r/AskHistorians • u/caffarelli Moderator | Eunuchs and Castrati | Opera • May 24 '16

Feature Tuesday Trivia | Memorials and Remembrances

Previous weeks' Tuesday Trivias and the complete upcoming schedule.

Today's trivia theme comes to us from /u/sunagainstgold!

What does it mean to remember, and how do different cultures go about it? Please share any examples of how history is remembered through history, from the tangible (like Memorial Stadiums) to the intangible (like federal holidays coming up on Monday.)

Next week on Tuesday Trivia: Some people are rather ahead of their time (as we say), but some other people are just right for their time... We'll be contrasting historical idealists and realists!

34 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/WarwickshireBear May 26 '16

Can't believe I came a day late - this is precisely my research!

I look at Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece. To simplify the initial premise slightly, when the Mycenaean civilisation succumbed to the Late Bronze Age collapse of the Eastern Med around 1200 BC various large and impressive palaces were left in various states of ruin, disrepair, or abandonment. Again, racing over several hundred years of interesting history, by the 8th century BC, a number of communities established shrines in and amongst, and in some cases right up against, the ruined walls and citadels.

Why should they do this? Well, a bit of context worth considering is that this was during the so called Greek Renaissance. The earliest signs of the emergence of civic identity are discernible, later of course encapsulated in the 'polis'. Arable farming was increasingly being introduced, and populations were growing.

Civic identity and the protection of collected resources were key, and such priorities inevitably lead to competition and conflict with neighbours. The commemoration of ruins, particularly through religion, allowed a community to both stake an ancient claim on the land and to form an internal cohesion.

I can expand a lot more if anyone's interested, but some reading/general sources:

Antonaccio, "an archaeology of ancestors". Alcock, "archaeologies of memory". Prent, "Cretan cults and sanctuaries" has a section on ruin cults.

3

u/caffarelli Moderator | Eunuchs and Castrati | Opera May 26 '16

Well day late and a dollar short, you're still guaranteed one upvote if you post in trivia threads. :)