Colonialism in Antiquity, Greg Woolf

The colonial experience of European nation-states has, for at least a century, provided inspiration for those trying to understand the spread of Greek civic forms and the expansion of Roman power. Post-colonial theory is now among the most powerful analytical tools employed by ancient historians and classical archaeologists, offering new insights and setting new agenda for research. But its use raises problems not restricted to familiar complaints about the limits of comparison. This paper examines the costs of postcolonialism, and the plausibility of the grand narratives it invites us to write about the ancient world.