Greek protohistories

ABSTRACT

Following some definitions and etymologies of key terms – archaeology, history, prehistory, protohistory – the purpose of this paper is to review the history of Greek protohistories, chronologically beginning with the earliest writing in the Greek world, in the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1800 BC). Ironically, this early writing did not lead to a period that anyone would call ‘historic’ or ‘protohistoric’. From there, the author traces the passage of writing through the ‘prehistoric’ period, into the Early Iron Age, and beyond, where we find the first constructions of narrative history. Several early historians will feature prominently in this story: Hekataios, Hellanikos, Herodotos and Thucydides, whose work follows on from that of the earliest Greek alphabetic writing in the eighth century BC in the time of Homer and Hesiod. By so doing, the author’s aim is not just to problematize ‘prehistory’ and ‘protohistory’ as meaningful terms or appropriate categories of analysis, but to suggest that they are, for Greek antiquity, irrelevant.

KEYWORDS:

• History
• protohistory
• prehistory
• archaeology
• Greek world

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John K. Papadopoulos

John K. Papadopoulos is Professor of Archaeology and Classics at UCLA. Research interests: the Aegean and Mediterranean in the prehistoric and Classical periods; Greek colonization; Athens; and the integration of literary and material records in studying the past. He has authored/edited 12 books, over 100 articles and 40 book reviews.