Home Hesiod, Farmers, basilēes and polis: a Reconsideration
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Hesiod, Farmers, basilēes and polis: a Reconsideration

  • Mait Kõiv EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: June 3, 2025
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Submit Manuscript Author Information
Klio
From the journal Klio Volume 107 Issue 1

Summary

The article scrutinises the status of farmers addressed by Hesiod in his “Works and Days”, their relationship to polis, and the place of the society reflected in the poem in the general line of early Greek socio-political development. As Hesiod was not describing any particular farm but was advising an ‘ideal farmer’ it would be hopeless to establish the economic and social status of the poet by mechanically summarising everything concerning householding he mentions in his instructions. A critical reading of the poem shows that Hesiod represents neither ‘gentlemen farmers’ nearly equal to the basilēes, nor peasants indebted to and oppressed by them, but economically independent smallholders who formed a broad social stratum beneath the relatively modest elite, were in constant need to work hard to avoid poverty, but had the chance to acquire wealth and rise into the elite. Hesiod emphasised the farmers’ responsibility for the just order of their polis, addressing the admonishments for justice in polis to his brother presented as a failed farmer, thus showing the smallholders as rightful members of the political community. Such a society with shallow hierarchies, fluid status differences, and a feeling of common responsibility was, on the one hand, clearly different from the oppressive social conditions in Solonian Athens, while on the other hand anticipates the polis ideology expressed by Solon. The inclusionary attitude regarding the smallholders as responsible members of polis community was already established at Hesiod’s time, was threatened by the subsequent growth of social hierarchies and had to be legally confirmed, as exemplified by Solon.

Keywords: Hesiod; Archaic Greece; Archaic Greek Poetry; Polis Formation; Early Greek Society; Askra

Acknowledgement

The research has been supported by a scholarship of Gerda Henkel Foundation. I wish to thank Janusz Peters for his help with my English text.

Bibliography

Alexandridou 2017: A. Alexandridou, Special Burial Treatment of the “Heroized” Dead in the Attic Countryside. The Case of the Elite Cemetery of Vary, in: X. Charalambidou – C. Morgan (eds.), Interpreting the Seventh Century BC. Tradition and Innovation, Oxford 2017, 281–192.10.2307/j.ctv170x4v6.29Search in Google Scholar

Aloni – Iannucci 2016: A. Aloni – A. Iannucci, Writing Solon, in: A. C. Loney – S. Scully (eds.), Iambus and Elegy. New Approaches, Oxford 2016, 155–172.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689743.003.0009Search in Google Scholar

Almeida 2018: J. A. Almeida, Solon’s Reception of Hesiod’s “Works and Days”, in: A. C. Loney – S. Scully (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hesiod, New York 2018, 193–206.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190209032.013.41Search in Google Scholar

Anderson 2005: G. Anderson, Before turannoi were Tyrants. Rethinking a Chapter of the Early Greek History, ClAnt 24, 2005, 173–222.10.1525/ca.2005.24.2.173Search in Google Scholar

Asheri 1963: D. Asheri, Laws of Inheritance. Distribution of Land and Political Constitutions in Ancient Greece, Historia 12, 1963, 1–21.Search in Google Scholar

Austin – Vidal-Naquet 1977: M. M. Austin – P. Vidal-Naquet, Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece. An Introduction, Berkeley – Los Angeles 1977.Search in Google Scholar

Bakker 2018: E. Bakker, Hesiod in Performance, in: A. C. Loney – S. Scully (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hesiod, New York 2018, 143–156.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190209032.013.11Search in Google Scholar

Balot 2001: R. Balot, Greed and Injustice in Classical Athens, Princeton 2001.10.1515/9780691220154Search in Google Scholar

Barry 2016: W. Barry, Alone in the Village, CP 111, 2016, 305–329.10.1086/688644Search in Google Scholar

