Early Greece

by Oswyn Murray

  VI THE ORIENTALIZING PERIOD

  Thanks to this chapter the concept of an ‘orientalizing period’ is now widely accepted: see now W. Burkert The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Harvard U.P. 1992). I must however dissociate myself from the orientalizing fantasies of Martin Bernal in his continuing search for the ‘Afro-asian origins of Greek civilization’, Black Athena (Free Association Books 1987 onwards).

  For the origins and significance of the custom of reclining in the Near East see J .-M. Dentzer Le motif du banquet couché dans le Proche-Orient et le monde grec du VIIe au IVe siècle (Paris 1982) chs. 2–3; although I shall be arguing in a forthcoming article that his date of the late seventh century is about a century too low. Semitic loan words in Greek are discussed by O. Szemerényi ‘The origins of the Greek lexicon: ex oriente lux’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 94 (1974) 144–57. In art there is an excellent survey of the sources of the orientalizing style in Boardman The Greeks Overseas ch. 3; see also his brilliant characterizations of Geometric and orientalizing art in his Pre-Classical: From Crete to Archaic Greece (Penguin Style and Civilization series 1967) chs. 2 and 3. There is a good collection of drawings and photographs of comparative eastern material in E. Akurgal The Birth of Greek Art (Methuen 1968), though the text is not easy to follow.

  There is a magnificent evocation of the cult of Adonis in Sir James Frazer’s The Golden Bough part IV Adonis Attis Osiris (3rd edn., 1914), whose discussion of this cult remains fundamental though his more general theories have been superseded. Adonis is also the subject of the first full length study of a Greek cult by a disciple of the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, M. Detienne The Gardens of Adonis (Eng. tr. Harvester Press 1978). I accept more of his general conclusions than of his reasons for them: it must be said that he often deliberately ignores much ancient evidence (hymns, ritual, art) even when it supports his theories, in favour of dubious structuralist hypotheses; see the review of G. S. Kirk Times Literary Supplement 18 August 1978 p. 922–3. D. L. Page Sappho and Alcaeus (Oxford U.P. 1955) 126ff denies a cult of Aphrodite in Sappho, wrongly in my opinion; the chapter on Sappho in M. Bowra Greek Lyric Poetry (2nd edn Oxford U.P. 1961) is more balanced.

  On the relation between Hesiod and near eastern thought see the introductions and commentaries to the editions by M. L. West of the *Theogony (Oxford U.P. 1966) and the *Works and Days (Oxford U.P. 1978) (esp. pp. 172–7 for the ages of man); also G. S. Kirk Myth, Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures (Cambridge U.P. 1970) 213–51; The Nature of Greek Myths (Penguin 1974) ch. 11–12. The wholly Homeric nature of Hesiod’s formulaic vocabulary is demonstrated by *G. P. Edwards The Language of Hesiod in its Traditional Context (Philological Society 1971). Most of the eastern texts discussed can be found in J. B. Pritchard Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd edn, Princeton U.P. 1969); see also Stephanie Dalley Myths from Mesopotamia (Oxford U.P. 1989). On the various eastern and Greek views of the creation of the world see esp. G. S. Kirk and J. E. Raven The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge U.P. 1957) ch. 1.

  For the Phoenician origins of the Greek script see G. R. Driver Semitic Writing (3rd edn, Oxford U.P. 1976) part III; Woodhead The Study of Greek Inscriptions ch. 2, and the standard work on early Greek inscriptions, L. H. Jeffery The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece (Oxford U.P. second edition 1990 ed. A. W. Johnston). The best study of the extent of Greek literacy refers primarily to the fifth century: F. D. Harvey ‘Literacy in the Athenian Democracy’ Revue des Etudes Grecques 79 (1966) 585–635; see also M. Lang Graffiti in the Athenian Agora (Agora Picture Book no. 14, American School at Athens 1974). W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (Harvard U.P. 1989) argues against widespread literacy at any period in the ancient world, wrongly in my opinion. The article by Jack Goody and Ian Watt of 1963 is reprinted in Literacy in Traditional Societies (Cambridge U.P. 1968) ed. Goody, which consists of papers discussing this theory in relation to other societies; he has since modified his view substantially in a series of books. The theories of another disciple of the Toronto School, E. A. Havelock, in Preface to Plato (Blackwell 1963) and elsewhere, posit a long period of ‘restricted’ literacy confined to a specialised group of scribes; this is not convincing, but he is right to lay emphasis on the fourth century as the first fully literate society in the modern sense. On this whole debate see my review-article ‘The word is mightier than the pen’ in Times Literary Supplement June 16–22, 1989 pp.655–6.

