Kythera as a University Course - Ohio State University, USA, 2002.
Visit the APKAS website at:
http://kythera.osu.edu.
HISTORY 808.01
Seminar in Ancient History
The Island of Kythera through the Ages
The Ohio State University Autumn Quarter 2002
Instructor: Professor Timothy E. Gregory, 365 Dulles Hall, telephone 292-1949 (office), 292-2674 (to leave a message), 291-4015 (home). E-mail: [email protected]. Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 11:00-12:00, Wednesday 3:00-4:00, and by appointment at other times (best scheduled through e-mail: [email protected]).
Class Web Site: http://isthmia.ohio-state.edu/teg/hist80801
Description: This course is a two-quarter seminar, whose primary goal is the promotion of student research. It will focus geographically on a diachronic study of the island of Kythera, which lies midway between the eastern and the western Mediterranean. It was occupied or heavily influenced by Minoans, Mycenaeans, Spartans, Athenians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, Ottomans, and British. The course encourages students to focus on any time period, from prehistory to the present and to devise a research project making use of archaeological, literary, or documentary sources.
The first quarter will provide a diachronic examination of the history of Kythera and examine the evidence and research projects appropriate for student research. Each week we will read selected primary and secondary sources and each student will be expected to select a specific problem and prepare an abstract for research that will be carried out next quarter.
One general focus of research is to investigate how “Island History/Island Archaeology” (neseology,” the study of islands as islands) is an appropriate framework for research on Kythera. For some suggested topics, see the appendix at the end of the syllabus.
Prerequisites: The course is open only to graduate students. Students in fields other than ancient are welcome to take part, and special care will be taken to tailor reading assignments to works that will help in preparation for general examinations.
Special Features: An attempt will be made to integrate a regular series of “brown-bag” presentations into the seminar. Thus, it may be that some meetings will be scheduled outside the regular class meeting time. In addition, some readings will certainly be added to the list below, as time goes by.
Several members of the seminar are not resident in Columbus and they will be following the seminar through the Internet. All assignments, and many of the course resources, are available on the class website.
Required Readings: There are no books to purchase for this course. Most books and articles will be on reserve in the Reserve Room of the Main Library, although some readings may be available online or through photocopying.
Weekly Schedule:
September 30 Introduction: Overview of the history and significance of Kythera and an examination of possible research
Introduction to the Geography and History of Kythera, from APKAS SUAMS volume, section 2†
Koksma, Tale
October 7 Island History/Archaeology
Broodbank, Island Archaeologies*
Rainbird, Islands (and accompanying discussion)
Cherry, Davis, Mantzourani, Keos, 3-12
Horden and Purcell, Corrupting Sea, 1-170; 224-40
Shaw, Challenging Braudel
October 14 Kythera in Antiquity
Ancient Texts on Kythera†
Waterhouse and Hope Simpson
Coldstream and Huxley*
Sakellarakis, Minoan Influence
Broodbank, Preliminary Report*
October 21 Kythera in the Middle Ages
Life of Osios Theodoros of Kythera
Herrin, Byzantine Kythera
Paliochora I & II
Chatzidakis and Bitha, Toichografies*
Tsougarakis, Crete, 19-90
October 28 Kythera in the Early Modern Period
Leontsinis, The Island of Kythera
Maltezou, Historical Geography
Kythera Census Records*
November 4 Kythera in Modern Times
November 11 Student Reports on Projected Research
November 18 Student Reports on Projected Research
November 25 Student Reports on Projected Research
December 2 Student Reports on Projected Research
† means that this reading is available on the class website
* means that you need not read every page of this book/article, but that you should understand what the work covers and know the author’s thesis/point of view.
Student Reports: During the first few weeks of the seminar (no later than November 4), students should select a basic research topic (on the history of Kythera from prehistory to the present). In the last few weeks of the course, students will make an oral presentation to the seminar, outlining this research project, the sources and bibliography available, and the approach planned for the research. In the week before the presentation, students should suggest some basic reading for other members of the seminar; these readings should be made available, ideally through the class website. The oral presentation should take no more than 30 minutes and drafts, etc., should be published on the course website.
Bibliographic References
Broodbank, Island Archaeology C. Broodbank, An Island Archaeology of the Early Cyclades. Cambridge, 2000. DF221.C93B762000
Broodbank, Preliminary Report C. Broodbank, Kythera Survey: Preliminary Report on the 1998 Season. BSA 94 (1999) 191-214.
Chatzidakis and Bitha, Toichografies M. Chatzidakis and I. Bitha, Ευρετήριο Βυζαντινών Τοιχογραφίων Ελλάδος 1. Κύθηρα. Athens 1997.
Cherry, Davis, Mantzourani, Keos J.F. Cherry, J.L. Davis, and E. Mantzourani, Landscape Archaeology as Long-Term History. Northern Keos in the Cucladic Islands from Earliest Settlement until Modern Times. Monumenta Archaeologica 16. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles 1991.
Coldstream and Huxley, Kythera J.N. Coldstream and G.L. Huxley, Kythera: Excavations and Studies conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the British School at Athens. London 1972. DF221.K5K961973
Herrin, Byzantine Kythera J. Herrin, Byzantine Kythera, in Coldstream and Huxley, Kythera, 41-51.
Horden and Purcell, Corrupting Sea Perigrene Hordon and Nicholas Purcell, The Corrupting Sea. A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford 2000.
Koksma, Tale George Koksma, A Tale of Paliochoa, Castro Valley, CA 2000.
Leontsinis, The Island of Kythera G.N. Leontsinis, The Island of Kythera: A social history (1700-1863). Athens 1987.
