WHEN we examine written sources, as with archaeological sources, there are questions we should consider in order to gain a greater depth of understanding. At the time of writing this, the archaeologists at the Kasta Hill site had found limited inscriptions on the tomb that could provide some insight. If they find more, they will more than likely be asking themselves similar questions to those raised by Bradley in The Ancient World Transformed.
* Read Bradley, pp. 39-42.
* Note some examples of ancient written sources.
* Add definitions of epigraphy, numismatic, iconography and gender bias to your glossary.
* Note the questions we ask about written sources, using each as a sub-heading. Summarise the important points about each question. Again, you needn't copy the examples offered unless you find them particularly interesting or helpful.
* Write a paragraph comparing the benefits and limitations of written sources, to our understanding of historical events.
ACTIVITY
The following is an extract from "Macedonian Burial Customs and the Funeral of Alexander the Great" by Angeliki Kottairidou, who quotes Homer (about 850BCE). She gives Homer's description of the burial of Achilles's friend Patroclus who had been slain during the Trojan War (about 1250BCE), a famous war between the Greeks and the Trojans from modern-day Turkey. It is an interesting source because it gives some insight into ancient Greek burial practices.
* Read the extract.
* Think carefully about the source and write answers for the questions we ask about written sources, with respect to Homer.
"...[The Greeks]..."...made a pyre of an hundred feet this way and that, and on the topmost part thereof they set the dead man, their hearts sorrow-laden. And many goodly sheep and many sleek kine of shambling gait they flayed and dressed before the pyre; and from them all great-souled Achilles gathered the fat, and enfolded the dead therein from head to foot, and about him heaped the flayed bodies. And thereon he set two-handled jars of honey and oil, leaning them against the bier; and four horses with high-arched necks he cast swiftly upon the pyre, groaning aloud the while. Nine dogs had the prince, that fed beneath his table, and of these did Achilles cut the throats of twain, and cast them upon the pyre. And twelve valiant sons of the great-souled Trojans slew he with the bronze - and grim was the work he purposed in his heart and thereto he set the iron might of fire, to range at large"."
* Read Bradley, pp. 39-42.
* Note some examples of ancient written sources.
* Add definitions of epigraphy, numismatic, iconography and gender bias to your glossary.
* Note the questions we ask about written sources, using each as a sub-heading. Summarise the important points about each question. Again, you needn't copy the examples offered unless you find them particularly interesting or helpful.
* Write a paragraph comparing the benefits and limitations of written sources, to our understanding of historical events.
ACTIVITY
The following is an extract from "Macedonian Burial Customs and the Funeral of Alexander the Great" by Angeliki Kottairidou, who quotes Homer (about 850BCE). She gives Homer's description of the burial of Achilles's friend Patroclus who had been slain during the Trojan War (about 1250BCE), a famous war between the Greeks and the Trojans from modern-day Turkey. It is an interesting source because it gives some insight into ancient Greek burial practices.
* Read the extract.
* Think carefully about the source and write answers for the questions we ask about written sources, with respect to Homer.
"...[The Greeks]..."...made a pyre of an hundred feet this way and that, and on the topmost part thereof they set the dead man, their hearts sorrow-laden. And many goodly sheep and many sleek kine of shambling gait they flayed and dressed before the pyre; and from them all great-souled Achilles gathered the fat, and enfolded the dead therein from head to foot, and about him heaped the flayed bodies. And thereon he set two-handled jars of honey and oil, leaning them against the bier; and four horses with high-arched necks he cast swiftly upon the pyre, groaning aloud the while. Nine dogs had the prince, that fed beneath his table, and of these did Achilles cut the throats of twain, and cast them upon the pyre. And twelve valiant sons of the great-souled Trojans slew he with the bronze - and grim was the work he purposed in his heart and thereto he set the iron might of fire, to range at large"."