RESEARCHES INTO THE ANCIENT GREEK
COUNTRYSIDE - THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PAUL
GIRAUD, WILLIAM HEITLAND AND ALFRED ZIMMERN
'It is ironic that the late twentieth century has seen a renaissance of rural history.' V.V. Magagna, Communities of grain: rural rebellion in comparative perspective
(New York 1991): 1
I. Contemporary scholarship and past enquiries
"The only justification for the history of scholarship is the promotion of scholarship itself. This means that we must go into the past of the discipline we profess in order to learn something new or to be reminded of something which we had forgotten, which is almost the same. Generally speaking, the history of classical scholarship should point to new desirable directions of classical scholarship. Thus a history of classical scholarship should not only be organized according to problems, but some distinction should be established between viable themes and dead issues. It is ultimately the discovery that certain scholars of the past still have something to teach that makes the study of past scholarship acceptable.'
Momigliano [1982] 1994: 223
This article examines the contribution of three scholars - Paul Giraud (1850-1907), William Heitland (1847-1935) and Sir Alfred Zimmern (1879- 1957) - to enquiries into ancient rural history.1 The purpose is not to provide an
The following items of bibliography are cited frequently in text :
M.I. Finley (ed.), Problèmes de la terre en Grèce ancienne (Paris 1973).
M.I. Finley, The Use and Abuse of History (London 1975).
M.I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology (London 1980).
Topoi 12/13 (2005) p. 385-406