Beck 2020: H. Beck, Localism and the Ancient Greek City-State, Chicago – London 2020.10.7208/chicago/9780226711515.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff 1996: J. Bintliff, The Archaeological Survey of the Valley of Muses and Its Significance for Boeotian History, Recherches et Recontres 7, 1996, 193–210.Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff 2006a: J. Bintliff, City-Country Relationship in the “Normal Polis”, in: R. M. Rosen – I. Sluiter (eds.), City, Countryside, and the Spatial Organization of Value in Classical Antiquity, Leiden – Boston 2006, 13–32.10.1163/9789047409182_003Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff 2006b: J. Bintliff, Solon’s Reforms. An Archaeological Perspective, in: J. H. Blok – A.P.M.H. Lardinois (eds.), Solon of Athens. New Historical and Philological Approaches, Leiden – Boston 2006, 321–333.10.1163/9789047408895_015Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff 2012: J. Bintliff, The Complete Archaeology of Greece. From Hunter-Gatherers to the 20th Century AD, Malden – Oxford – Chichester 2012.10.1002/9781118255179Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff 2022: J. Bintliff, Archaeological Approaches to the Archaic Era, in: J. Bernhardt – M. Canevaro, from Homer to Solon. Continuity and Change in Archaic Greece, Leiden – Boston 2022, 29–36.10.1163/9789004513631_003Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff et al. 2007: J. Bintliff – P. Howard – A. Snodgrass, Testing the Hinterland. The Work of the Boeotia Survey (1989–1991) in the Southern Approaches of the City of Thespiai, Cambridge 2007.Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff et al. 2017: J. Bintliff – E. Farinetti – B. Slapšak – A. Snodgrass, Boeotia Project, II: The City of Thespiai Survey at a Complex Urban Site, Cambridge 2017.Search in Google Scholar

Bintliff – Snodgrass 1989: J. Bintliff – A. Snodgrass, From Polis to Chorion in South-West Boeotia, in: H. Beister – J. Buckler (eds.), Boiotika. Vorträge vom 5. Internationalen Böotien-Kolloquium zu Ehren von Professor Dr. Siegfried Lauffer, München 1989.Search in Google Scholar

Bravo 1977: B. Bravo, Remarques sur les assises sociales, les formes d’organisation et la terminologie du commerce maritime grec a l’époque archaïque, DHA 3, 1977, 1–59.10.3406/dha.1977.2688Search in Google Scholar

Burford 1993: A. Burford, Land and Labor in the Greek World, Baltimore – London 1993.Search in Google Scholar

Burford Cooper 1977: A. Burford Cooper, The Family Farm in Greece, ClJ 73, 1977, 162–175.10.1016/S0145-305X(77)80001-3Search in Google Scholar

Burgess 2001: J. S. Burgess, The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle, Baltimore – London 2001.Search in Google Scholar

Burkert 1976: W. Burkert, Das hunderttorige Theben und die Datierung der „Ilias“, Wiener Studien 10, 1976, 5–21.Search in Google Scholar

Canevaro 2015: L. G. Canevaro, Hesiod’s Works and Days. How to Teach Self-Sufficiency, Oxford – New York 2015.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198729549.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Canevaro 2022: M. Canevaro, Social Mobility vs. Societal Stability. Once again on the Aims and Meaning of Solon’s Reforms, in: J. Bernhardt – M. Canevaro (eds.), From Homer to Solon. Continuity and Change in Archaic Greece, Leiden – Boston 2022, 363–413.10.1163/9789004513631_015Search in Google Scholar

Carlier 1984: P. Carlier, La Royauté en Grèce avant Alexandre, Strasbourg 1984.Search in Google Scholar

Clay 2003: J. S. Clay, Hesiod’s Cosmos, Cambridge 2003.Search in Google Scholar

Clay 2009: J. S. Clay, “Works and Days”. Tracing the Path to arete, in: F. Montanari – A. Rengakos – C. Tsagalis (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Hesiod, Leiden – Boston 2009, 71–90.10.1163/9789047440758_005Search in Google Scholar

Coldstream 2003: N. J. Coldstream, Geometric Greece 900–700 BC, London – New York 20032.10.4324/9780203425763Search in Google Scholar

Deger-Jalkotzy – Lemos 2006: S. Deger-Jalkotzy – I. Lemos (eds.), Ancient Greece. From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer, Edinburgh 2006.10.1515/9780748627295Search in Google Scholar

De Ste. Croix 2004: G.E.M. De Ste. Croix, Athenian Democratic Origins and Other Essays, Oxford 2004.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255177.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

D’Onofrio 2017: A. M. D’Onofrio, Athenian Burial Practices and Cultural Change. The Rundbau Early Plot on the Kerameikos Cemetery Revisited, in: X. Charalambidou – C. Morgan (eds.), Interpreting the Seventh Century BC. Tradition and Innovation, Oxford 2017, 260–280.10.2307/j.ctv170x4v6.28Search in Google Scholar

Doronzio 2018: A. Doronzio, Athen im 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Räume und Funde der frühen Polis, Berlin – Boston 2018.10.1515/9783110526264Search in Google Scholar

Duplouy 2006: A. Duplouy, Le prestige des élites. Recherches sur les modes de reconnaissance sociale en Grèce entre les Xe et Ve siècle avant J.-C., Paris 2006.Search in Google Scholar

