Undergraduate Honors Theses
Thesis Defended
Spring 2015
Document Type
Thesis
Type of Thesis
Departmental Honors
Department
Classics
First Advisor
Sarah A. James
Second Advisor
Catherine M. Cameron
Third Advisor
Elspeth Dusinberre
Abstract
This thesis examines the role of Argos in the Argolid during the Iron Age (1050-700 BC) to determine the validity of the assumption that Argos had hegemony in the Argolid Plain in the 8th century BC. Several ancient authors claimed that Argos controlled a vast empire in the region by the late 8th century BC. Many modern scholars have taken these ancient accounts, along with archaeological evidence for the destruction of Asine and the establishment of the Argive Heraion in the 8th century BC, as proof of such an Argive Empire. Using evidence from burials, settlement patterns, inscriptions, sanctuaries and pottery, I will show that Argos did not in fact control other settlements in the Argive Plain in the 8th century BC. Instead, the 8th-century Argolid can be characterized a series of politically independent settlements with close cultural ties.
Recommended Citation
Fowler, Leslie, "Territory, Terracottas, and Tombs: The Evidence Against Argive Hegemony in the Central Argolid Plain in the 8th c. BC" (2015). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 935.
https://scholar.colorado.edu/honr_theses/935