2016/05/16 08:44 [Academic]Conference given by M. Jean-Pierre Brun

Seminar

 

Speaker:

Jean-Pierre Brun

(Professor of College de France)

 

Title:

Another history?

Recent archaeological excavations rewrite the economic history of Antiquity.

 

Date:

Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at 10 am

 

Venue:

Conference room in 5F, Museum ofIHP, Academia Sinica, Taipei City

 

 

Abstract

 

The history of the ancient world is based mainly on the manuscript sources which survived the destruction during the early Middle Ages, and also on inscriptions and monuments discovered since the Renaissance, especially palaces, temples, public buildings and tombs. This history is thus totally conditioned, structured by the nature of the type of documents we get.

But this history hardly tells the living conditions of the ancient people that interest us today.

Thus we must find other sources that render documents we can organize in series to recreate reliable and well-dated information on production, trade, health status of populations etc. This new material is provided by archaeology and the research will provide even more data.

The conference will examine several examples which illustrate this new way to write the Ancient history: the provisioning of the Greek colonies in southern Italy, the gold mining process in Ptolemaic Egypt, the ritual meals in an ancient sanctuary of Cumae, the salted fish industry ofRoman Italy, the alum production inLipari, the wine production in Ancient Gaul and the use of water power by the Romans.

 

(This seminar will be held in English. Registration is not required.)