Períoikoi: the early occurrences of the term in Herodotus’ Histories

Authors

  • Gastón Javier Basile
Keywords: Perioikoi, First Occurrences, Herodotus, Discursive Analysis

Abstract

In recent years there has been a growing scholarly interest in the rural settlements located in the regions of Laconia and Messenia, commonly referred to as perioikic communities. Despite an existing partial consensus concerning the economic and military connections between the perioikic communities and the Spartan polis, the actual status of such settlements still remains a matter of considerable controversy. This paper adopts a semantic-lexicological approach in an attempt to outline the discursive connotations of the term períoikoi and its cognates as employed in the classical sources. Such analysis aims to contribute to the ongoing historiographical debates, many of which overlook the in situ occurrences of the term in the actual sources and its various connotations. The paper specifically explores the linguistic and semantic fields of the term períoikos and its cognates as first recorded in Herodotus’ Histories.

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How to Cite
Basile, G. J. (2014). Períoikoi: the early occurrences of the term in Herodotus’ Histories. Myrtia, 29, 63–96. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/myrtia/article/view/217141
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