Eder – Lemos 2020: B. Eder – I. Lemos, Emergence of Early Iron Age Communities, in: I. S. Lemos – A. Kotsonas (eds.), A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean I, Singapore 2020, 133–160.10.1002/9781118769966Search in Google Scholar

Edwards 2004: A. T. Edwards, Hesiod’s Ascra, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London 2004.10.1525/california/9780520236585.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Edwards 2024: A. T. Edwards, Solon and the Demos in His Poetry, in: S. D. Gartland – D. W. Tandy (eds.), Voiceless, Invisible, and Countless in Ancient Greece. The Experience of Subordinates, New York 2024, 37–66.10.1093/9780191995514.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Elmer 2013: D. F. Elmer, The Poetics of Consent. Collective Decision Making in the “Iliad”, Baltimore 2013.10.1353/book.21075Search in Google Scholar

Evelyn-White 1914: Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. With an English Translation by H. G. Evelyn-White (Loeb Classical Library), Cambridge (MA) – London 1914.Search in Google Scholar

Faraone 2021: C. A. Faraone, Oracular Commands and Avuncular Advice in the Hesiodic Calendars for Farming and Sailing (“Works and Days” 338–694), TAPA 151, 2021, 247–263.10.1353/apa.2021.0010Search in Google Scholar

Finkelberg 2017: M. Finkelberg, Homer at the Panathenaia. Some Possible Scenarios, in: C. Tsagalis – A. Markantonantos (eds.), The Winnowing Oar – New Perspectives in Homeric Studies, Berlin 2017, 29–40.10.1515/9783110559873-003Search in Google Scholar

Finkelberg 2018: M. Finkelberg, The Formation of the Homeric Epics, in: F.-H. Mutschler (ed.), Singing the World. The Homeric Epics and the Chinese Book of Songs Compared, Cambridge 2018, 15–38.Search in Google Scholar

Fossey 1988: J. Fossey, Topography and Population of Ancient Boiotia, Chicago 1988.Search in Google Scholar

Frass 2020: S. Frass, Die Institutionalisierung elitärer Konkurrenz in der homerischen Volksversammlung, in: J. B. Meister – G. Seelentag (eds.), Konkurrenz und Institutionalisierung in der griechischen Archaik, Stuttgart 2020, 217–233.Search in Google Scholar

Fried 1967: M. H. Fried, The Evolution of Political Society. An Essay in Political Anthropology, New York 1967.Search in Google Scholar

Gagarin 1986: M. Gagarin, Early Greek Law, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London 1986.Search in Google Scholar

Gartland – Tandy 2024: S. D. Gartland – D. W. Tandy, Introduction. Subordination in Boiotia, in: S. D. Gartland – D. W. Tandy (eds.), Voiceless, Invisible, and Countless in Ancient Greece. The Experience of Subordinates, New York 2024, 1–16.10.1093/9780191995514.003.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hall 2007: J. M. Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World ca. 1200–479 BCE, Malden – Oxford – Carlton 2007, 1–16.Search in Google Scholar

Halstead 2002: P. Halstead, Traditional and Ancient Rural Economy in Mediterranean Europe. Plus ça change?, in: W. Scheidel – S. von Reden (eds.), The Ancient Economy, New York 2002, 53–70.10.1515/9781474472326-009Search in Google Scholar

Halstead 2015: P. Halstead, Two Oxen Ahead. Pre-Mechanized Farming in the Mediterranean, Malden – Oxford – Chichester 2015.10.1002/9781118819333Search in Google Scholar

Hansen 2004: M. H. Hansen, Boiotia, in: M. H. Hansen – T. H. Nielsen (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford 2004, 431–461.10.1093/oso/9780198140993.003.0037Search in Google Scholar

Hansen 2004: M. H. Hansen, Introduction, in: M. H. Hansen – T. H. Nielsen (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford 2004, 3–153.10.1093/oso/9780198140993.003.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hanson 1995: V. D. Hanson, The Other Greeks. Family Farm and the Agrarin Roots of Western Civilization, New York et al. 1995.Search in Google Scholar

Harris 1997: E. M. Harris, A New Solution to the Riddle of seisachtheia, in: L. G. Mitchell – P. J. Rhodes (eds.), The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, London – New York 1997, 103–112.10.4324/9780203440827_chapter_9Search in Google Scholar

Harris 2002: E. M. Harris, Did Solon Abolish Debt-Bondage?, CQ 52, 2002, 415–430.10.1093/cq/52.2.415Search in Google Scholar

Harris 2012: E. M. Harris, Homer, Hesiod and the “Origins” of Greek Slavery, REA 114, 2012, 345–366.10.3406/rea.2012.7067Search in Google Scholar

