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<p>This dissertation focuses on the artistic, archaeological, and literary representation
and commemoration of the Classical Athenian navy. While the project stresses the
various and often contradictory ways in which the Athenians perceived and represented
their navy, its larger purpose is to argue that the integration of multiple and various
media has the potential to change long-standing interpretations of ancient societies
and cultures. Relying on the literary evidence of the "Old-Oligarch" and Plato, scholars
have traditionally held that the 5th-century Athenian navy and its rowers were viewed
by their contemporaries as a "mob" and a locus for citizen "riff-raff." Yet careful
consideration of the vases, monuments, and buildings of 5th-century Athens, as well
as the literary output of the period, demonstrate that the navy held a far more complex,
and at times even positive, position in Athenian society.</p>
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