A conference of the ERC project: 'MIGMAG'
6-8th June, 2024
Institute for Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna
The ancient Greek world was a culturally integrated but geographically dispersed entity, comprising over a thousand autonomous communities scattered across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Migration was evidently crucial in its formation. Scholarship has often focused on long-distance migration, in particular on the proposed outwards migration from the Aegean known as ‘Greek colonisation’. While these debates continue, relatively little attention has been paid to the role played by local and regional mobilities in the formation of new settlements and settlement systems c.1200-500 BCE.
The MIGMAG Project investigates these smaller-scale movements, using landscape archaeology to consider changing settlement patterns and landscape use, and exploring how intra- rather than inter- regional movements contributed to the establishment and the early development of Greek communities.
The MIGMAG conference will showcase the results of project work in five case study regions, but also bring to fore the research of colleagues working in other regions. By comparing evidence for local mobility and changing settlement patterns in varied different parts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, we hope that together we will shine a new light on the complex process that went into the making of the ancient Greek world. The proceedings of the conference will be published in an open-access volume.
SCHEDULE:
Thursday 6th June, 9:00-17:30: Italy, Sicily, and the Western Mediterranean
Friday 7th June, 9:00-17:30: Anatolia, the Black Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean
Saturday 8th June, 9:00-13:00: Greece
Saturday 8th June, 14:00-17:00: WORKSHOP ON MYTHS OF MIGRATION
Myths of Foundation and Migration
A workshop of the ERC project: ‘MIGMAG’
14:00-17:00, 8th June 2024
Institute for Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna
While ancient Greek myths of migration and foundation can sometimes reflect real human mobilities, it is now understood that they often tell us more about the times in which they were written than the times they were written about. In particular, they are testament to complex and changing ideas about identity, affiliation, and mobility.
The MIGMAG project has collated a corpus of foundation and migration myths pertaining to settlements in five case study regions of the ancient Greek world, and is using tools from digital humanities to identify patterns in this mythic corpus. This has allowed us to identify trends in the rhetoric of foundation and migration, both chronological and geographic.
Join us for a presentation of this work, with contributions from expert discussants.
