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13 - Death and Disease

from Part II - Inhabitants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2021

By
Maria A. Liston
Edited by
Jenifer Neils  and
Dylan K. Rogers
Jenifer Neils
Affiliation:
American School of Classical Studies, Athens
Dylan K. Rogers
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

The history of Athens was influenced by the health of her citizens; from birth to old age, disease, injury, and warfare threatened the lives of citizens, or made them unable to participate in the life of the city. The study of skeletal remains from burials in Athens reveals the effect of these threats, and offers new information on historical plagues, attacks on the city, and ordinary events in the lives of Athenians.

Keywords

osteologychildrenanemiazoonosescancertraumalifespan
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens , pp. 188 - 198
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

A recent exhibition at the Museum of Cycladic Art on ancient health practices and cults has summary essays on various aspects of health and disease (Stampolidis and Tassoulas 2014). Two collections of papers on ancient health provide a wide range of perspectives on the topic (Hope and Marshall 2000; King 2005). The Phaleron Archaeological Project being conducted at the Malcolm Weiner Laboratory for Archaeological Science of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens has, as of this writing, begun to move from cleaning and preparation to publication of 1,200 skeletons. This enormous cemetery of the early port of Athens will provide an unparalleled view of the lives of ordinary Athenians, slaves, and convicted criminals. Updates are available on the project website: http://phaleron.digital-ascsa.org/.

Bibliography

Additional resources to accompany this chapter can be found at: www.cambridge.org/NeilsRogers

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Liston, M.A. 2012. “Reading the Bones: Interpreting the Skeletal Evidence for Women’s Lives in Ancient Greece.” In A Companion to Women in the Ancient Mediterranean, eds. James, S.A. and Dillon, S., Malden, MA, 125–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liston, M.A., and Papadopoulos, J.K. 2004. “The Rich Athenian Lady Was Pregnant: The Anthropology of a Geometric Tomb Reconsidered.” Hesperia 73.1: 7–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liston, M.A., Rotroff, S.I., and Snyder, L.M.. 2018. The Agora Bone Well. Princeton.Google Scholar
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Papadopoulos, J.K., and Smithson, E.L., eds., with Liston, M.A., Ruscillo, D., Strack, S., and Dimitriadou, E.. 2018. The Early Iron Age: The Cemeteries. Agora 36. Princeton.Google Scholar
Prevedorou, E.-A., and Buikstra, J.E.. 2019. “Bioarchaeological Practice and the Curation of Human Skeletal Remains in a Greek Context: The Phaleron Cemetery.” Advances in Archaeological Practice 7: 60–67.Google Scholar
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Smith, S.K. 2009. “Skeletal Evidence for Militarism in Mycenaean Athens.” In New Directions in the Skeletal Biology of Greece, eds. Schepartz, L.A., Fox, S.C., and Bourbou, C., Princeton, 99–110.Google Scholar
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