Luxury and Wealth in Sparta and the Peloponnese

A Spartan lifestyle proverbially describes austerity; ancient Greek luxury was associated with Ionia and the oriental world. The contributions to this book, first presented at a conference held by the University of Nottingham's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, reverse the stereotype and explore the role of luxury and wealth at Sparta and among its Peloponnesian neighbors from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period. Using literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence, an international team of specialists investigates the definition and changing meanings of the term luxury and its nearest ancient Greek equivalents, providing new insights into Sparta's supposed abstention from luxury, and the way that this was portrayed by ancient writers. They analyse wealth production and private and public spending, emphasising features that were distinctive to Sparta and the Peloponnese compared with other parts of ancient Greece. Other chapters investigate issues still familiar in the contemporary world: economic crisis and debt, austerity measures, and relief provisions for the poor.



Stephen Hodkinson is an internationally recognised authority on Sparta and the founder of the University of Nottingham's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies. Author of numerous influential studies on Greek history, his Property and Wealth in Classical Sparta (CPW, 2000) is the leading work in its field. He has been made an Honorary Citizen of modern Sparta for his contributions to the global understanding of Spartan history. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nottingham. Chrysanthi Gallou is a leading specialist in Aegean prehistory, especially in the archaeology of Sparta and Lakonia. She is Director of the University of Nottingham's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies. Author of many studies on the Greek Bronze and Early Iron Ages, her monograph Death in Mycenaean Laconia: A silent place (2020) is the first book-length study of the Late Bronze Age burial tradition in the southeastern Peloponnese. She is currently Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Nottingham.



In memory of Anton Powell / Stephen Hodkinson -- Introduction / Stephen Hodkinson and Chrysanthi Gallou -- The politics of flashing: from wealth of material to discourse of luxury in a world full of gods / Robin Osborne -- Alcman's early transmission and archaic Spartan society / P.J. Finglass -- 'as we carry a robe to the dawn Goddess': luxurious textiles in Spartan and Lakedaimonian sanctuaries / Chrysanthi Gallou -- Kyniska: production and use of wealth /Annalisa Paradiso and James Roy -- Closed economy, debt and the Spartan crisis / Alain Bresson -- Spartan female luxury? Wealth, τρυφή, and Sparta's 'loose' women / Ellen Millender -- Luxury, lost in translation: τρυφή in Plutarch's Sparta / Paul Christesen -- Funerary luxury and austerity in pre-classical Argos and Corinth: the making of citizen communities / Alain Duplouy -- Women in gold: luxurious objects, excellence and prestige in the Peloponnese / Elena Franchi -- Marble: a luxury material in early Greek architecture / Georgia Kokkorou-Alevras -- Paths to wealth in Central Greece, Ionia and the Peloponnese / Sarah C. Murray -- Austerity for the poor: imposition and relief / Lucia Cecchet -- Civic and religious euergetism in the Hellenistic Peloponnese: the epigraphic evidence / Sophia Aneziri -- Luxury and wealth in the Hellenistic Peloponnese / Selene Psoma