Hellenistic Funerary Culture in Pergamon and the Aeolis
A Collection of Current Approaches and New Results
By (author) Felix Pirson By (author) Stéphane Verger
Hardback (Published)
(October 2025)
ISBN: 9783752008586
8.31 x 11.69 inches
Price: $193.50
In stock
The necropolises and burial mounds of Pergamon and the neighbouring cities are a valuable archaeological heritage and an important source for our understanding of the social, political and cultural dynamics in a key region of Hellenistic Asia Minor. This volume brings together contributions from interdisciplinary funerary archaeological research in Pergamon and the Aeolis. On this basis, a picture emerges of a funerary culture which, although uniform in its basic features, was diversified at the local level. With its special focus, the volume offers for the first time a comparative regional study of Hellenistic funerary culture in Asia Minor.
English summary: The necropolises and the large burial mounds of Pergamon and the Aeolian cities of Aigai, Kyme and Elaia are an important archaeological heritage and a primary source for our understanding of the social, political and cultural dynamics in a key region of Hellenistic Asia Minor. This volume brings together sixteen contributions on the methodology of interdisciplinary funerary archaeology, on funerary inscriptions and human remains, and on burials and funerary landscapes from Pergamon, the Aeolis and the neighbouring cities Mytilene and Antandros. On this basis, a picture emerges of a funerary culture that is uniform in its basic features and shows no fundamental differences between cities with fictitious Greek origins on the one hand and a Hellenistic capital in Anatolian Mysia on the other. Rather, a diversification at the local level becomes clear, which contributed to a remarkable diversity in memorial culture. With its historical and landscape focus, this volume is the first to offer a comparative regional study of Hellenistic funerary culture in Asia Minor. With the interdisciplinary definition of funerary archaeology, it can show perspectives on how the complex social and cultural-historical phenomenon of death and memory can be re-evaluated in the future on the basis of a broad dataset. German description: Die Nekropolen und die grossen Grabhugel von Pergamon und den aolischen Stadten Aigai, Kyme und Elaia sind ein bedeutendes archaologisches Erbe und eine wichtige Quelle fur unser Verstandnis der sozialen, politischen und kulturellen Dynamik in einer Schlusselregion des hellenistischen Kleinasiens. Der Band versammelt sechzehn Beitrage zur Methodik der interdisziplinaren Funeralarchaologie, zu Grabinschriften und zu menschlichen Uberresten sowie zu Bestattungen und Graberlandschaften aus Pergamon, der Aolis und den benachbarten Stadten Mytilene und Antandros. Auf dieser Grundlage entsteht das Bild einer in ihren Grundzugen einheitlichen Funeralkultur, die keine fundamentale Unterschiede zwischen Stadten mit fiktivem griechischen Ursprung auf der einen und einer hellenistischen Kapitale im anatolischen Mysien auf der anderen Seite aufweist. Vielmehr wird eine Diversifizierung auf lokaler Ebene deutlich, die zu einer bemerkenswerten Vielfalt in der Memorialkultur beitrug. Der Band bietet mit seinem historischen und landschaftlichen Fokus erstmalig eine vergleichende Regionalstudie zum hellenistischen Bestattungswesen in Kleinasien. Mit der interdisziplinaren Definition von Funeralarchaologie kann er Perspektiven aufzeigen, wie das komplexe sozial- und kulturhistorische Phanomen des Umgangs mit Tod und Erinnerung in Zukunft auf einer breiten Datenbasis neu bewertet werden kann.
Felix Pirson is a Classical Archaeologist. He holds a MA and a PhD from LMU Munich, a MPhil from Cambridge University, and a postdoctoral lecture qualification (“Habilitation”) from Leipzig University, where he is Honorary Professor. Since 2006 he is director of the German Archaeological Institute at Istanbul and head of the Pergamon-Excavation (Bergama, Türkiye). He is senior fellow at ISAW (New York University) and member of several international archaeological institutes. His current research interests include Pergamon and Pompeji, cities and micro-regions in the ancient Mediterranean, funeral archaeology and historical human-environment interaction.
- By (author) Felix Pirson
- By (author) Stéphane Verger
Other Titles in this Series
Architektur unter den Attaliden
Pergamon und die Stadte zwischen herrscherlichem Bauengagement und Lokaltradition
Volume 19
Hellenistische Reliefbecher aus Pergamon. Die Megarischen Becher von der Akropolis, aus dem Asklepieion, der Stadtgrabung und von weiteren Fundorten
Erganzt und bearbeitet von Patricia Kogler
Volume 18
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