In light of the "ask me about swords" thread, I thought it might be a good idea to volunteer to share my own expertise, in case anyone was interested or wanted to know more.
My credentials: I've got a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology and an MA in the archaeology of the Classical Mediterranean. So in fact my knowledge spans more widely than simply ancient Greece, but also covers, in a less detailed manner, Iron Age and Roman Britain, the Roman Empire in the 1st centuries BC and AD, and changes in archaeological practice in the last century and a half or so.
My areas of particular expertise are thus:
*Beekeeping in the economies of the ancient world, including 10th century BC Levant, 2nd millennium BC Egypt, classical Greece and 1st century AD Roman Empire.
*Bees in the mythologies of Greece and Rome (I did my MA dissertation on Bees and Beekeeping in the Ancient Mediterranean)
*The Greek city of Corinth (my current research, building on an assignment I did while at uni)
*The link between writing and magic in archaic and classical Greece (a chapter of my BA dissertation examined this, and I have more recently written an article on this topic based on that research)
*The Roman legionary fortresses at Wroxeter and Chester, in the West Midlands in England (on which I wrote an essay for uni, and mroe recently adapted that essay to publish as an article online)
*Making pottery the ancient way (I did a module on ceramic technology, and know about things like firing techniques, what to add to the clay to stop it cracking during firing, etc)
*The politics of the design of the classical Greek house (again, uni assignment turned article)
I know also about the general chronology of the classical period, the different forms of government and the politics of various city states, the technological level, stuff to do with literacy and the probable reasons behind the different levels of literacy from city to city, the Greek gods and their place in classical art and plays, and also a little about the economies of Greece and Rome - what commodoties were most valued, easiest to produce, easiest to ship, where they were produced, etc.
I'm not sure how useful any of this will be to anyone here, to be honest - more suited to historical fic people, who in any case either ignore the classical Greek period or else have a background similar to mine. But the stuff about the bees and the pottery is fairly transferable to lots of different types of societies, and the stuff about magic and writing might work too with fantasy worlds. So whatever anyone wants to know about, if I know the answers or know where to find them, I'll do my best.
My credentials: I've got a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology and an MA in the archaeology of the Classical Mediterranean. So in fact my knowledge spans more widely than simply ancient Greece, but also covers, in a less detailed manner, Iron Age and Roman Britain, the Roman Empire in the 1st centuries BC and AD, and changes in archaeological practice in the last century and a half or so.
My areas of particular expertise are thus:
*Beekeeping in the economies of the ancient world, including 10th century BC Levant, 2nd millennium BC Egypt, classical Greece and 1st century AD Roman Empire.
*Bees in the mythologies of Greece and Rome (I did my MA dissertation on Bees and Beekeeping in the Ancient Mediterranean)
*The Greek city of Corinth (my current research, building on an assignment I did while at uni)
*The link between writing and magic in archaic and classical Greece (a chapter of my BA dissertation examined this, and I have more recently written an article on this topic based on that research)
*The Roman legionary fortresses at Wroxeter and Chester, in the West Midlands in England (on which I wrote an essay for uni, and mroe recently adapted that essay to publish as an article online)
*Making pottery the ancient way (I did a module on ceramic technology, and know about things like firing techniques, what to add to the clay to stop it cracking during firing, etc)
*The politics of the design of the classical Greek house (again, uni assignment turned article)
I know also about the general chronology of the classical period, the different forms of government and the politics of various city states, the technological level, stuff to do with literacy and the probable reasons behind the different levels of literacy from city to city, the Greek gods and their place in classical art and plays, and also a little about the economies of Greece and Rome - what commodoties were most valued, easiest to produce, easiest to ship, where they were produced, etc.
I'm not sure how useful any of this will be to anyone here, to be honest - more suited to historical fic people, who in any case either ignore the classical Greek period or else have a background similar to mine. But the stuff about the bees and the pottery is fairly transferable to lots of different types of societies, and the stuff about magic and writing might work too with fantasy worlds. So whatever anyone wants to know about, if I know the answers or know where to find them, I'll do my best.
Sage
Auror
Myth Weaver
