Glocalized Warfare? Universal Rules and Particular Normativities in Ancient Greek Intra-Urban Fighting

BUIS, EMILIANO JERÓNIMO

Munich

Congreso; International Conference *Between Local and Translocal: Founding, Inhabiting and Appropriating Settlements*; 2018

Center for Advanced Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

From Plataea to modern Syria, the out-of-the-pattern hostilities that take place in urban locations have been always suspected of a doubtful reputation because of the uncertainty of the methods employed, the lack of honor among those who take part in the clashes and the risk of affecting those civilians who do not deserve to be targeted. Those concerns are typical to fighting within the spaces of a city. A full understanding of these different realities requires analyzing the local circumstances of those who defend their households, who stand for their loved ones and their goods. By means of the framework provided by normative glocalization, in this presentation we will attempt to better define the ancient Greek experience of intra-urban violence. I contend that the local architecture that did not allow universal strategies to be deployed was therefore complemented by the particular affective experience of the residents who decided to fight in accordance with their specific possibilities. When the global code of honorable conduct meets the domestic reaction of local populations who fear a dreadful fate, an original code of values is set in place.