Colonizing women: a case study on miscegenation and syncretism in archaic Greece

This paper examines the processes by which colonization occurred in the Archaic period (800-600 BCE), focusing on the Greeks preconceived notions of the Other through myth and history, and how those notions clashed against lived experience in the colonies. It does so especially by examining the role of indigenous women, providing the opportunity to analyze not only how and why the Greek colonization event of the Archaic period differs from other major colonial movements, but also why in particular it provides a novel opportunity to question the broad assumptions we make about colonization in general and the formation of ethnic identity in particular.