The cultural biography of material goods in Homer's epics

Crielaard, J.P.

doi:10.3406/gaia.2003.1402

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…49 There are indeed studies of heirloom objects outside the Classical world, starting with Malinowski's (1920) seminal work on the Kula ring exchange system in Papua New Guinea. More recently, see, for example, Gilchrist (2013); Knight et al (2019); Vyron (2019Vyron ( -2020; also, Crielaard (2003).…”

Section: Intellectual Framework and Methodology (A) Memory Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Old Cups Die Hard: The Appropriation of Athenian Pottery in the Iberian Peninsula

Pérez

2021

J. Hell. Stud.

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The Iberian archaeological record is particularly rich in asynchronous (i.e. chronologically mixed) assemblages including Athenian pots that predate the other items by a couple of decades or even a few centuries. Recent scholarship on keimëlia, or ‘curated objects’ in modern parlance, has shown the potential of such objects to investigate questions of identity, agency and history-making among the receiving communities, but also to shed light on the role of Athenian pottery among them. This article analyses this phenomenon within the Iberian peninsula, focusing on drinking cups, both black-gloss with inset lip (Cástulo cups) and red-figure type B cups. Using case studies from necropoleis and settlements of the southeast and east of the peninsula, the article explores the reasons and meaning of this consumption practice. It is argued that the occurrence of ‘heirloom’ vases in Iberian tombs and their extraordinary survival in some settlements is the result of a conscious and deliberate choice indicating the existence of mechanisms of social distinction based on a diacritical use of material culture. It is further argued that different motivations might lie behind their delayed deposition: when the chronological gap between production and disposal dates is small, one or two human generations, curated Athenian vases worked similarly to non-curated ones, being emblematic of economic success, social affiliations and political rank. But when the interval is longer, Athenian pots became symbols of ancestry and elite status, possibly acquiring the same legitimizing role earlier bestowed upon Orientalizing artefacts. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426921000094) and comprises a catalogue of case-study objects.

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Section: Intellectual Framework and Methodology (A) Memory Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Old Cups Die Hard: The Appropriation of Athenian Pottery in the Iberian Peninsula

Pérez

2021

J. Hell. Stud.

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“…For archaeologists biography is a means to assemble the sum of social relationships connected to an object (Joy 2009). Archaeologists working with texts have used biography to identify heirlooms, antiques and the glory of the weaver or the danger of the gift (Crielaard 2003;Lyons 2003;Mueller 2010;Whitley 2013). For the value of textiles, with their laborious chaîne opératoire of production and complex use life, biography draws attention to how connections to people of status, politics and power can enhance the desirability of textiles.…”

Section: Object Biographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Appaduriai's edited volume on the 'social life of things' proved pivotal in exploring the desirability of objects in transactions, whether as commodities, gifts, heirlooms or bribes. A rich interpretation of the Iron Age Mediterranean now exists using this approach (see Crielaard [2003]; Lyons [2003]; Mueller [2010]; Whitley [2013]). Additionally, Marx's idea of labour value remains relevant, as the organization, time and skills devoted to making objects can change their level of desirability (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

From value to desirability: the allure of worldly things

Harris

2017

World Archaeology

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In this paper, the author takes the approach that value is a judgment that people make about things based on desire, and the potential of the effects those things engender. On this basis, she argues that there are five principle ways that people desire objects: through material properties; in expense and exclusivity; as materials with conspicuous, sensory appeal; through object biography; and where objects can be substituted one for another, an attribute known as fungibility. These principles provide a multiple perspective through which to investigate why and how people desire things. This approach to value is explored through a case study of the desirability of textiles during the emergence of the early urban centres in central and northern Italy (900-500 BC) within its wider geographical setting. Addressing desirability, rather than fixed concepts of luxury, wealth or prestige, opens up questions as to how and why materials and objects are valued across social matrices and according to changing ambitions during the life course. KEYWORDS Value; desirability; Mediterranean; Etruscan; textiles; representational artefacts 1. From value to desirability 'Value' is a perennial topic in archaeology. For archaeologists faced with the material world of others, a concept of value is essential to interrogating people's decisions surrounding the material culture they make, transact and use. Recently, research has moved away from a strict definition of value found in monetary worth and measure, towards a concept of value where the interconnectedness of people, objects and things (Bokern and Rowan 2014, 2), and mutable categories of value, incorporating bodies, places and objects (Papadopoulos and Urton 2012, 21) is the new status quo, leading to 'unashamedly synthetic approaches to object value' (Bevan 2010, 36). Value then is a broad concept, found in the significance, relevance, worth, sentiment and potential of an object, material or thing (see Porter [2012, 337]). And value is found in all manner of things, material and immaterial: metal, beads, jewellery, coins, ceramics, statues, textiles, gardens, buildings, abilities and events, to name the most obvious. When addressing value, one of the crucial questions that recurs is desirability. Why do people desire things? What is the allure of worldly goods? Why do people want stuff? To Simmel, writing on the philosophy of money, value is not an inherent property of an object (thought or event) in the way that colour or temperature can be, but a subjective judgement made by people (Simmel 1978, 59-63 [1907]). From this, he asserts that value is found in the longing for things that resist our desires, that raise possibilities to us, that in the moment before they are ours create the frustration of wanting (Simmel 1978, 66-8). In this juncture of desiring, value is created though the

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“…The idea of different spheres of exchange, each with its own function, social significance and distinct material culture, was quickly adopted. For the Greek world, literary texts played an important role; there have been many studies of the gift exchange in Homer (for instance Scheid-Tissinier 1994;Crielaard 2003). For Iron Age societies in Gaul, however, analysis of the exchange system was rather based on material culture, as in the work of Haselgrove (1987), Nash (1978) and Roymans (1990), which was among other things the effect of the scarcity of written sources.…”

Section: Money and The Moral Human The Greek Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coins, money and exchange in the Roman world. A cultural-economic perspective

Aarts¹

2005

Arch. Dial.

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Until now, the Roman economy has been discussed primarily in economic terms. After the vehement debate between substantivist and formalists in the 1960s and 1970s, most historians and archaeologists have embraced an essentially substantivist perspective. Although this outlook has proven its value, it also seriously hampers a holistic view on the Roman exchange system by its focus on economic factors. Recent theoretical developments in economic anthropology, particularly through the work of Bloch and Parry, provide a model which is better suited to analysing the exchange system in its social, political and moral dimensions. It has been used succesfully in recent publications of the exchange system in the ancient Greek world. In this article, its possibilities for the Roman exchange system and the role of money in it will be explored.

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The cultural biography of material goods in Homer's epics

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

Old Cups Die Hard: The Appropriation of Athenian Pottery in the Iberian Peninsula

Old Cups Die Hard: The Appropriation of Athenian Pottery in the Iberian Peninsula

From value to desirability: the allure of worldly things

Coins, money and exchange in the Roman world. A cultural-economic perspective

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