, both as a reality and as a representation, is the result of negotiations, ancient and modern; but they also illustrate how much of our understanding of the polis is built on patient, painstaking work on the inscriptions.
Landed wealth was crucial for the economies of all Greek city-states and, despite its peculiariti... more Landed wealth was crucial for the economies of all Greek city-states and, despite its peculiarities, Athens was no exception in that respect. This monograph is the first exhaustive treatment of sacred and public - in other words the non-private - real property in Athens. Following a survey of modern scholarship on the topic, Papazarkadas scrutinizes literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence in order to examine lands and other types of realty administered by the polis of Athens and its constitutional and semi-official subdivisions (such as tribes, demes, and religious associations). Contrary to earlier anachronistic models which saw sacred realty as a thinly disguised form of state property, the author perceives the sanctity of temene (sacred landholdings) as meaningful, both conceptually and economically. In particular, he detects a seamless link between sacred rentals and cultic activity. This link is markedly visible in two distinctive cases: the border area known as Sacred Orgas, a constant source of contention between Athens and Megara; and the moriai, Athena's sacred olive-trees, whose crop was the coveted prize of the Panathenaic games. Both topics are treated in separate appendices as are several other problems, not least the socio-economic profile of those involved in the leasing of sacred property, emerging from a detailed prosopographical analysis. However, certain non-private landholdings were secular and alienable, and their exploitation was often based on financial schemes different from those applied in the case of temene. This gives the author the opportunity to analyze and elucidate ancient notions of public and sacred ownership.
The empire that the Athenians established in the years after 478 BC was an entirely new phenomeno... more The empire that the Athenians established in the years after 478 BC was an entirely new phenomenon in the history of Greece, and the basis of much of the brilliant development of Athenian culture in the fifth century. Its growth and collapse was the key event in the history of the period, after the defeat of the Persian invasion. Yet this important historical phenomenon remains baffling to study. New developments in various fields have made urgent a revision of existing approaches, which largely originated in the first half of the last century. Advances in archaeology have hugely extended the possibilities of writing an archaeology of the empire. The accepted chronology of many key inscriptions has been powerfully challenged, so that new narrative reconstructions become possible. Relevant new documents in languages such as Lycian have become available. Understanding of the Persian empire which was the parallel, and in a sense the model, with which the Athenian empire interacted has been transformed in the last quarter century. Broader developments in historiography (microhistory; history from below; and, post-colonial theory) invite us to pose new questions.The aim of this collection is not to offer a final word on any of the problems, but to give a sense of the possibility of a new generation of studies of the empire.
Proceedings of the symposium organized in Athens on 3-5 April 2006 in honor of Christian Habicht
Papers by Nikolaos Papazarkadas
Grammateion, 2017
In this article we offer the editio princeps of a fragment of a Hellenistic decree found out of c... more In this article we offer the editio princeps of a fragment of a Hellenistic decree found out of context on the north slope of the Acropolis in 1999 (inv.no. ΒΚ 282). Amongst others, the unknown honorand must have helped Athenian diplomatic missions on several occasions (L. 7: πρεσβείαις; L. 8: συναγωνιστὴς ἐκτενής). Other noteworthy features include the term ἀρχεῖα (L. 4), probably magistrates, and a reference to an unidentifiable κοινὸν in L. 3. Our identification of the mason with S. Tracy’s “Cutter of IG II2 912” allows us to assign BK 282 a date between 226/5 and 190 B.C.
Opuscula, 2020
This article presents three unpublished Hellenistic inscriptions from the
sanctuary of Poseidon i... more This article presents three unpublished Hellenistic inscriptions from the
sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia (modern Poros): two found during
archaeological excavations on the site and one recorded in a letter that
was once part of Ioannis Kapodistrias’ official correspondence. All three
inscriptions were dedicatory and carved on bases supporting portrait
statues. Interestingly, they were offered to Poseidon by members of a single
family already known from other documents in the Kalaureian epigraphic
corpus. Remarkably, eight out of the 18 inscriptions discovered
in Kalaureia make repeated references to men and women of this very
family, which appears to have materially dominated Poseidon’s temenos
and its environs during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC through the careful
placement of portraits of its members. Most of these statues were conspicuously placed by the entrance to the sanctuary, though at least one of
them was erected inside of the god’s temple. In our article, we present in
detail the three new inscriptions, one of them an epigram, and attempt an
analysis of the religious behaviour of this prominent local family against
the background of contemporary sociopolitical developments.
HOROS 26-31 (2014-19) 63-75, 2020
In this article we present the editio princeps of a fragment of a Pentelic marble stele found in ... more In this article we present the editio princeps of a fragment of a Pentelic marble stele found in in 2011 in a pile of architectural members on the Acropolis (inv.no. Ακρ. 20460). The fragment seems to be the lower part of an inventory of various objects of metal, bronze and iron, most of which were in bad state of preservation at the time of their recording. On typological and epigraphical grounds, we have been able to identify Akr. 20460 as a new non-joining fragment of IG II2 120+1465, the famous stele of the Chalkotheke of 353/2 B.C.
