Knight, John Brendan
(2022)
Mapping Milesian Migration Processes and practices of migration in the Archaic Period (c. 700-475 BCE).
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
|
Text
201061860_May2020.pdf - Unspecified Download (6MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This study examines the processes and practice of migration through the case study of Milesian overseas settlements in the Archaic period (c.800-475). It substantiates critiques of colonialist approaches to the topic and offers a new theoretically rigorous methodology for approaching ancient migrations through the development of a model for interpreting migration in proto-historical contexts. The notion of approaching Greek colonisation as migration is not new but this study moves the discourse forward by grounding its approaches in theoretical debates and discussions of contemporary migration in other scholarly disciplines. By modelling migration as a multi-focal interstice between wider macro-historical processes of diffused movement in temporal and spatial contexts, and meso- and micro-historical individual and group practices it facilitates a clearer understanding of the complexity of movement and resettlement in the ancient world. Several important conclusions can be drawn from the application of this methodology to the case study of Miletos. Firstly, wider processes of Milesian migration did not occur within a vacuum but were embedded within wider processes of interaction with the local communities and polities they encountered in Anatolia, forest-steppe Skythia and the North Caucasus. Secondly, the drivers of emigration from Miletos were multivalent and acted as stimuli in different ways to different groups within Milesian society. Thirdly, access to migration capital within those social groups, such as elites and vocationally situated individuals, was key to their ability to undertake migration. Finally, the interactions of heterogenous socially and culturally positioned groups led, in time, to the development of negotiated forms of social practices and shared symbolic meanings. In the case of Milesian migration, this was manifested in overlapping communities of practice throughout the Propontis and Black Seas which formed a cultural koine which can be normatively termed “Milesian migrant culture”. The model developed here has been applied to the topic of Milesian migration, but it has been designed to offer utility in wider scholarly approaches to migration in proto-historical contexts, both ancient and modern. By approaching the available evidence from different but interrelated viewpoints it can synthesise the literary and material evidence for migration and offer methodological approaches for analysing its significance on a variety of scales. In sum, this study offers a valuable new way of exploring a topic which remains contentious in both scholarly and popular discourses and embraces its complexity and its extensive long-term consequence.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Aug 2023 09:28 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Aug 2023 09:28 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03157067 |
| Supervisors: |
|
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3157067 |
Dimensions
Dimensions
