Long Table 159. Tokens in Classical Athens and Beyond

Friday, October 20, 2023
1:00 PM ET

The abstract nature of tokens means defining them can be a challenge, but parameters such as purpose and function can relay their true meaning. In Classical and Hellenistic Athens, tokens were used as a means of identifying and distinguishing bearers in a public, official context. The ancient Greek term symbolon reveals the ambiguity between something complete and something incomplete, which searches for its other half to become a whole: with their main function for confirming identity on the one hand, and with this ambiguity on the other, tokens enabled apportionment procedures and random distributions. Mairi Gkikaki, from the University of Warwick, will discuss tokens in the frame of Athenian politics, administration and everyday life.

ANS Members only. A link will be sent to members the day of the event.