Munus Laetitiae: Studi miscellanei offerti a Maria Letizia Lazzarini, 2018
Axon: Studies in Honor of Ronald S. Stroud, 2015
This essay provides the editio princeps of a fragmentary account found in the area of Plaka (Athe... more This essay provides the editio princeps of a fragmentary account found in the area of Plaka (Athens). The inscription dates to the second half of the 4th century B.C., probably in the Lycurgan period. It records expenses for building activity at an unknown location. It is possible, albeit not certain, that the account was issued by the officials of the Eleusinian cult and that it was originally set up in the City Eleusinion.
N. Papazarkadas (ed.) The Epigraphy and History of Boeotia: New Finds, New Prospects
In this essay I provide the editio princeps of two inscriptions found in recent rescue excavation... more In this essay I provide the editio princeps of two inscriptions found in recent rescue excavations at Thebes. Both texts are poetic, and they are further connected by means of an unusual epigraphic experiment, as the reader will soon discover. They represent however two different genres, and although qualitative judgment should be resisted, text no. II is potentially one of the most important Greek inscriptions to have been discovered in recent years.
We present here a small fragment of an Athenian treaty from the period of the Peloponnesian War. ... more We present here a small fragment of an Athenian treaty from the period of the Peloponnesian War. We draw attention to references to infantry, a trireme, and to the earliest epigraphic attestation of the verb τρέφω, which is otherwise widely used by Thucydides in military contexts.
In this article I provide the editio princeps of two non-joining fragments of a Siphnian decree c... more In this article I provide the editio princeps of two non-joining fragments of a Siphnian decree concerning the Ptolemies. The surviving lines make reference to at least Ptolemy I Soter and Arsinoe II Philadelphos and, remarkably, to the diadem (διάδημα), that quintessential symbol of Hellenistic royal power, in its earliest epigraphic attestation. The strong links between Siphnos and the Ptolemies were already known from the (rather overlooked) decree for the musician Perigenes of Alexandria IG XII 5, 481: the new document reinforces this picture. Fragment a contains a tantalizing account of military conflicts involving ‘barbarians’, before presenting the Siphnians as recipients of benefactions from successive Ptolemaic rulers. Fragment b seems to refer to extensive cultic honors offered to the Ptolemies by the Siphnian state. The last section arguably contains technical instructions for the dispatch of envoys. Through detailed historical and epigraphic analysis, I investigate who is the main Ptolemaic ruler receiving this set of honors by the polis of Siphnos. There are two strong candidates: either the enigmatic Ptolemy the Son, or, more likely, Ptolemy III Euergetes. In this latter scenario, the decree could be dated with some precision to 246 B.C., year of Ptolemy’s accession to the throne of Egypt, or shortly thereafter.
ÖFFENTLICHKEIT – MONUMENT – TEXT — Akten XIV Congressus Internationalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae 27. – 31. Augusti MMXII
Dieser Band wurde im Rahmen der gemeinsamen Forschungsförderung von Bund und Ländern mit Mitteln ... more Dieser Band wurde im Rahmen der gemeinsamen Forschungsförderung von Bund und Ländern mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung und der Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Technologie und Forschung des Landes Berlin erarbeitet. Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier, das die US-ANSI-Norm über Haltbarkeit erfüllt. ISBN 978-3-11-037496-4 Bibliographische Information Der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar.
ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΣ: Studies in honour of Harold B. Mattingly (ed. by A. P. Matthaiou and R. K. Pitt), 2014
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Books by Nikolaos Papazarkadas
The aim of this volume is to identify the postclassical polis both as a reality and as a constructed concept, not only a monolithic block, but a result of tension in the exercise of different kinds of powers. All the individual contributions of this collective volume show that the postclassical polis, both as a reality and as a representation, is the result of negotiations, ancient and modern; but they also illustrate how much of our understanding of the polis is built on patient, painstaking work on the inscriptions.
Papers by Nikolaos Papazarkadas
sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia (modern Poros): two found during
archaeological excavations on the site and one recorded in a letter that
was once part of Ioannis Kapodistrias’ official correspondence. All three
inscriptions were dedicatory and carved on bases supporting portrait
statues. Interestingly, they were offered to Poseidon by members of a single
family already known from other documents in the Kalaureian epigraphic
corpus. Remarkably, eight out of the 18 inscriptions discovered
in Kalaureia make repeated references to men and women of this very
family, which appears to have materially dominated Poseidon’s temenos
and its environs during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC through the careful
placement of portraits of its members. Most of these statues were conspicuously placed by the entrance to the sanctuary, though at least one of
them was erected inside of the god’s temple. In our article, we present in
detail the three new inscriptions, one of them an epigram, and attempt an
analysis of the religious behaviour of this prominent local family against
the background of contemporary sociopolitical developments.