2022-02-09 ARF Brownbag - Violence and State Formation on Crete in the Age of Hoplite Warfare
Channel: Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley
Date: 10/02/2022

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Violence and State Formation on Crete in the Age of Hoplite Warfare, c. 700-400 BCE
Speaker:  Jesse Obert, Ph.D. Candidate, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, UC Berkeley
Lecture: ARF Brownbag | Feb 9  | 12:10-1 p.m. |  Virtual event
Sponsor:  Archaeological Research Facility

About: This paper introduces my PhD dissertation. My project explores the relationship between war and politics on Crete between approximately 700 and 400 BCE. The first Greek city-states probably developed on Crete in this period, and the Cretans invented many military techniques and technologies that would come to characterize ancient Mediterranean warfare. I argue that the evidence for Cretan warfare reveals an elite ideology rather than real inter-state violence. This ideology shifted and adapted as new economic technologies and political institutions changed how Cretans organized their communities. Cretan warfare had three phases: an open and collaborative phase, a restricted and individualistic phase, and a regulated and wealth-oriented phase. Throughout these phases, Cretan elites monopolized and appropriated organized violence as a mechanism for identity crafting. This has dramatic implications for ancient Greek history and our understanding of the roles of violence and violent actors in the development of these communities.