Periodic Reporting for period 4 - HCG (Honour in classical Greece: esteem, status, identity, and society in ancient Greek literature, life, and thought)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-07-01 al 2023-12-31
This project has challenged established views of honour in Classical Studies as a scarce non-material commodity, pursued mainly by men in small-scale, face-to-face communities in more or less aggressive forms of zero-sum competition. It has overturned the view that honour has very specific normative characteristics; that it is typical only of some forms of social organization; that it is associated with certain particular types of action, motivation, and personality; and that it is the focus only of competition, not of co-operation, associated only with hierarchy and inequality, and not with social cohesion. We have broadened the interpretative paradigm to learn from other disciplines and conducted a more careful examination of a wider range of primary phenomena. Our investigation of ancient Greek understandings of honour encompasses the semantics of all relevant terms, the scripts to which they refer, and the metaphors which contribute to their conceptualization; locating those understandings in a new account of the role of honour in Greek politics and society, especially in the areas of social norms and community values; the history of emotions; Athenian law; the public economy of honour; the ancient economy; and ancient political theory.
Our results offer nothing less than a new and comprehensive study of the social psychology of the ancient Greeks, as manifested in the greatest works of archaic and classical literature, in the ethical and political theory of Aristotle and others, and in the ethical, social, and legal discourse of the classical Athenian democracy. In four monographs, two PhD theses, several edited volumes, and numerous articles we uncover a phenomenon that has lost none of its potency as a force that is – as contemporary epidemiology, sociology, and moral/political philosophy attest – just as important in our own societies as it was for the classical Greeks.
Our results offer nothing less than a new and comprehensive study of the social psychology of the ancient Greeks, as manifested in the greatest works of archaic and classical literature, in the ethical and political theory of Aristotle and others, and in the ethical, social, and legal discourse of the classical Athenian democracy. In four monographs, two PhD theses, several edited volumes, and numerous articles we uncover a phenomenon that has lost none of its potency as a force that is – as contemporary epidemiology, sociology, and moral/political philosophy attest – just as important in our own societies as it was for the classical Greeks.
The project’s research, events, and publications to date have made very substantial progress towards these ends.
The opening public lectures (by epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot; philosopher Axel Honneth; literary scholar Edward Mendelson, and sociologist Richard Wilkinson) attracted very large audiences and their recorded versions have been extensively viewed online. These set the agenda for the project, established it in the intellectual life of Scotland’s capital, and allowed us to link our work with the wider intellectual and interdisciplinary traditions that have inspired it. Public lectures and further events feature prominently in the project’s website, alongside blog posts, book reviews, project publications, profiles, and press coverage, together with links to associated projects.
Two PhD and two post-doctoral fellows have been recruited, each from an outstanding field of applicants. All four appointees are of the highest calibre, offering individual research projects of outstanding promise and originality on (respectively) atimia in Athenian law (Rocchi); honour in the family in classical Athens (Mazzinghi Gori); honour in Aristotelian philosophy (Mantzouranis); and political and military honour with specific reference to the Athenian strategia (Zaccarini). The PhD students started in September 2018 and January 2019 respectively and are now approaching completion of their theses. Both are now publishing regularly. The postdocs commenced their employment in September 2018 and each has submitted several draft chapters of their project monograph to the PI (Cairns) for feedback. They too continue regularly to publish their work on the project, as do the PI and names researcher, Cairns and Canevaro.
A major intended output of the project is a substantial volume of essays deriving from the project’s workshops and international conference, now complete. The first workshop (philosophy) took place in April 2019, the second (literature) in September 2019; the third was postponed as a result of the COVID-1d9 pandemic, as was the conference scheduled for September 2020.These have now taken place, in May/June 2021 and June 2022 resp. Five of the sixhe project members presented their work (alongside that of seven other speakers) at the Celtic Conference in Classics in Coimbra in July 2023, and a final summative workshop, at which all project members presented, took place in December 2023.
From September 2018 to April 2024 the project ran a weekly reading group (ultimately in hybrid form), dedicated to key ancient and modern texts and attracting many participants from beyond the project membership. Similarly, the project’s ad hoc seminar programme has been augmented by contributions by scholars from elsewhere attracted by the project’s ground-breaking research agenda (11 such visitors to date). HCG has also benefitted from participation in events promoted by associated projects, including a workshop on hybris, ancient and modern, in Dresden in June 2019 and another on contempt, ancient and modern in Dresden in March 2022, each funded by the award of an Anneliese Maier Research Prize to Cairns (the former now published, the latter in press), and public lectures and a conference (in 2019) on Slavery and Honour in Ancient Greece, funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh grant to Edinburgh colleague, David Lewis (with Cairns and Canevaro as co-applicants; now in presswith Edinburgh University Press). The project has also welcomed eight longer term visitors, Christopher Degelmann (HU Berlin), Bernadette Banaszkiewicz (Marburg), and Florian Sittig (Cologne), funded by the Maier prize, Moritz Hinsch (HU Berlin) and Felix Meister (Cologne),funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Fundation, Benjamin Keim (Pomona, USA), funded by the (US) National Endowment for the Humanities, Marika Pulkkinen (Helsinki), funded by a Finnish government post-doctoral fellowship, and Øyvind Rabbås (Oslo), using institutional research funds.