Hawke 2011: J. Hawke, Writing Authority. Elite Competition and Written Law in Early Greece, Illinois 2011.10.1515/9781501758164Search in Google Scholar

Heath 1985: M. Heath, Hesiod’s Didactic Poetry, CQ 35, 1985, 245–263.10.1017/S0009838800040155Search in Google Scholar

Hunter 2014: R. Hunter, Hesiodic Voices. Studies in Ancient Reception of Hesiod’s Works and Days, Cambridge – New York 2014.10.1017/CBO9781107110816Search in Google Scholar

Hurwit 1999: J. M. Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis. History, Mythology and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present, Cambridge 1999.Search in Google Scholar

Isager – Skydsgaard 1992: S. Isager – J. E. Skydsgaard, Ancient Greek Agriculture. An Introduction, London – New York 1992.10.4324/9780203294901Search in Google Scholar

Itgenshorst 2014: T. Itgenshorst, Denker und Gemeinschaft. Polis und politisches Denken im archaischen Griechenland, Paderborn 2014.10.30965/9783657778911Search in Google Scholar

Ito 2004: T. Ito, Did the hektemoroi exist?, PP 59, 2004, 241–247.10.5179/benthos1996.59.2_61Search in Google Scholar

Jailenko 1988: V. P. Jailenko, Die sozialstrukturelle Charakteristik der hesiodischen Polis im Epos “Werke und Tage”, Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1988, 95–111.10.1524/jbwg.1988.29.4.95Search in Google Scholar

Janko 1982: R. Janko, Homer, Hesiod, and the Hymns. Diachronic Development in Epic Diction, Cambridge et al. 1982.Search in Google Scholar

Jew 2022: D. Jew, The Agricultural Economy, in: S. von Reden (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Economy, Cambridge 2022, 186–201.10.1017/9781108265249.013Search in Google Scholar

Johnson – Earle 1987: S.A.W. Johnson – T. Earle, The Evolution of Human Societies. From Foraging Group to Agrarian State, Stanford 1987.Search in Google Scholar

Kagan – Viggiano 2013: D. Kagan – F. G. Viggiano (eds.), Men of Bronze. Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece, Princeton – Oxford 2013.10.23943/princeton/9780691143019.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Kirsten 1956: E. Kirsten, Die griechische Polis als historisch-geographisches Problem des Mittelmeerraumes, Bonn 1956.Search in Google Scholar

Kistler 1998: E. Kistler, Die „Opferinnen-Zeremonie“. Bankettideologie am Grab, Orientalisierung und Formierung einer Adelsgesellschaft in Athen, Stuttgart 1998.Search in Google Scholar

Knodell 2021: A. R. Knodell, Societies in Transition in Early Greece. An Archaeological History, Oakland, California 2021.10.1515/9780520380547Search in Google Scholar

Koerner 1993: R. Koerner, Inschriftliche Gesetztexte der frühen griechischen Polis, ed. K. Hallof, Köln – Weimar – Wien 1993.10.7788/9783412305284Search in Google Scholar

Kõiv 2011: M. Kõiv, A Note on the Dating of Hesiod, CQ 61, 2011, 355–377.10.1017/S0009838811000127Search in Google Scholar

Kõiv 2016: M. Kõiv, Basileus, tyrannos and Polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece, Klio 98, 2016, 1–89.10.1515/klio-2016-0001Search in Google Scholar

Kõiv 2021: M. Kõiv, Why did the Greeks Hate the Tyrants? A Comparative View on Monarchy in Archaic Greece, Historia 70, 2021, 134–184.10.25162/historia-2021-0007Search in Google Scholar

Koning 2010: H. G. Koning, The Other Poet. The Ancient Reception of Hesiod (Mnemosyne Supplement 325), Leiden – Boston 2010.10.1163/ej.9789004186163.i-440Search in Google Scholar

Koning 2018: H. G. Koning, The Hesiodic Question, in: A. C. Loney – S. Scully (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hesiod, Oxford, 2018, 17–29.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190209032.013.32Search in Google Scholar

Lamberton 1988: R. Lamberton, Hesiod, New Haven – London 1988.Search in Google Scholar

Lardinois 2006: A.P.M.H. Lardinois, Have We Solon’s Verses?, in: J. H. Blok – A.P.M.H. Lardinois (eds.), Solon of Athens. New Historical and Philological Approaches, Leiden – Boston 2006, 15–35.10.1163/9789047408895_003Search in Google Scholar

Larson 2018: S. Larson, Seventh-Century Material Culture in Boiotia, in: A. C. Loney – S. Scully (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hesiod, Oxford 2018, 31–42.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190209032.013.33Search in Google Scholar

