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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.historikertag.de/Leipzig2023/en/programm/sektionen/the-greeks-and-the-power-of-numbers-numbers-and-numerical-information-in-greek-antiquity-and-their-interpretation-in-scholarship/
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SUMMARY:[Historikertag 2023] The Greeks and the Power of Numbers. Numbers and Numerical Information in Greek Antiquity and Their Interpretation in Scholarship
DESCRIPTION:In today's public debates, numbers are ubiquitous, and sometimes they even take on a life of their own. Where data is lacking, it is called for, and there is debate over the procedures for generating numbers. However, the importance attributed to numbers in shaping both the future and the construction of the past is culturally determined and not static.
The full extent to which investigating what was counted, by whom, and why, as well as how the corresponding results were communicated, can be fruitful for the cultural history of ancient Greece has only become apparent in recent decades. While in the past, numerical data in Greek literature was mainly emphasized for historians' use of plausibilities and exaggerated figures, thus employing a pseudo-precise method to create authority, today it is examined more differentiated. For example, numbers were used as a means of illustrating the levels and modalities of certainty and uncertainty of knowledge regarding space and time, and they reflect an intensified mastery of space. At the same time, the question arises as to where the numbers mentioned in ancient literature come from, or to what extent 'statistical' data (such as birth and death registers and military catalogues) were collected in the increasingly literate poleis and whether they were publicly accessible. In any case, quantification and calculation were always important for political decision-making processes.
The section explores the interplay between the generation of numbers in the Greek poleis and their discursivization, i.e. the methods of counting and the use of numerical data in poetry and prose literature. In addition, quantitative methods in modern research and the foundations of the reconstructed and constructed numerical material for historical interpretations are reflected upon.










Der Beitrag The Greeks and the Power of Numbers. Numbers and Numerical Information in Greek Antiquity and Their Interpretation in Scholarship erschien zuerst auf Historikertag 2023.
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