The Origins of Democracy - Political Developments in Greece ca. 1150 – 462/1 BCE as compared with the structures of Ancient Near Eastern Polities Hovedfagsoppgave i historie Kristoffer Momrak Universitetet i Oslo, Historisk institutt, våren 2004 Preface Many people have been involved in making the writing of this thesis possible. First of all, my sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Bjørn Qviller, who has been my instructor during the work on this thesis. Without his encouragement and help, and generous spending of time on discussions of ideas, this project would never have reached completion. I am also grateful for being given the opportunity to use unpublished material. His enthusiasm and inspiring conversation has been a constant encouragement throughout these past five terms spent working on the Origins of Democracy. Two terms have been spent at the Freie Universität Berlin, the Sommersemester and Wintersemester 2002-2003, studying Ancient Near Eastern archaeology and languages, and Homeric society. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. H. Kühne at the Institut für Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde, for the opportunity to participate at two inspiring seminars and for otherwise making my stay a rewarding experience. My thanks go to all my teachers and fellow students at the many interesting classes I had the pleasure to attend, both at the Institut für Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde and at the Institut für Altorientalistik. I also thank Prof. Dr. E. Baltrusch at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, for reading and commenting on the chapter on Homer. I wish to thank all my professors and teachers in Oslo, and in particular Prof. emer. Dr. Fridrik Thordarson, who introduced me to the complexities of Greek linguistic and cultural history, which in a sense inspired the writing of this thesis. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Jens Braarvig for his encouragement and help, and the Norwegian Institute of Palaeography and Historical Philology (PHI) for kindly providing me with an office during the last two terms of my work on the thesis. Thanks are also due to the Sumero-Akkadian reading group at the PHI, for interesting weekly discussions on Near Eastern topics and philology. I am grateful to Dr. Dag Haug for reading and commenting on the chapter on Homer, for giving references to literature, and kindly letting me use unpublished material. Thanks to my parents for their encouragement, and to my friends for their belief in the project, their encouragement and support. Finally, my sincerest thanks to Mari Meen Halsøy, my best friend and life companion, for her patience and constant encouragement. 2 Table of contents Part I 1 Introducing a study of the origins of democracy 10 1.1 The thesis 12 1.1.1 The reforms 13 1.1.2 Defining democracy 15 1.1.3 The city-state and the polis 17 1.1.4 A democratic culture 19 1.1.5 Conclusion 20 1.2 The emergence of Athenian democracy – a historiography 21 1.2.1 Introduction 21 1.2.2 Religion, the family and the polis: de Coulanges’ Cité antique 21 1.2.3 Tyranny, revolt and the power of the people: McGlew, Ober, Samons 22 1.2.4 Political thought and societal change: Meier, Farrar 23 1.2.5 The polis, hoplites and reforms: Meier, Hansen, Bleicken 25 1.2.6 Long term developments and the politics of equality: Gschnitzer, Qviller, Morris, Raaflaub 27 1.2.7 Democracy from Phoenicia: Gschnitzer, Sommer 32 1.2.8 Conclusion 34 1.3 The beginning of politics – a method 34 1.3.1 The stratification of society 35 1.3.2 From egalitarian to rank society 36 1.3.3 Stratified society 37 1.3.4 A model for societal change 38 1.3.5 The gift and the Greek polis 40 1.3.6 Discourse and democracy 43 1.3.7 Conclusion 44 1.4 Sources 45 Part II 1 General introduction to part II 48 2 The Dark Age of the East Aegean: Greeks, Phrygians and Lydians 49 2.1 Introduction 49 3 2.2 Dark Age Greece and Western Asia Minor 49 2.2.1 Submycenaeans and a “Dorian invasion” 50 2.2.2 Protogeometric pottery 51 2.2.3 Invasion or immigration? 52 2.3 Shifting spheres of interaction in Iron Age Anatolia 54 2.4 Archaeological evidence 55 2.4.1 Miletos 56 2.4.2 Sardes 57 2.4.3 Gordion 57 2.5 Written evidence 58 2.5.1 Hittite sources 59 2.5.2 The evidence from Thukydides 60 2.5.3 The evidence from Herodotos 61 2.6 Discussion 62 2.7 Conclusion 64 3 The early Greek colonial movement, the Levant and the Phoenicians 66 3.1 Introduction 66 3.2 The situation in Greece 67 3.2.1 Rise of the polis 68 3.2.2 Early Greek colonies east and west 69 3.3 An archaeology of interaction 72 3.3.1 Cyprus 72 3.3.2 Lefkandi 72 3.3.3 North Syria: Al Mina; Tell Sukas; Ras el Bassit 74 3.3.4 Pithekoussai 75 3.4. Discussion of individual sites 75 3.4.1 Lefkandi 75 3.4.2 Al Mina 77 3.4.3 The West 78 3.4.4 Sanctuaries 79 3.5 Trading colonies or agricultural settlements? 