Commemoration of war was a central feature in ancient Greek culture. Historiography was just one among the media of memory through which ancient wars were remembered and represented. In the last few decades, non-historiographical commemoration of war received growing attention, as a consequence of both the general influence of socio-anthropological approaches in historical research, and the specific impact of cultural memory studies on the investigation of the ancient evidence.
In this talk, taking the Persian Wars as a prominent example, Giorgia will first survey the multi-medial panorama of means through which the ancient Greeks commemorated war (monuments, inscriptions, poetry, rites, cults, festivals, theatre). Second, she will show that the different media of memory are not to be considered as disiecta membra, but as consistent parts of commemorative dialogues and narratives, which cooperated in shaping and circulating stories concerning military (and paramilitary) events.
More information on the webinar series main page.
Image credit: Julian Winchester
