Earthquakes and the structuring of Greco-Roman society : the longue durée of human-geological environment relationships in Helike, Greece
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Earthquakes have been linked with societal collapse in various places throughout the past, most notably in the eastern Mediterranean with the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1200 BCE) and the division and decline of the Roman Empire from the fourth to sixth centuries CE. Archaeological evidence of widespread destruction, complemented by an inflation of historical earthquake records for late Roman contexts, points to periods of higher seismicity coinciding with political and economic weakening and socio-cultural downturn. However, since ancient times, people living with persistent earthquake hazards have demonstrated forms of resilience. Just as Amartya Sen (1983) and Peter Garnsey (1989) revealed famines and food shortages as social, not natural, problems, I show how earthquakes traditionally perceived as 'natural' disasters are not 'natural' but social and a critical factor in political ecological relationships. My dissertation exposes the persistent factor of earthquake hazards in Greco-Roman society. I analyze Greco-Roman accounts of earthquakes together with targeted architectural and geological remains from six occupational phases of settlements spanning the third millennium BCE to fifth century CE in Helike, Greece. Applications of resilience theory from archaeology focus on effects of earthquakes in not only destruction but also invention and innovation in society. The results reveal a political ecology of human-earthquake relationships in the Greco-Roman world. The case of Helike demonstrates how earthquake factors persistently shaped and were shaped by political, economic, and cultural developments. The use of novel methodological approaches and techniques from geoarchaeology and soil micromorphology to new types of data proves catastrophe narratives to be false or too simplistic and reveals a political ecology of human-earthquake relationships. I contribute the earthquake and geological environmental context of Greco-Roman societal development and change, transforming scholarly attitudes toward earthquakes, disaster, and the environment in societal development and change.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2022; ©2022 |
| Publication date | 2022; 2022 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Gaggioli, Amanda Mary |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Morris, Ian, 1960- |
| Thesis advisor | Morris, Ian, 1960- |
| Thesis advisor | Bauer, Andrew M |
| Thesis advisor | Leidwanger, Justin |
| Thesis advisor | Manning, Sturt W |
| Degree committee member | Bauer, Andrew M |
| Degree committee member | Leidwanger, Justin |
| Degree committee member | Manning, Sturt W |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Classics |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Amanda Mary Gaggioli. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Classics. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2022. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/px937jm3062 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2022 by Amanda Mary Gaggioli
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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