  VII COLONIZATION

  The Mediterranean has changed so much in the last generation as a result of industrial pollution and tourism that older works on its social geography are particularly valuable. The best introduction is the collection of essays from 1910 onwards by Sir John Myres Geographical History in Greek Lands (Oxford U.P. 1953) esp. chs. V-VIII; see also the Admiralty Handbooks of the Second World War to the area (for much of which Myres was responsible).

  Two classic discussions of colonization are still fundamental: A. Gwynn ‘The character of Greek colonization’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 38 (1918) (on the importance of agriculture), and A. R. Burn ‘The so-called “trade leagues” in early Greek history and the Lelantine War’, vol. 49 (1927) 14–37. The best short up-to-date account is Boardman The Greeks Overseas chs. 5–6; see also in more detail A. J. Graham Colony and Mother City in Ancient Greece (Manchester U.P. 1964); T. J. Dunbabin The Western Greeks (Oxford U.P. 1948). For the development of the Athenian agora see J. M. Camp, The Athenian Agora (Thames and Hudson 1986) ch. 2. The religious aspects of colonization are well discussed by I. Malkin Religion and Colonization in Ancient Greece (Brill 1987); for the role of Delphi in colonization see also the article of Forrest (F.R.5). For Sicily and south Italy see E. Greco Archeologia della Magna Grecia (Laterza 1992), especially ch. 1 for the latest evidence on ‘pre-colonization’. The Greek presence in southern France and northern Spain is discussed in chapter 13. On the problems of the earliest Black Sea colonies see R. Drews ‘The earliest Greek settlements on the Black Sea’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 96 (1976) 18–31.

  The Thasos of Archilochos is evoked by its excavator J. Pouilloux in ‘Archiloque et Thasos: historie et poésie’ Archiloque Colloques Fondation Hardt 10 (1964) 1–36. On Phocaean colonies see J.-P. Morel ‘L’expansion Phocéenne en occident’ Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 99 (1975) 853–96; the evidence for Corinth and her colonies is discussed in chapter 9. The evidence for land distribution and exploitation in the western colonies is set out in the important article by the excavator of Megara Hyblaea, G. Vallet ‘La cité et son territoire dans les colonies grecques d’occident’ Atti del 7 Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia (1968) 67–142; see also the articles in parts I-II of Problèmes de la Terre en Grèce Ancienne (Presses Universitaires de France 1973) ed. M. I. Finley. The foundation of Cyrene is discussed in Graham’s book and also by him in ‘The authenticity of the horkion tōn oikisterōn of Cyrene’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 80 (1960) 94–111; L. H. Jeffery ‘The pact of the first settlers at Cyrene’ Historia 10(1961) 139–47. The city’s early history is well described in F. Chamoux Cyrène sous la monarchie des Battiades (Écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome 1953).

  VIII WARFARE AND THE NEW MORALITY

  The development of hoplite armour is the subject of A. M. Snodgrass Early Greek Armour and Weapons (Edinburgh U.P. 1964), on the basis of which in an important article he advocates a late date for the adoption of hoplite tactics, and seeks to minimize the political importance of the change: ‘The hoplite reform and history’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 85 (1965) 110–22; his arguments are met by two articles in vol. 97 (1977), by J. Salmon ‘Political hoplites?’ pp. 84–101, and P. A. Cartledge ‘Hoplites and heroes: Sparta’s contribution to the technique of ancient warfare’, 11–27. See also A. J. Holladay ‘Hoplites and heresies’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 102 (1982) 94–103; G. L. Cawkwell ‘Orthodoxy and hoplites’ Classical Quarterly 39 (1989) 375–89; there is a good coll
ection of essays on the actual experience of hoplite fighting by V. D. Hanson Hoplites: the Classical Greek Battle Experience (Routledge 1991). It is important to compare the effect of the advent of hoplite tactics on Italy; for Etruria see B. D’Agostino ‘Military organization and social structure in archaic Etruria’, ch. 3 in The Greek City.

  H. L. Lorimer ‘The hoplite phalanx’ Annual of the British School at Athens 42 (1947) 76–138 is still worth reading on the poetic evidence, though much archaeological evidence has since been discovered, notably the Argos grave of 1953. For the development of warrior elegy and its use in military symposia see E. L. Bowie, ‘Miles Ludens? The problem of martial exhortation in early Greek elegy’ Sympotica ed. O. Murray (Oxford U.P. 1990) 221–29; on the poetry of Tyrtaios see especially W. Jaeger ‘Tyrtaeus on true aretē’ Five Essays (Casalini Montreal 1966) 101–42 (originally published in German in 1932); B. Snell The Discovery of the Mind (Eng. tr. Blackwell 1953) ch. 8. It should be pointed out that Frag. 12, on which I have laid considerable emphasis, is thought by some to be later than Tyrtaios: against its genuineness (defended by Jaeger), see Fränkel Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy 337–9. On Homeric conceptions of patriotism see P. A. L. Greenhalgh ‘Patriotism in the Homeric world’ Historia 21 (1972) 528–37. On the manipulation of Homeric concepts by Tyrtaios see Snell *Tyrtaios und die Sprache des Epos (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1969). For Homeric battle descriptions see J. Latacz *Kampfparänese, Kampfdarstellung und Kampfwirklichkeit in der Ilias, bei Kallinos und Tyrtaios (Munich 1977).