Lemos 2002: I. S. Lemos, The Protogeometric Aegean. The Archaeology of Eleventh and Tenth Centuries BC, Oxford 2002.10.1093/oso/9780199253449.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Lewis 2017: D. Lewis, Making Law Grip. Inequality, Injustice, and Legal Remedy in Solonian Attica and Ancient Israel, in: I. K. Xydopoulos – K. Vlassopoulos – E. Tounta (eds.), Violence and Community Law, Space and Identity in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean World, London – New York 2017, 28–49.10.4324/9781315548159-2Search in Google Scholar

Lewis 2018: D. M. Lewis, Greek Slave Systems in Their Eastern Mediterranean Context, c. 800–146 BC, Oxford 2018.10.1093/oso/9780198769941.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Lewis 2008: J. D. Lewis, Solon the Thinker. Political Thought in Archaic Athens, London 2008.Search in Google Scholar

Link 1991: S. Link, Landverteilung und sozialer Frieden im archaischen Griechenland, Stuttgart 1991.Search in Google Scholar

Luce 1978: J. V. Luce, Polis in Homer and Hesiod, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 78 (C), 1978, 1–15.Search in Google Scholar

Luraghi 2009: N. Luraghi, The Helots. Comparative Approaches, Ancient and Modern, in: S. Hodkinson (ed.), Sparta. Comparative Approaches, Swansea 2009, 261–304.10.2307/j.ctvvnb97.10Search in Google Scholar

Ma 2024: J. Ma, Polis. A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity, Princeton – Oxford 2024.10.1515/9780691255484Search in Google Scholar

Martin 1992: R. P. Martin, Hesiod’s Metanastic Poetics, Ramus 21, 1992, 11–23.10.1017/S0048671X00002654Search in Google Scholar

Martin 2004: R. P. Martin, Hesiod and the Didactic Double, Synthesis 11, 2004, 31–53.10.1179/174227104225011777Search in Google Scholar

Mazarakis-Ainian – Alexandridou – Charalambidou 2017: A. Mazarakis-Ainian – A. Alexandridou – X. Charalambidou (eds.), Regional Stories. Towards a New Perception of the Early Greek World. Acts of an International Symposium in Honour of Professor Jan Bouzek, Volos 18–21 June 2015, Volos 2017.Search in Google Scholar

McHugh 2017: M. McHugh, The Ancient Greek Farmstead, Oxford 2017.10.2307/j.ctvh1dsmrSearch in Google Scholar

Meier 2012: M. Meier, Die athenischen Hektemoroi – eine Erfindung, HZ 294, 2012, 1–29.10.1524/hzhz.2012.0001Search in Google Scholar

Meister 2020: J. B. Meister, „Adel“ und gesellschaftliche Differenzierung im archaischen und frühklassischen Griechenland, Stuttgart 2020.10.25162/9783515127288Search in Google Scholar

Meister 2022: J. B. Meister, “Bought, not wed!” Hesiod and the Aristocratic ‘Peasants’, in: J. Bernhardt – M. Canevaro (eds.), From Homer to Solon. Continuity and Change in Archaic Greece, Leiden – Boston 2022, 115–135.10.1163/9789004513631_007Search in Google Scholar

Mele 1979: A. Mele, Il commercio greco arcaico. Prexis ed emporie, Neaples 1979.10.4000/books.pcjb.985Search in Google Scholar

Millett 1984: P. Millett, Hesiod and His World, PCPS 210, 1984, 84–115.10.1017/S006867350000465XSearch in Google Scholar

Mitchell 2013: L. Mitchell, The Heroic Rulers of Archaic and Classical Greece, London et al. 2013.10.5040/9780755607457.ch-004Search in Google Scholar

Mojsik 2019: T. Mojsik, From Hesiod’s Tripod to Thespian Mouseia. Archaeological Evidence and Cultural Contexts, Klio 101, 2019, 405–426.10.1515/klio-2019-0036Search in Google Scholar

Morris 1987: I. Morris, Burial and Ancient Society. The Rise of the Greek City-State, Cambridge 1987.Search in Google Scholar

Morris 2000: I. Morris, Archaeology as Cultural History. Words and Things in Iron Age Greece, Malden – Oxford 2000.Search in Google Scholar

Most 2006: Hesiod. Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge (MA) – London 2006.10.3998/mpub.162385Search in Google Scholar

Murray 1980: O. Murray, Early Greece, Sussex – New Jersey 1980.Search in Google Scholar

Nagy 1982: G. Nagy, Hesiod, in: T. J. Luce (ed.), Ancient Writers, I: Homer to Caesar, New York 1982, 43–73.Search in Google Scholar