79 3.6 A learning environment 81 3.7 The adoption of writing 82 3.8 Conclusion 84 4 4 The Phoenicians in the Mediterranean: Interaction and cultural transfer 86 4.1 Introduction 86 4.2 Archaeological evidence 90 4.2.1 Metropoleis of the Levant: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Sarepta 90 4.2.2 First steps: Cyprus; Kition, Amathus 91 4.2.3 Enmity and Exchange: Sicily and Sardinia; Motya; Sulcis 92 4.2.4 Gold rush at the Pillars of Hercules: Iberia; Tartessos 93 4.3 Literary evidence 95 4.3.1 Wen-Amon 95 4.3.2 Assyrian royal inscriptions 96 4.3.3 The Odyssey 97 4.3.4 Hesiod 98 4.3.5 Book of Kings I; Ezekiel 98 4.4 Interpretations 98 4.4.1 The concept of a market in pre-industrial societies 98 4.4.2 Centre and periphery – the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean 102 4.4.3 “Peer polities” and pilgrimage 104 4.4.4 Colonists or traders? 106 4.4.5 Pirates, traders or capitalists? 109 4.5 Discussion 113 4.6 Conclusion 118 5 General conclusion of part II 121 Part III 1 General introduction to part III 123 2 The origins of leadership and the power of the assembly 125 2.1 Introduction 125 2.2 The emergence of power: Utnapištim hosting a work-party 125 2.3 From power to rule 126 2.3.1 Enūma Eliš – Marduk as champion of the Assembly of the Annunaki 127 2.3.2 Birth of the city-state? 129 2.3.3 Zeus becomes king of the gods 130 2.3.4 Zeus and the assembly 131 2.3.5 The Theogony and Enūma Eliš 132 5 2.4 Discussion 133 2.5 Conclusion 136 3 The political and jurisdictional structures in Homer 137 3.1. Introduction 137 3.2 The king 139 3.3 The council and assembly 142 3.3.1 The boulē of basileis 143 3.3.2 The boulē of gerontes 144 3.3.3 The mantis 144 3.3.4 The agora of laoi 146 3.3.5 The dynamics of boulē and agora 147 3.3.6 The discourse of the agora 149 3.4 Sumerian, Akkadian and Hebrew political institutions relating to Homer 152 3.4.1 Council and assembly in Sumerian epic 153 3.4.2 The Akkadian puhrum 157 3.4.3 The Hebrew baša’ar and the Trojan boulē 158 3.5 Are the Homeric political institutions historical? 161 3.6 Conclusion 165 4 Phoenician political and jurisdictional institutions 167 4.1 Introduction 167 4.2 The Levant 167 4.3 Carthage 168 4.4 Discussion 169 4.5 Conclusion 174 5 Hoplites and the origins of a politicised demos 176 5.1 Introduction 176 5.2 The polis, the politai and philia 178 5.3 Discussion 179 5.3.1 Warriors, tactics and equipment 180 5.3.2 To meson; the meaning of the middle 184 5.3.3 “Mittelschicht” and middle class 186 5.3.4 Blood, property and performance 189 5.3.5 Hoplites and Athenian sea-power 191 5.4 Conclusion 194 6 6 Solon, Peisistratos and the tyrant slayers 196 6.1 Introduction 196 6.2 The rise of the tyrants 197 6.2.1 The reforms of Solon 197 6.2.2 The rule of Peisistratos 198 6.2.3 Harmodios and Aristogeiton 200 6.2.4 An end to tyranny 202 6.3 Interpretations 202 6.4 Discussion 209 6.5 Excursus I: The seisachtheia from an Ancient Near Eastern perspective 210 6.6 Excursus II: Peisistratos, Athena and the Ancient Near East 215 6.7 Conclusion 218 7 The reforms of Kleisthenes and Ephialtes 220 7.1 Introduction 220 7.2 The reforms of Kleisthenes 221 7.2.1 The sources 221 7.2.2 A revolution by the demos, or a reform by Kleisthenes? 223 7.2.3 Interpretations of Kleisthenes 224 7.2.4 Kleisthenes, Delphi and the divine control of territory 235 7.3 The Persian Wars, Athenian sea-power and elite dominance 237 7.3.1 The sources 237 7.3.2 Democratisation or elite dominance? 241 7.3.3 Interpretations of the period between the reforms 242 7.4 The Areopagos and Ephialtes 244 7.4.1 The sources 244 7.4.2 The end of elite dominance? 246 7.4.3 Interpretations of Ephialtes 247 7.5 Institutions of Athenian radical democracy and Ancient Near Eastern polities 249 7.5.1 The liturgy 249 7.5.2 Eponymous officials, rotation and use of the lot in Athens and Assyria 251 7.5.3 An instance of euthūna in the Codex Hammurapi? 253 7.6 Discussion 253 7.7 Conclusion 257 8 General conclusion of part III 260 7 9 General conclusions 262 10 Figures 265 11 Sources 266 12 Bibliography 269 List of figures Figure 1 Three phases of interaction between the Aegean and the Levant 265 8 List of abbreviations AA Archäologischer Anzeiger AJA American Journal of Archaeology AnatSt Anatolian Studies ANET3 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament; Pritchard, J.