Home Economics: Domestic Production and Household Industry in Classical and Hellenistic Greece

Harrington, Katherine B.

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Year:: 2016
Contributor:: Harrington, Katherine B (creator); van Dommelen, Peter (Director); Alcock, Susan (Director); Cherry, John (Reader); Oliver, Graham (Reader); Nevett, Lisa (Reader); Brown University. Archaeology and the Ancient World (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Greek archaeology; craft production; ancient economy; domestic production; household industry; Household archaeology; Neighborhoods; Communities
Extent:: xiii, 308 p.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7301/Z03X853R

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Abstract:: My dissertation examines the everyday lives of small-scale craft producers in mainland Greece and Crete during the Classical and Hellenistic periods (ca. 480-30 BCE). Many Greek households engaged in production in their houses, including weaving, agricultural processing, and carpentry, but also pyrotechnic crafts like ceramics and metalworking. Domestic production and household industry have been studied in their wider social contexts in other archaeological traditions, but have rarely been examined in detail in Greek archaeology. Following a review of methodological approaches to industry in the domestic sphere in other parts of the world, especially Mesoamerica, I examine how similar research questions regarding the domestic and political economies, the identity of craftspeople, temporality and seasonality, and specialization and intensity can be fruitfully employed using Greek data at the scalar levels of the house and the neighborhood. At the level of the house, I investigate the social and economic roles of craft production and how it was organized in relation to other household activities through three case studies: the Terracotta Factory in the Potters' Quarter of Corinth, Bau Z in the inner Kerameikos of Athens, and House A at Nisi-Eleutherna on Crete. Widening scalar focus to the level of the neighborhood, I explore how domestic industry impacted community formation in four neighborhoods: the Corinthian Potters' Quarter, the Rachi Settlement at Isthmia, the neighborhood north of the agora at Olynthos, and the Industrial District of Athens. Ultimately, I argue that household industry was much more common than has previously been acknowledged and that households used craft production dynamically and adaptably as a part of their wider economic strategies. Further, production in urban settings facilitated community formation through the transfer of technical knowledge and shared practices, including religious rites. Although ancient texts often describe craft producers as men, I explore the diverse identities of artisans, a group which included women, children, resident foreigners, and slaves. In doing so, I illuminate the ways in which these domestic productive units influenced larger social structures and were in turn impacted by them. This research provides a human face to the study of the ancient economy.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2016)

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Rights: In Copyright
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Citation

Harrington, Katherine B., "Home Economics: Domestic Production and Household Industry in Classical and Hellenistic Greece" (2016). Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.7301/Z03X853R

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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department.
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