Nagy 2009: G. Nagy, Hesiod and the Ancient Biographical Tradition, in: F. Montanari – A. Regnakos – C. Tsagalis (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Hesiod, Leiden – Boston 2009, 271–311.10.1163/9789047440758_012Search in Google Scholar

Ndoye 2010: M. Ndoye, Groupes sociaux et idéologie du travail dans les mondes homérique et hésiodique, Besançon 2010.10.3406/ista.2010.1808Search in Google Scholar

Noussia-Fantuzzi 2010: M. Noussia-Fantuzzi, Solon the Athenian, the Poetic Fragments, Leiden – Boston 2010.10.1163/ej.9789004174788.i-580Search in Google Scholar

Ober 2015: J. Ober, The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece, Princeton – London 2015.10.1515/9781400865550Search in Google Scholar

Osborne 1996: R. Osborne, Pots, Trade and the Archaic Greek Economy, Antiquity 70, 1996, 31–44.10.1017/S0003598X00082867Search in Google Scholar

Osborne 2009: R. Osborne, Greece in the Making, 1200–479 BC, London – New York 2009².10.4324/9780203880173Search in Google Scholar

Polanyi 1944: K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation, New York 1944.Search in Google Scholar

Raaflaub 1993: K. A. Raaflaub, Homer to Solon. The Rise of the Polis. The Written Sources, in: M. H. Hansen (ed.), The Ancient Greek City-State, Copenhagen 1993, 41–105.Search in Google Scholar

Raaflaub 2018: K. A. Raaflaub, The ‘Great Leap’ in Early Greek Politics and Political Thought. A Comparative Perspective, in: D. Allen – P. Christesen – P. Millett (eds.), How to Do Things with History. New Approaches to Ancient Greece, Oxford 2018, 21–54.10.1093/oso/9780190649890.003.0002Search in Google Scholar

Raaflaub – Wallace 2007: K. A. Raaflaub – R. W. Wallace, “People’s Power” and Egalitarian Trends in Archaic Greece, in: K. Raaflaub – J. Ober – R. W. Wallace (eds.), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London 2007, 22–48.10.1525/california/9780520245624.003.0002Search in Google Scholar

Rihll 1993: T. Rihll, War, Slavery, and Settlement in Early Greece, in: J. Rich – G. Shipley (eds.), War and Society in the Greek World, London – New York 1993.Search in Google Scholar

Rihll 1996: T. Rihll, The Origin and Establishment of Ancient Greek Slavery, in: M. L. Bush (ed.), Serfdom and Slavery. Studies in Legal Bondage, London – New York 1996.Search in Google Scholar

Rönnberg 2021: M. Rönnberg, Athen und Attika vom 11. bis zum frühen 6. Jh. v. Chr. Siedlungsgeschichte, politische Institutionalisierungs- und gesellschaftliche Formierungsprozesse, Rahden 2021.Search in Google Scholar

Rosen 1990: R. M. Rosen, Poetry and Sailing in Hesiod’s Works and Days, ClAnt 9, 1990, 99–113.10.2307/25010922Search in Google Scholar

Sahlins 1963: M. Sahlins, Poor Man, Rich Man, Big Man, Chief. Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia, Comparative Studies in Society and History 5, 1963, 285–303.10.1017/S0010417500001729Search in Google Scholar

Scheidel 2017: W. Scheidel, The Great Leveller. Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century, Princeton – Oxford 2017.10.1515/9781400884605Search in Google Scholar

Schmidt 2002: J.-U. Schmidt, Thersites und das politische Anliegen des Iliasdichter, RhM 145, 2002, 129–149.Search in Google Scholar

Schmitz 2004: W. Schmitz, Nachbarschaft und Dorfgemeinschaft im archaischen und klassischen Griechenland, Berlin 2004.10.1524/9783050048369Search in Google Scholar

Schmitz 2017: W. Schmitz, Gesinde, freies, in: H. Heinen (ed.), Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei II, Stuttgart 2017, 1178–1182.Search in Google Scholar

Schmitz 2023: W. Schmitz, Leges Draconis et Solonis (LegDrSol). Eine neue Edition der Gesetze Drakons und Solons mit Übersetzung und historischer Einordnung, Stuttgart 2023.10.25162/9783515133623Search in Google Scholar

Scodel 2012: R. Scodel, Works and Days as Performance, in: E. Minchin (ed.), Orality, Literacy and Performance in Ancient World, Leiden 2012, 111–126.10.1163/9789004217751_006Search in Google Scholar

Snodgrass 1980: A. Snodgrass, Archaic Greece. The Age of Experiment, London 1980.Search in Google Scholar