Life of Osios Theodoros N. Oikonomidis, Ο βίος του Αγίου Θεοδώρου Κυθήρων, Proceedings of the Third Panionian Congress. Argostoli, 1967, 264-91
Maltezou, Historical Geography Ch. Maltezou, A Contribution to the Historical Geography of the Island of Kythira during the Venetian Occupation, in Charanis Studies. Essays in Honor of Peter Charanis, A. E. Laiou-Thomadakis (ed.), New Brunswick, 1980, 161-75.
Paliochora I G.E. Ince, Th. Koukoulis, David Smyth, Paliochora: Survey of a Byzantine City on the Island of Kythera. Preliminary Report, BSA 82 (1987) 95-106. LF32459B8
Paliochora II G.E. Ince, Th. Koukoulis, A.N. Ballantyne, D. Smyth, Paliochora: Survey of a Byzantine City on the Island of Kythera. Second Report, BSA 84 (1989) 407-16 .
Rainbird, Islands Paul Rainbird, Islands out of time: towards a critique of island archaeology, Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 11(1999). DE1J68
Sakellarakis, Minoan Influence I. Sakellarakis, Minoan Religious Influence in the Aegean: the Case of Kythera, BSA 91 (1996) 81-99.
Shaw, Challenging Braudel Brent Shaw, Challenging Braudel: a new vision of the Mediterranean, JRA 14 (2001) 419-453
Tsougarakis Crete Dimitris Tsougarakis, Byzantine Crete from the 5th Century to the Venetian Conquest. Athens: St. D. Basilopoulos 1988 (ISBN 960-7100-04-2)
Waterhouse and Hope Simpson Waterhouse, Helen, and R. Hope Simpson, “Prehistoric Laconia: Part II,” in ABSA 56 (1961), 148-160.
Appendix
Some Suggested Research Topics
Please note that these are just some suggestions to help you get going on selecting a topic. This list is not—in any way—to be exhaustive and you are strongly encouraged to come up with topics of your own. Virtually all the topics listed are too broad and will have to be broken down into more manageable parts. In addition, many of these topics require expertise and/or background in some research techniques (languages, archival experience, etc.) and you should be sure to select a topic that is within your experience and abilities. The topics here are arranged primarily in categories determined by period, but you are encouraged to develop topics that cross over these boundaries. Research on some of these topics may be considered for publication in the work of the Australian Paliochora-Kythera Archaeological Survey.
Island Histories
Kythera as a case study for island history: is this a good theoretical model?
Island history and island biology: is there a connection?
Winds, currents, and sea-lanes and their impact on Kytherian settlement and
History
The relationship between piracy and settlement across time in Kythera
Religion and Image
Kytherian Aphrodite: origins and cult
The idea of Kytherian Aphrodite (Ourania Aphrodite) as a symbol for “spiritual”
love
Cult of the Virgin (especially Myrtidiotissa) in Kythera
Cult of the Virgin as “continuity” with Aphrodite Ourania in Kythera
Helen of Troy and Paris in Kythera
Images of Kythera in ancient (or medieval or modern) literature
The ideal of Kythera as utopia
Kythera in modern Greek mass media
Prehistory
The earliest human occupants of Kythera (Early Helladic period)
Minoan settlement in northern Kythera
Evidence for prehistoric settlement in the area north of Karavas in Kythera
Evidence of Mycenaean activity in northern Kythera
Classical Period
Spartan interests and influences on Kythera
The role of Kythera in the Peloponnesian War
The role of Kythera in the Hellenistic period
Kythera under Roman rule
Kythera in Late Antiquity
Medieval Period
Osios Theodoros: his role and importance
Church architecture in medieval Kythera
Kythera in the naval program of Byzantium
The dating of Byzantine frescoes on Kythera: a reevaluation
Historical prosopography of medieval Kythera (cf. Tsougarakis, Crete, Appendix
II)
Venetian Period (1537-1797)
Venetian administration of Kythera
Venice, the Venieri, and the Byzantine nobility
Venetian administrators
Economic conditions in Kythera during the Venetian period
Venetian fortification in Kythera (principles and practicalities)
Religious life in Kythera under the Venetians
Catholics and Orthodox in Venetian Kythera
A prosopography of notable people in Kytherian society in the Venetian period
Onomastics of Venetian Kythera
The history of an individual village in northern Kythera during the Venetian
period
Transitional Period (Ottomans, Russian, French: 1787-1798)
French plans for social and political institutions in “free” Kythera
The Russo-Turkish occupation of Kythera
British Period (1798-1864)
British military planning for Kythera in the 19th century
British economic policy for Kythera
British public works in Kythera (roads, bridges, schools)
Construction of the Kythera lighthouse
Reports of individual British governors of Kythera
Trade in and out of Kythera during the British period
Education in Kythera in the 19th century
Patterns and themes in Kytherian writing in the 19th century
Kytherian participation in/attitudes toward the Greek War of Independence
The lives of British soldiers/administrators and their families in Kythera
Kythera in the accounts of western travelers
Modern Period (after 1864)
Kythera/Kytherians in the First World War
Kythera/Kytherians in the Second World War
Kytherian politics in the framework of the developing Greek nation
Attempts at industrialization in Kythera
The building of harbors
Migration from Kythera to America (or Australia or elsewhere)
Migration from Kythera to a particular place in America or Australia
The impact of “reverse” migration on Kythera
The impact of entrance into the European Union on Kythera
Permission to utilise material from both Ohio State, and Sydney University, very kindly given by Professor Timothy E. Gregory.
