Lisa Nevett

House and society in the ancient Greek world

Introduction 1. Domestic space and ancient Greek society 2. Approaches to the material record 3. From pots to people: towards a framework for interpreting the archaeological material 4. The city of Olynthos: a detailed case-study in domestic organisation 5. Olynthos in context: houses in northern, central and southern Greece and the Aegean Islands 6. Regional patterns in domestic organisation: Greek houses from Sicily and southern Italy 7. House and society in the ancient Greek world.

Ancient Greek Houses and Households: Chronological, Regional, and Social Diversity

List of Illustrations Preface 1. Introduction -Lisa C. Nevett 2. Structural Change in Archaic Greek Housing -Franziska Lang 3. Security, Synoikismos, and Koinon as Determinants for Troad Housing in Classical and Hellenistic Times -William Aylward 4. Household Industry in Anatolia and Greece -Nicholas Cahill 5. Living and Working around the Athenian Agora: A Preliminary Case Study of Three Houses -Barbara Tsakirgis 6. Between Urban and Rural: House-Form and Social Relations in Attic Villages and Deme Centers -Lisa C. Nevett 7. Houses at Leukas in Acarnania. A Case Study in Ancient Household Organization -Manuel Fiedler 8. Modest Housing in Late Hellenistic Delos -Monika Trumper 9. Housing the Poor and Homeless in Ancient Greece -Bradley A. Ault 10. Summing Up: Whither the Archaeology of the Greek Household? -Bradley A. Ault and Lisa C. Nevett Glossary Index Acknowledgments Contributors

A real estate ‘market’ in Classical Greece? The example of town housing

In the past it has often been assumed that, although rental of real estate in Classical Greece was relatively common, sales of such property were not. This article challenges that assumption by looking in detail at a small group of inscriptions from Olynthos in the Chalkidiki, which date to the first half of the fourth century and record transactions involving houses in the city. By analysing these documents in conjunction with their archaeological contexts, it becomes evident that there was a systematic set of criteria by which such properties were valued, and that a premium was placed upon larger houses and those located close to the agora, at the centre of the social and political life of the city. This adds a new dimension to the emerging picture of the increasing use of the house as a symbol of personal prestige during the fourth century. The limited evidence available from Athens and the Attic deme centres suggests that Attic town houses had a comparable range of values and that a similar shared concept of value may therefore have been operating. It thus seems that in the case of town houses, at least, sufficient properties were changing hands for potential purchasers to have a shared concept of their value, and this may indicate that families moved between different areas of a settlement, or between different settlements.

TOWARDS A MULTI-SCALAR, MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO THE CLASSICAL Greek CITY: THE OLYNTHOS PROJECT

Research on the cities of the Classical Greek world has traditionally focused on mapping the organisation of urban space and studying major civic or religious buildings. More recently, newer techniques such as field survey and geophysical survey have facilitated exploration of the extent and character of larger areas within urban settlements, raising questions about economic processes. At the same time, detailed analysis of residential buildings has also supported a change of emphasis towards understanding some of the functional and social aspects of the built environment as well as purely formal ones. This article argues for the advantages of analysing Greek cities using a multidisciplinary, multi-scalar framework which encompasses all of these various approaches and adds to them other analytical techniques (particularly micro-archaeology). We suggest that this strategy can lead towards a more holistic view of a city, not only as a physical place, but also as a dynamic community, revealing its origins, development and patterns of social and economic activity. Our argument is made with reference to the research design, methodology and results of the first three seasons of fieldwork at the city of Olynthos, carried out by the Olynthos Project. Προς μια πολυεπίπεδη και πολυεπιστημονική προσέγγιση της ελληνικής πόλης των κλασικών χρόνων: “το Πρόγραμμα της Ολύνθου” Η έρευνα των πόλεων της κλασικής Ελλάδας για μεγάλο διάστημα επικεντρωνόταν στη χαρτογράφηση της οργάνωσης του αστικού χώρου και στη μελέτη των σπουδαιότερων δημόσιων και λατρευτικών κτιρίων. Τα τελευταία χρόνια, σύγχρονες τεχνικές, όπως η επιφανειακή έρευνα και η γεωφυσική διασκόπηση, διευκολύνουν την εξερεύνηση των ορίων και του χαρακτήρα ευρύτερων περιοχών μέσα σε οικισμούς με αστικό χαρακτήρα, εγείροντας ερωτήματα σχετικά με τις κοινωνικές και οικονομικές διαδικασίες. Συγχρόνως, η λεπτομερής ανάλυση των κατοικιών μετέφερε την έμφαση στην κατανόηση κάποιων λειτουργικών, κοινωνικών και μορφολογικών πτυχών του δομημένου περιβάλλοντος. Αυτή η εργασία προβάλλει τα πλεονεκτήματα της ανάλυσης των ελληνικών πόλεων μέσα σε ένα πολυεπιστημονικό και πολυεπίπεδο πλαίσιο, που αγκαλιάζει όλες αυτές τις προσεγγίσεις και προσθέτει περισσότερες αναλυτικές μεθόδους (ιδιαίτερα μικρο-αρχαιολογία). Πιστεύουμε ότι αυτή η στρατηγική οδηγεί σε μια πιο ολιστική άποψη της πόλης, όχι μόνο ως φυσικό τόπο, αλλά και ως δυναμική κοινότητα που αποκαλύπτει τις ρίζες της, την ανάπτυξή της και τα πρότυπα κοινωνικής και οικονομικής δραστηριότητας. Το επιχείρημά μας στηρίζεται στον σχεδιασμό της έρευνας, τη μεθοδολογία και τα αποτελέσματα των τριών πρώτων περιόδων των εργασιών πεδίου στην αρχαία Όλυνθο, που διενεργείται από το Πρόγραμμα της Ολύνθου (Olynthos Project).