Hidden Lives: Social Marginalization in the Ancient Greek World - Colloquium

Speaker: Carrie Weaver

Studies of the ancient Greek world have typically focused on the life histories of elite males as they have made the most distinct mark on ancient Greek literature, art, and material culture. As a result, the voices of non-Greeks, the physically impaired, the impoverished, and the generally disenfranchised have been silent, which has substantially complicated the creation of a historical narrative of these marginalized groups.

In order to reconstruct societal attitudes toward marginalized peoples, my broader project considers the skeletal remains and burial contexts of the individuals themselves and interprets them within the context of contemporary literary, visual, and material evidence. Using this approach, new light is shed on groups of individuals who were typically relegated to the periphery of Greek society in the Late Archaic and Classical periods. 

Focusing on evidence pertaining to disabled and physically impaired individuals, this talk argues that intersectionality was the driving factor behind social marginalization in the Late Archaic and Classical Greek world.

https://pitt.zoom.us/my/haadept

Zoom password available on HAA Undergraduate and Graduate Canvas sites, or by request from haadept@pitt.edu.