House and Society in the Ancient Greek World

This book re-examines traditional assumptions about the nature of social relationships in Greek households during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Through detailed exploration of archaeological evidence from individual houses, Lisa Nevett identifies a recognisable concept of the citizen household as a social unit, and suggests that this was present in numerous Greek cities. She argues that in such households relations between men and women, traditionally perceived as dominating the domestic environment, should be placed within the wider context of domestic activity. Although gender was an important cultural factor which helped to shape the organisation of the house, this was balanced against other influences, notably the relationship between household members and outsiders. At the same time the role of the household in relation to the wider social structures of the polis, or city state, changed rapidly through time, with the house itself coming to represent an important symbol of personal prestige.

• The Greek household is an increasingly popular field of research • Brings together archaeological evidence from a range of sites in Greece and southern Italy with ideas about domestic organisation and social behaviour associated with ethnography and ancient history • Addresses the issue of gender relations within ancient Greek households through archaeology

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.