NOTION: THE BIOGRAPHY OF AN ANCIENT GREEK CITY IN IONIA
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
*Please note: the event has been moved to room MAL B02, Birkbeck Main Building
Masterclass by Christopher Ratté, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Michigan
Archaeological research at Notion examines how a community living in a harbor town in western Anatolia responded to developments in Greek urbanism and the expansion of Roman power. Notion is a well-preserved archaeological site on the Aegean coast of modern Turkey, situated 50 km south of Izmir and 15 km northwest of ancient Ephesus.
This masterclass considers how the case study of Notion illuminates the ways in which local communities responded to the tumultuous sequence of events beginning with the conquest of Alexander the Great and ending with the establishment of the Roman Peace, i.e., throughout the Hellenistic period. How in particular did the inhabitants of Ionia adapt to the precarious reality of life in a contested frontier zone? How did their priorities change over time? How were those changes articulated in their relation to the local landscape? And how do different research methods and different forms of evidence combine to illuminate the study of these questions?
Christopher Ratté is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the role played by the built environment, from individual monuments to regional settlement patterns, in the articulation of social and cultural identity, especially in western Asia Minor. He was a long-time participant in and supervisor of excavations at Sardis and Aphrodisias in Turkey, and he has directed archaeological surveys at Aphrodisias, Vani in Georgia, and more recently at Notion in Ionia. From 2009-2103 he was director of the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Michigan, and from 2013-2017, he was director of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. He is currently Whitehead Distinguished Scholar at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
The Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck has a distinguished tradition as an international centre of excellence. We are the only university department in London to include archaeologists, classicists and historians investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. Join us to discover the past and engage with the present across continents and cultures.
This event is part of Birkbeck's Discover the Past series. To see the full list of events, click here.
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Booking is essential.
Contact name:
Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birkbeck