Blessed Thessaly - (Liverpool Studies in Ancient History) by Emma Aston (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- *An Open Access edition will be available on publication.
- About the Author: Emma Aston is Professor of Classics, University of Reading.
- 496 Pages
- History, Ancient
- Series Name: Liverpool Studies in Ancient History
Description
About the Book
This book charts the development of Thessalian identity and its expression over several centuries of historical, social and cultural change. It examines myth, religion, language, political co-operation, and the interaction between Thessalian self-presentation and externally created stereotypes of the Thessalian character.Book Synopsis
*An Open Access edition will be available on publication. ** Thessaly was a region of great importance in the ancient Greek world, possessing both agricultural abundance and a strategic position between north and south. It presents historians with the challenge of seeing beyond traditional stereotypes (wealth and witches, horses and hospitality) that have coloured perceptions of its people from antiquity to the present day. It also presents a complex and illuminating interaction between polis and *ethnos identity. In daily life, most Thessalians primarily operated within, and identified with, their specific polis; at the same time, the regional dimension - being Thessalian - was rarely out of sight for long. It manifested itself in stories told, in deities worshipped, in modes of political co-operation, in language, rituals, sites and objects.
Chapter by chapter, this book follows the emergence, development and adaptation of Thessalian regional identity from the Archaic period to the early second century BC. In so doing, rather than rejecting ancient stereotypes as a mere inconvenience for the historian, it considers the constant dialogue between Thessalian self-presentation and depictions of the Thessalian character by other Greeks. It also confronts some of the prejudices and assumptions still influencing modern approaches to studying the region. All in all, the reader is invited to see Thessaly not as a region of marginal significance in Greek history, but as occupying a central role in many aspects of ancient cultural and political discourse.
About the Author
Emma Aston is Professor of Classics, University of Reading. She is the author of Mixanthrôpoi: Animal/human Hybrid Deities in Greek Religion (Liege, 2011) and many articles on ancient Thessaly.