Snodgrass 1985: A. Snodgrass, The Site of Askra, in: P. Roesch – G. Argoud (eds.), La Béotie antique, Paris 1985, 87–95.10.1007/BF00152399Search in Google Scholar

Stahl – Walter 2009: M. Stahl – U. Walter, Athens, in: K. A. Raaflaub – H. van Wees (eds.), A Companion to Archaic Greece, Malden – Oxford – Chichester 2009, 138–161.10.1002/9781444308761.ch8Search in Google Scholar

Starr 1977: C. G. Starr, The Economic and Social Growth of Early Greece, 800–500 B.C., New York 1977.Search in Google Scholar

Starr 1982: C. G. Starr, Economic and Social Conditions in the Greek World, in: J. Boardman – N.G.L. Hammond (eds.), CAH III, 3: The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C., Cambridge et al. 19822, 417–441.10.1017/CHOL9780521234474.017Search in Google Scholar

Stehle 2006: E. Stehle, Solon’s Self-Reflexive Political Persona and Its Audience, in: J. H. Blok – A.P.M.H. Lardinois (eds.), Solon of Athens. New Historical and Philological Approaches, Leiden – Boston 2006, 79–113.10.1163/9789047408895_005Search in Google Scholar

Stein-Hölkeskamp 2019: E. Stein-Hölkeskamp, Das archaische Griechenland. Die Stadt und das Meer, München 2019².10.1007/978-3-476-04761-8_2Search in Google Scholar

Stroszeck 2014: J. Stroszeck, Die Kerameikos in Athen. Geschichte, Bauten und Denkmäler im archäeologischen Park, Athens 2014.Search in Google Scholar

Stuurman 2004: S. Stuurman, The Voice of Thersites. Reflections on the Origins of the Idea of Equality, Journal of the History of Ideas 65, 2004, 171–189.10.1353/jhi.2004.0033Search in Google Scholar

Tandy 1997: D. W. Tandy, Warriors into Traders. The Power of the Market in Early Greece, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London 1997.10.1525/9780520926264Search in Google Scholar

Tandy 2018: D. W. Tandy, In Hesiod’s World, in: A. C. Loney – S. Scully (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hesiod, Oxford 2018, 43–60.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190209032.013.34Search in Google Scholar

Taplin 1992: O. Taplin, Homeric Soundings. The Shaping of the Iliad, Oxford 1992.10.1093/oso/9780198140276.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Taylour 2022: J. Taylour, Tyrannoi in Archaic Greece. A New Phenomenon or a New Name for an Old Phenomenon?, in: J. Bernhardt – M. Canevaro (eds.), From Homer to Solon. Continuity and Change in Archaic Greece, Leiden – Boston 2022, 301–329.10.1163/9789004513631_013Search in Google Scholar

Thomas – Conant 1999: C. G. Thomas – C. Conant, Citadel to City-State. Transformation of Greece 1200–700 B.C.E., Bloomington – Indianapolis 1999.Search in Google Scholar

Ulf – Kistler 2020: C. Ulf – E. Kistler, Die Entstehung Griechenlands, Berlin – Boston 2020.10.1515/9783486824384Search in Google Scholar

Valdés Guía 2019: M. Valdés Guía, The Social and Cultural Background of Hoplite Development in Archaic Athens. Peasants, Debts, zeugitai and hoplethes, Historia 68, 2019, 388–412.10.25162/historia-2019-0021Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 1992: H. van Wees, Status Warrior. War, Violence, and Society in Homer and History, Amsterdam 1992.10.1163/9789004525559Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 1999: H. van Wees, The Mafia of Early Greece. Violent Exploitation in the Seventh and Sixth Centuries BC, in: K. Hopwood (ed.), Organized Crime in Antiquity London 1999, 1–51.10.2307/j.ctvvn934.4Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 2006: H. van Wees, Mass and Elite in the Solon’s Athens. The Property Classes Revisited, in: J. H. Blok – A.P.M.H. Lardinois (eds.), Solon of Athens. New Historical and Philological Approaches, Leiden – Boston 2006, 351–389.10.1163/9789047408895_017Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 2008: H. van Wees, “Stasis Destroyer of Men”. Mass, Elite, Political Violence and Security in Archaic Greece, in: C. Brélaz – P. Ducrey (eds.), Sécurité collective et ordre publique dans les sociétés anciennes, Genève 2008, 1–48.Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 2009: H. van Wees, The Economy, in: K. A. Raaflaub – H. van Wees (eds.), A Companion to Archaic Greece, Malden – Oxford – Chichester 2009, 444–467.10.1002/9781444308761.ch23Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 2013: H. van Wees, Farmers and Hoplites. Models of Historical Development, in: D. Kagan – G. F. Viggiano (eds.), Men of Bronze. Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece, Princeton – Oxford 2013, 222–255.10.2307/j.ctt2855dr.17Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 2021: H. van Wees, Slaving Practices in the Early Greek World, in: S. Hodkinson – M. Kleijwegt – K. Vlassopoulos (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries, Oxford 2021.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199575251.013.40Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees 2022: H. van Wees, The Archaic Period, in: S. von Reden (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Economy, Cambridge 2022, 29–48.10.1017/9781108265249.003Search in Google Scholar

