Abstract
Scholars have frequently invoked the abandonment of Early Christian basilicas in the sixth and seventh centuries as key evidence for the end of antiquity in Greece. The standard narrative treats the archaeological evidence for abandonment as the physical manifestation of decline recorded in textual sources. The neat equivalency between archaeology and text ignores the role that abandonment plays in the narrative strategies of the textual sources. By reexamining the tie between text and archaeology, we can read the life cycle of the Early Christian basilica in Greece more critically and consequently expand our understanding of this dynamic period in Greek history.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Kostis Kourelis and the Medieval and Post Medieval Archaeology in Greece AIA Interest Group for their cooperation in bringing together the papers in the AIA panel and ultimately in this volume. The participants in the panel provided much food for thought concerning the nature and meaning of abandonment in a Mediterranean context. In particular, my paper has benefited greatly from discussions with David Pettegrew, the critiques offered by Timothy E. Gregory as the commentator at the AIA panel, and Kostis Kourelis’s editing. I would also like to thank Jon Frey for making available to me several chapters of his dissertation on Late Roman uses of spolia. Michael Fronda helped me search down several citations at the eleventh hour. All errors in this article, of course, remain my own.
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Caraher, W.R. Abandonment, Authority, and Religious Continuity in Post-Classical Greece. Int J Histor Archaeol 14, 241–254 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-010-0104-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-010-0104-z