The opening public lectures (by epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot; philosopher Axel Honneth; literary scholar Edward Mendelson, and sociologist Richard Wilkinson) attracted very large audiences and their recorded versions have been extensively viewed online. These set the agenda for the project, established it in the intellectual life of Scotland’s capital, and allowed us to link our work with the wider intellectual and interdisciplinary traditions that have inspired it. Public lectures and further events feature prominently in the project’s website, alongside blog posts, book reviews, project publications, profiles, and press coverage, together with links to associated projects.
Two PhD and two post-doctoral fellows have been recruited, each from an outstanding field of applicants. All four appointees are of the highest calibre, offering individual research projects of outstanding promise and originality on (respectively) atimia in Athenian law (Rocchi); honour in the family in classical Athens (Mazzinghi Gori); honour in Aristotelian philosophy (Mantzouranis); and political and military honour with specific reference to the Athenian strategia (Zaccarini). The PhD students started in September 2018 and January 2019 respectively and are now approaching completion of their theses. Both are now publishing regularly. The postdocs commenced their employment in September 2018 and each has submitted several draft chapters of their project monograph to the PI (Cairns) for feedback. They too continue regularly to publish their work on the project, as do the PI and names researcher, Cairns and Canevaro.
A major intended output of the project is a substantial volume of essays deriving from the project’s workshops and international conference, now complete. The first workshop (philosophy) took place in April 2019, the second (literature) in September 2019; the third was postponed as a result of the COVID-1d9 pandemic, as was the conference scheduled for September 2020.These have now taken place, in May/June 2021 and June 2022 resp. Five of the sixhe project members presented their work (alongside that of seven other speakers) at the Celtic Conference in Classics in Coimbra in July 2023, and a final summative workshop, at which all project members presented, took place in December 2023.
From September 2018 to April 2024 the project ran a weekly reading group (ultimately in hybrid form), dedicated to key ancient and modern texts and attracting many participants from beyond the project membership. Similarly, the project’s ad hoc seminar programme has been augmented by contributions by scholars from elsewhere attracted by the project’s ground-breaking research agenda (11 such visitors to date). HCG has also benefitted from participation in events promoted by associated projects, including a workshop on hybris, ancient and modern, in Dresden in June 2019 and another on contempt, ancient and modern in Dresden in March 2022, each funded by the award of an Anneliese Maier Research Prize to Cairns (the former now published, the latter in press), and public lectures and a conference (in 2019) on Slavery and Honour in Ancient Greece, funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh grant to Edinburgh colleague, David Lewis (with Cairns and Canevaro as co-applicants; now in presswith Edinburgh University Press). The project has also welcomed eight longer term visitors, Christopher Degelmann (HU Berlin), Bernadette Banaszkiewicz (Marburg), and Florian Sittig (Cologne), funded by the Maier prize, Moritz Hinsch (HU Berlin) and Felix Meister (Cologne),funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Fundation, Benjamin Keim (Pomona, USA), funded by the (US) National Endowment for the Humanities, Marika Pulkkinen (Helsinki), funded by a Finnish government post-doctoral fellowship, and Øyvind Rabbås (Oslo), using institutional research funds.
Project publications reflect the aims and objectives stated above in going beyond existing paradigms of honour in Classical Greece. This has been greatly facilitated by the project’s breadth of coverage and by its innovative interdisciplinary methodology. Inspiration has been derived in particular from work in economics, epidemiology, philosophy, psychology, and sociology on the fundamental role of intersubjective recognition and mutual esteem in human social interaction. Though in each of these fields the insights on which we draw have been developed over the past twenty years or more, their integration in a single project (and especially a Classics and Ancient History project) goes substantially beyond the state of the art in our field.
Main project outputs are:
One joint monograph (Cairns and Canevaro, nearing completion)
One volume of collected papers (edited by Cairns, Canevaro, Mantzouranis, and Zaccarini, about to be submitted)
Two PhD theses (Mazzinghi Gori and Rocchi)
One monograph on Aristotle (Mantouranis, in press)
One monograph on the Athenian strategia (Zaccarini, nearing completion)
Website; blog-posts; outreach articles (e.g. in popular press)
Additional, spin-off items are:
One collected volume on Slavery and Honour (Cairns and Canevaro, with D. M. Lewis); in press
One collected volume on Hubris, Ancient and Modern (Cairns, with E. Sadler-Smith and N. Bouras); in press
One collected volume on Contempt, Ancient and Modern (Cairns); published
A substantial number of articles and book chapter
Main project outputs are:
One joint monograph (Cairns and Canevaro, nearing completion)
One volume of collected papers (edited by Cairns, Canevaro, Mantzouranis, and Zaccarini, about to be submitted)
Two PhD theses (Mazzinghi Gori and Rocchi)
One monograph on Aristotle (Mantouranis, in press)
One monograph on the Athenian strategia (Zaccarini, nearing completion)
Website; blog-posts; outreach articles (e.g. in popular press)
Additional, spin-off items are:
One collected volume on Slavery and Honour (Cairns and Canevaro, with D. M. Lewis); in press
One collected volume on Hubris, Ancient and Modern (Cairns, with E. Sadler-Smith and N. Bouras); in press
One collected volume on Contempt, Ancient and Modern (Cairns); published
A substantial number of articles and book chapter