  IX TYRANNY

  The best general account of tyranny is A. Andrewes The Greek Tyrants (Hutchinson 1956), who originated the emphasis on the hoplites as a basic factor in the explanation of tyranny; see also the articles of Snodgrass, Salmon and Cart-ledge. The economic argument was put forward in a book now largely superseded (not least because of the new late date of the origins of coinage: chapter 13): P. N. Ure The Origin of Tyranny (Cambridge U.P. 1922). The Greek traditions on the disappearance of monarchy are discussed by Chester G. Starr ‘The decline of early Greek kingship’ Historia 10 (1961) 129–38. See also H. Pleket ‘The archaic tyrannis’ Talanta 1 (1969) 19–61. The importance of the relationship between military class and political power in small communities is emphasised by M. I. Finley Politics in the Ancient World (Cambridge U.P. 1983).

  The book of J. B. Salmon Wealthy Corinth (Oxford U.P. 1984) is useful, but tends to play down the importance of trade and overseas contact. For the early history of Corinth see C. Roebuck ‘Some aspects of urbanization in Corinth’ Hesperia 41 (1972) 96–127. The royal exposure myths have been collected by G. Binder Die Aussetzung des Königskindes Kyros und Romulus (A. Hain 1964); see my review in Classical Review 17 (1967) 329–32. For the Corinthian ‘colonial empire’ see Graham Colony and Mother City ch. 7; on the origins of the Doric temple see R. M. Cook ‘The archetypal Doric temple’ Annual of the British School at Athens 65 (1970) 17–19; A. W. Lawrence Greek Architecture (3rd edn, Penguin 1973) chs. 10–11. On Corinthian pottery see the monumental work of D. A. Amyx Corinthian Vase-Painting of the Archaic Period (California U.P. 1988).

  The ethnic factor in tyranny was emphasized by H. T. Wade-Gery in the first edition of the Cambridge Ancient History III (1925) ch. 22; it certainly played some part in Greek political disputes, but should not be overemphasised: on ‘racial’ interpretations of Greek history see the classic work of Ed. Will Doriens et Ioniens (Strasburg 1956), arguing against earlier German scholarship. The tyranny at Mytilene is discussed in detail by D. L. Page Sappho and Alcaeus (Oxford U.P. 1955) part II.

  IX SPARTA AND THE HOPLITE STATE

  There is an excellent account of the legend of Sparta in Elizabeth Rawson The Spartan Tradition in European Thought (Oxford U.P. 1969); but there is no wholly satisfactory account of the reality. The following can be recommended for their different approaches: P. Cartledge Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300–362 B.C. (Routledge 1979); W. G. Forrest A History of Sparta 950–192 B.C. (Hutchinson 1968: imaginative and political); G. L. Huxley Early Sparta (Faber 1962: antiquarian); H. Michell Sparta (Cambridge U.P. 1964: helpful on the social system); P. Oliva Sparta and her Social Problems (Prague 1971: a thoughtful Marxist approach by the leading Czech historian); Arnold Toynbee *Some Problems of Greek History (Oxford U.P. 1979) part III, ‘The rise and decline of Sparta’ (the great historian returns to the studies of his youth: the book is full of insights but rather uncritical). The sceptical view of Spartan history is well stated by Chester G. Starr ‘The credibility of early Spartan history’ Historia 14 (1965) 257–72; see also M. I. Finley ‘Sparta’ The Use and Abuse of History ch. 10.

  The classic modern discussion of the Great Rhetra is by H. T. Wade-Gery *‘The Spartan rhetra in Plutarch Lycurgus VI’ Essays in Greek History 37–85; there is a vain attempt to defend the ancient date by N. G. L. Hammond *‘The Lycurgean reform at Sparta’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 70 (1950) 42–64. For hoplites see Cartledge (F.R. 8).

  For Spartan land tenure see S. Hodkinson ‘Land Tenure and Inheritance in Classical Sparta’ Classical Quarterly 36 (1986) 378–406; on military organization and commensality, O. Murray ‘War and the symposium’ Dining in a Classical Context ed. W. J. Slater (Michigan U.P. 1991) 83–103. The excavations at Artemis Orthia were published in Artemis Orthia ed. R. M. Dawkins (Hellenic Society Supplementary Papers 1929); see also A. J. Holladay ‘Spartan austerity’ Classical Quarterly 27 (1977) 111–126. The date of Alkman is discussed in M. L. West *‘Alcmanica 1. The date of Alcman’ Classical Quarterly 15 (1965) 188–94; F. D. Harvey *‘Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2390 and early Spartan history’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 87 (1967) 62–73.

