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Richard Miles (historian) Quotes

Richard Miles is a British historian and archaeologist, best known for presenting two major historical documentary series: BBC2's Ancient Worlds , which presented a comprehensive overview of classical history and the dawn of civilisation, and BBC Four's Archaeology: a Secret History .Miles was born in Pembury, Kent. He studied ancient history and archaeology at the University of Liverpool and sat for a PhD in classics under Professor Peter Garnsey at Jesus College, Cambridge. He is a professor of Roman history and archaeology and pro-vice-chancellor of enterprise and engagement at the University of Sydney. He was the former head of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, and a former director of the Arts Career Ready Programme at Sydney. His research primarily concerns Punic and Late Roman history and archaeology.

He has directed archaeological digs in Carthage and Rome, and in 2010 he published Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Mediterranean Civilisation. He also hosted the two part Channel Four Television Corporation series Carthage: The Roman Holocaust , which focuses upon the war between Carthage and Rome. Wikipedia  

✵ 2. January 1969
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Richard Miles (historian): 7   quotes 0   likes

Famous Richard Miles (historian) Quotes

“Writing certainly develops as an elite initiative at this [ancient] time. It helps them to harness the workforce – it's a way of communicating with the gods; and it's a way for the elites to list what you have, and what they have.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

“Civilisation as a term suggests human agency. […] It is the way in which people have articulated how and why they wanted to live in communities. It's about how we imagine the perfect community. […] I think the most ambitious thing humans have ever done is deciding to live together with people whom they didn't know in cities. It's really difficult to build a community, to learn to celebrate difference and to live harmoniously together, and we fail all the time.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

“Civilisation as a term suggests human agency. Things don't come together organically.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

“But archaeology […] often acts as a parallel narrative to history: if you start digging with a textbook in your hand, you are soon going to get confused. You have to be comfortable with the idea that there are many different versions of history.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

“There are winners and losers – and human will created the world we live in.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

“If you are looking at fine buildings or the literature of the period, you have to be aware that you are only dealing with the mindset of the elite.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

“In some respects, cities are bottom-up processes, but they are also top-down initiatives – and elites soon develop. Religion is older than the city, but the elites quickly build temples and turn themselves into priests. As they become more powerful the temples they build also have huge storehouses. What you see is that the man who has a surplus of material is the powerful man. This is because everyone is living hand-to-mouth, and if you have a bad harvest one year, well, you're stuffed.”

Richard Miles (historian)

My bright idea: Civilisation is still worth striving for

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