Can Networks and Interactions Help us Understand the Euboian Koinon?

The Euboian koinon has been labelled as “irregular” and described as one of the most difficult to understand (Knoepfler, 2015, 158). During the late Classical and Hellenistic eras there were several attempts to establish a koinon on Euboia but almost as soon as our sources mention it we lose all trace of it again. It seems the Euboians could neither form a stable koinon nor refrain from trying. There have been few attempts to explain this situation and most passing comments bring up the island’s fragmented geography and its ethnic divisions. Developments in scholarship, however, challenge these assumptions as the construction of ethnicity and its role in the koinon have been put under scrutiny. Given the limited material we have to discuss the Euboian koinon there is a need for a fresh approach to find any explanation. Network theory and Mackil’s (2013) emphasis on interaction gives us a new way to study the island. By examining the history of the koinon, the role of ethnic identity on Euboia and reconstructing Euboia’s networks of interaction a different image of the island emerges. This first network case study of a regional koinon places a pattern of cooperation and interaction next to that of division and fragmentation. Rather than being an irregular and halting project the Euboian koinon emerges as a response to outside pressures by a group of communities able to mobilise a collective identity. This case study supports the idea that interactions were key to forming the koina (Mackil, 2013) while suggesting that rather than being irregular the Euboians found in their occasional collective actions a level of cooperation to suit their needs.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Middleton, Neil

• D051 Hanes yr Henfyd
• DF Groeg

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:4228