  On the Spartan agoge see H. I. Marrou A History of Education in Antiquity (Eng.tr. Routledge 1956) ch. II: ‘everything in classical Sparta began from a refusal of life’. On its anthropological aspects, the brilliant article on the krypteia by H. Jeanmaire ‘La cryptie lacédémonienne’ Revue des Etudes Grecques 26 (1913) 12–50 was followed by a more ambitious attempt to compare Greek and African initiation rites in Couroi et Courètes (Lille 1939: ch. 7 on Sparta); see also W. Den Boer Laconian Studies (Amsterdam 1954) part III. For the Zulu parallels see E. A. Ritter Shaka Zulu (Longman 1955); K. F. Otterbein ‘The evolution of Zulu warfare’ reprinted in Law and Warfare ed. P. Bohannan (American Sourcebooks in Anthropology, New York 1967) 351–7. The problems of pseudoarchaism are discussed by Claude Lévi-Strauss in Structural Anthropology (Eng. tr. Penguin 1968) ch. VI: ‘The concept of archaism in anthropology’. There is a good introduction to the phenomenon of age-class systems in B. Bernardi Age Class Systems (Cambridge U.P. 1985).

  XI ATHENS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

  The ‘laws of Solon’ are collected by E. Ruschenbusch *Solonos Nomoi (Historia Supplement 9, 1966). On their survival see A. Andrewes *‘The survival of Solon’s axones’ Pharos, tribute to B. D. Meritt (Augustin, New York 1974) 21–8. C. Hignett A History of the Athenian Constitution (Oxford U.P. 1952) is not a standard history, but a polemical work aiming to prove that the author’s theories are more reliable than the ancient evidence for Athenian constitutional history: it attempts consistently to downdate the institutions of Athenian democracy, and is chiefly useful for its extreme scepticism; chapter 1 discusses the ancient evidence, chapter 4 and appendix 4 the political reforms of Solon. The confusion in the fourth century evidence over Solon’s constitutional reforms is discussed by M. H. Hansen ‘Solonian democracy in fourth-century Athens’ Classica et Medievalia 40 (1989) 71–99.

  The best general account of early Athens in relation to Solon is by A. Andrewes in CAH III 3 ch. 43. For Geometric Athens see Coldstream Geometric Greece, especially chapter 4; for the development of the agora J. M. Camp (above F.R. 7). On Solon’s conception of justice see Jaeger ‘Solon’s Eunomia’ Five Essays (originally published in 1926); G. Vlastos ‘Solonian justice’ Classical Philology 41 (1946) 65–83. The background to the seisachtheia is best understood in relation to three fundamental articles by M, I. Finley: ‘Hom
er and Mycenae: property and tenure’ Economy and Society in Ancient Greece (Penguin 1983) ch. 13; ‘Debt-bondage and the problem of slavery’ ch. 9; ‘The alienability of land in ancient Greece’ The Use and Abuse of History 153–60. On this last topic, which I have passed over although it is often thought to be important for the understanding of Solon’s reforms, see also W. K. Lacey The Family in Classical Greece (Thames and Hudson 1968) appendix pp. 333–5.

  Fustel de Coulanges The Ancient City was translated in 1874, and is available in various reprints; see also A. Momigliano ‘The Ancient City of Fustel de Coulanges’ Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography (Blackwell 1977) 325–43. A similar but less satisfactory explanation of Solon can be found in W. G. Forrest The Emergence of Greek Democracy (Weidenfeld 1966) ch. 6. The theory of corn debt was put forward by A. French ‘The economic background to Solon’s reforms’ Classical Quarterly 6 (1956) 1–1-25; for other recent views (not discussed) see T. W. Gallant ‘Agricultural systems, land tenure, and the reforms of Solon’ Annual of the British School at Athens 7(1982) 111–24; T. E. Rihll *‘Hektemoroi: partners in crime?’ Journal of Hellenic Studies in (1991) 101–27. Calculations of the meaning of Solon’s property qualifications can be found in Chester G. Starr The Economic and Social Growth of Early Greece (Oxford U.P. 1977) 152–6.

  On Solon’s political reforms see Hignett and Forrest (above); A. Andrewes The Greek Tyrants ch. 7. On the Chios inscription see L. H. Jeffery ‘The courts of justice in archaic Chios’ Annual of the British School at Athens 51 (1956) 157–67.