Lecture 6

The Birth of the Polis

For some 200-300 years after the collapse of Mycenaean civilization there were no cities. Life was apparently simple and lacking in broader organization. Then, about 800 B.C., a new institution arose in Asia Minor -- the polis.

A. The Dark Ages

1. From ca. 1100 to 800 B.C. culture was reduced to a low level.

a. It is as though society had returned to the Neolithic age.

b. There were no kings as there had been previously, and no cities.

c. People lived in villages and there was apparently no higher authority.

2. The Greeks apparently recognized a common culture based on language (Greek) and religion (all worshipped more or less the same gods), but local identification or even that of some broader grouping (Ionians, Dorians, etc.) was more important.

3. The people living in villages in the same valley would naturally have had much in common and they would have had little contact with the people in other valleys or plains.

4. Life must have been "rough and tumble" and leaders of society must have been local strongmen.

B. Emergence of the Polis

1. In this context a new social and political organization came into being around 800 B.C., apparently first in western Asia Minor (the western part of what is now Turkey, along the Aegean Sea) -- the polis. Cities such as Smyrna.

2. The polis is difficult to define and it is difficult to know why it came into being at just this time.

3. This represents the re-emergence of the city and the return of civilization and all that went with it

4. The polis is usually translated as "city-state," but this isn't a very god translation:

a. The polis controlled the whole of a (normally naturally-defined) territory; it was thus originally made up of a number of villages.

b. To the Greeks, the polis always was seen as an alliance of families, and membership in the polis (i.e., citizenship) was normally perceived asderiving from memership in certain families.

c. The polis was not therefore just a political structure: it also had important social and relgious ramifications.

5. It's hard to know if the rise of the polis should be connected with population growth, religious considerations, or military needs.

a. One of the things that we can see is the same sort of phenomena we noted in the earlier emergence of civilization in the Near East: the growth of social and economic differentiation -- that is, there was a significant difference between the rich and the poor in society.

b. Archaeologists note this growing difference in tombs in the 9th and 8th centuries.

c. Some individuals or families also apparently used religion to increase their political power. Not uncommonly they gained control of temples or of places where earlier (pehistoric) burials were found -- they claimed these were the tombs of their deified ancestors.

6. By tradition, the earliest poleis (the plural of polis) were ruled by kings, but very quickly the kings were replaced by groups of powerful aristocratic families.

7. The poets Homer and Hesiod wrote about this time and they provide us with important information about society in the 8th century B.C.

a. The aristocrats developed a sophisticated culture that was different from anything that had been built before.

b. Nonetheless, life was rather harsh for the poor, most of whom were farmers and who were reduced to desperate situations by the aristocrats.

8. There was an interesting tension between the exclusivity of the polis and the broader sentiments of Panhellenism, best represented by a common language, worship of common gods, and Panhellenic sanctuaries such as Olympia and Isthmia.

a. Warfare was endemic among poleis and loyalty to the state was promoted as the highest good.

b. Nonetheless, some individuals sought individual benefit rather than the good of the city.

c. The poems of Archilochus represent this somewhat more sophisticated view:

3. Let him go ahead.

Ares is a democrat.

There are no privileged people

On a battlefield.

        * * * * *

10. When the fight's with those hard Euboians,

No bow-string's whine or snap of bow-notch

Or whip of sling do you hear, but a delirium

Of Ares, sword work and spear sticking,

The tall Euboians famous for their knives.

            * * * * *

79. Some Saian mountaineer

Struts today with my shield.

I threw it down by a bush and ran

When the fighting got hot.

Life seemed somehow more precious.

It was a beautiful shield.

I know where I can buy another

Exactly like it, just as round.

C. Topography of the Polis

1. Remember that the polis was not just a city (urban area), but encompassed both an urban and a rural area; normally it was bounded by natural barriers, such as the sea of mountains.

2. The rural area was the chora (countryside).

3. The urban area was the asty (city).

4. At the center of the asty was the akropolis (high city or citadel); originally the akropolis held the home of the king and it was a place of refuge and defense against the enemies of the polis.

5. All poleis had a place of assembly, a public gathering place, called the agora -- orginally this was just an open, flat area, but it soon became a marketplace as well.

6. Other features of the early polis were the city wall and temples or religious sanctuaries; the latter is a more precise term, since religious ceremonies took place in sanctuaries that might, or might not, have a temple.

a. A sanctuary was "sacred ground," marked off by a temenos, or sacred boundary.

b. The sanctuary normally had an altar, where sacriice was performed.

c. A sanctuary might have a temple, but it need not have one.

d. The temple was the "home" of the god; it was simply a place where the cult statue of the god was kept--no ceremonies were performed there.

 

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