Hello! We’ve already seen that early Hellenistic rulers were willing to spend quite a bit of money and effort on gathering athletes, musicians and other competitors for festivals. Lastly, we examine how festivals during the Roman period were anchored in pre-existing Greek practices, connecting the two worlds into a global empire centered on Rome. Following will be a discussion of Hellenistic kings as agents, using agonistic festivals to legitimize their authority. Artefactual data on the movements of athletes and the diffusion of prizes and festivals is provided through inscriptions and coinage and is subject to analysis using network-theoretic approaches in combination with agent-based modelling.This paper studies agonistic festivals from several angles, and comprises distinct but interrelated research projects conducted on different scales: At the regional level, festivals in Thessaly are examined using network theory in connection with regional identity processes. The object of analysis is the networks of interaction and ideas produced by agonistic festivals with a focus on the agency behind the networks. We consider the development of this shared festival culture, embedded in Greek practices, as a key factor in the creation of an imagined community of cities within the Hellenistic world, paving the way for the Roman Empire. In this paper we will present a joint project (NWO and OIKOS Anchoring Innovation) that envisions the spectacular rise of festival culture in the Hellenistic and Roman period as a driving force constantly forging ties and linking the world of Greek communities together. We gave a paper on September 30th presenting some of our work with networks so far – here’s a copy of the abstract and our presentation slides: Multi-scalar festival network agents in the Hellenistic and Roman world: Regions, Kingdoms, and EmpireĪdam Wiznura, Tom Britton, and Robin van Vliet (University of Groningen) We were very happy to be at the Connected Past conference at Aarhus last month (even if did rain pretty much the whole time) discussing the network analytical aspects of our project. Want to see deep-mapping in action? Visit the story map… Using the concept of ‘deep mapping‘, it attempts to assimilate the multiple layers of meaning accumulating across time in order to assess the long-term biography of a place in its relationships with people at the local, regional and ‘transnational’ levels. This project attempts to combine these different kinds and levels of data into a composite ‘spatial narrative‘ of what these festival sites meant to different people at different times, seeking to understand the notion of place at the crossroads of collective ideologies and personal lives. But looking carefully, we can sometimes get a glimpse of the crowds that once gathered there, telling stories, scratching their names on the walls or under the statues, leaving private dedications (votives) to the gods, and sometimes just by the wear and tear of their footprints. In the ancient world, most of our surviving evidence of place-making stems from ‘official’ sources, like temples, theaters, and statues, commissioned by polities and individuals that could afford them.

This concept is ideal for understanding the multi-vocality of a place. Drawn from the social sciences and urban planning, ‘place-making‘ is used to describe how people take ownership of a certain place, investing their identities through stories, rituals or other actions, monuments, and through what they leave behind. The Deep Mapping Sanctuaries project seeks to answer these questions through concepts of place-making, spatial narratives, and deep mapping. But who was behind them? What did they mean to the different people who visited them? Was everyone equally involved? Or thrilled? How did people respond to them? What kinds of narratives did they inspire? Cities especially in the eastern Mediterranean increasingly organized these ‘transnational’ events which were social and economic magnets and channels of political diplomacy all at the same time. Besides religious ceremonies, these festivals were lively spectacles that included song and dance as well as sporting events and music or theatrical competitions, with prizes. Especially after Alexander the Great, they became central nodes in a network that connected cities across the Mediterranean, and well beyond. Much like music festivals today, religious festivals in antiquity were hugely popular and drew tremendous crowds from across the ancient world.

Glimpses ancient ritual northern greece