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Six Degrees of Socrates: The Social Networks of the Ancient Greeks
February 27, 2020 @ 6:00 pm EST
950 S. Forest Mall
Tempe, AZ 85281 United States
Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
AIA Society: Central Arizona (Phoenix)
Lecturer: Diane Harris Cline
In this richly illustrated lecture, we use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to examine the social networks of fifth century BCE Athens, including Pericles, Socrates, the potters and painters of Athens, the workers who built the Parthenon, and more. SNA is a relatively new analytical tool that can be applied when one wants to see relationships in a network, ranging from places to things and people, and which utilizes data from archaeology, epigraphy, or ancient texts. The results can be dramatically shown in images that shed new light on our understanding — we learn, for instance, that the ancient Greeks had tight social networks which helped to rapidly spread new ideas and that contributed to the creativity and innovation for which they are now justifiably famous.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:
Harris Cline, Diane. “The Social Network of Socrates.” CHS Research Bulletin 7 (2019). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:ClineD.The_Social_Network_of_Socrates.2019
Broneer Lecture
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