About: | Naoise Mac Sweeney |
Position: | Key Researcher |
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This research builds on the ERC-grant project MIGMAG (2020-25,) and examines how the ancient Greek world was formed through two related but distinct processes: first, migration and mobilities at a range of different scales; and second, discourses of identity formation that retrospectively constructed a sense of conscious Greekness. It aims to de-centre the European perspective in the study of the ancient Greek past, and to analyse the nature of Greek identity which is too often assumed to be ethnic and inborn rather than cultural and constructed. Spin-off projects will be developed in the COE in collaborative formats. Among others, drawing on the work of Mac Sweeney, Rollinger and Jursa, a research line ‘Patterns of Greek Mobility in West Asian Empires’ will trace the movements of individuals with Greek names within the Neo-Assyrian, Achaemenid and Seleucid Empires, tracing the journeys of both administrative personnel and independent travellers mentioned in the imperial archives, and using spatial network analysis (Jauhianen and Astola 2022) to model these patterns. A second research line ‘Being Indo-Greek’ applies the MIGMAG methodology to the ancient Greek communities of Central Asia (Mairs 2020). It will examine first the mobilities implicated in the initial foundation of these communities, and second the discourses of identity formation that drew on both Greek and local cultural elements to create their uniquely hybrid identities. A particular focus for collaboration will be the interplay of Greek and early Buddhist cultures.
The idea of a glorious ‘classical’ past holds great appeal in the modern world. It is a powerful political tool, offering a focus for national pride as well as conferring legitimacy and the sense of a venerable antiquity. The Claiming the Classical project was originally established in 2018 to document and study how Greco-Roman antiquity was used in 21st century political discourse. Initial research established divergences in the way that Greco-Roman past is used in European, African, Asia, as well as North and South American political discourses. A further stage of this work, carried out collaboratively within the EurAsia COE, will undertake comparative analysis of political discourse related to ‘classical’ cultural heritages in Belt and Road countries. This will focus in particular on politicised representations of the Qing and Han dynasties in China; of the Achaemenid era in Iran; and of the classical period in Greece. It will also consider the deployment of ‘classical’ heritages in international diplomacy, especially within the framework of the Ancient Civilizations Forum (which was instituted jointly by China and Greece in 2017).