Van Wees – Fisher 2015: H. van Wees – N. Fisher, The Trouble with “Aristocracy”, in: N. Fisher – H. van Wees (eds.), “Aristocracy” in Antiquity. Redefining Greek and Roman Elites, Swansea 2015, 1–57.10.2307/j.ctvvn9xwSearch in Google Scholar

Varga 2019: S. Varga, Leben in Gemeinschaft. Politische Anthropologie anhand Hesiod, Hamburg 2019.Search in Google Scholar

Verdenius 1985: W. J. Verdenius, A Commentary on Hesiod’s Works and Days vv. 1–382, Leiden 1985.10.1163/9789004328211_002Search in Google Scholar

Wallace 1974: P. Wallace, Hesiod and the Valley of Muses, GRBS 15, 1974, 5–24.10.1512/iumj.1974.24.24010Search in Google Scholar

Weçowski 2014: M. Weçowski, The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet, Oxford – New York 2014.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199684014.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Welwei 2011: K.-W. Welwei, Athen. Von den Anfängen bis zum Beginn des Hellenismus, Darmstadt 2011.Search in Google Scholar

Werlings 2010: M.-J. Werlings, Le dèmos avant la démocratie. Mots, concepts, réalités historiques, Paris 2010.10.4000/books.pupo.2345Search in Google Scholar

West 1966: M. L. West, Hesiod Theogony. Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary, Oxford 1966.Search in Google Scholar

West 1978: M. L. West, Hesiod. Works and Days. Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary, Oxford 1978.Search in Google Scholar

West 1995: M. L. West, The Date of the Iliad, Mus.Helv. 52, 1995, 203–219.Search in Google Scholar

West 1997: M. L. West, The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth, Oxford 1997.10.1093/oso/9780198150428.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

West 2011: M. L. West, The Making of the Iliad. Disquisition and Analytic Commentary, Oxford – New York 2011.10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199590070.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

West 2014: M. L. West, The Making of the Odyssey, Oxford – New York 2014.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718369.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Whitley 2001: J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Cambridge 2001.Search in Google Scholar

Whitley 2020: J. Whitley, The Re-Emergence of Political Complexity, in: I. S. Lemos – A. Kotsonas (eds.), A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean, Singapore 2020, 161–186.10.1002/9781118769966.ch7Search in Google Scholar

Will 1957: Eduard Will, Homèr, Hésiode et l’arrière-plan Mycenien, REA 59, 1957, 5–55.10.3406/rea.1957.3557Search in Google Scholar

Will 1965: Ernest Will, Hésiode. Crise agraire? Ou recul de l’aristocratie? REG 78, 1965, 542–556.10.3406/reg.1965.3840Search in Google Scholar

Zurbach 2017: J. Zurbach, Les hommes, la terre et la dette en Grèce c. 1400– c. 500 a.C., Bordeaux 2017.Search in Google Scholar

Zurbach 2024: J. Zurbach, A Moral Economy and the Demos in Early Archaic Greece, in: S. D. Gartland – D. W. Tandy (eds.), Voiceless, Invisible, and Countless in Ancient Greece. The Experience of Subordinates, New York 2024, 17–36.10.1093/9780191995514.003.0002Search in Google Scholar
Online erschienen: 2025-06-03
Erschienen im Druck: 2025-06-02

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelseiten
  2. Dis manibus Manfred Clauss
  3. Aufsätze
  4. The Word of the King: Royal Truthfulness and some Cases of Royal Multilingualism in Ancient Eurasia
  5. Hesiod, Farmers, basilēes and polis: a Reconsideration
  6. „Wie anwachsende Jahresringe“: Thukydides’ Kriegschronologie und ihr Kontext
  7. IG I3 89 and the Argead Family Tree
  8. Beyond the Constitutions of Marcus: Cassius Dio, Italian ‘Volksrecht’, and the Trouble with Law on the Books
  9. “Non penso sia giusto per un medico ignorare completamente l’ars coquinaria”: la dieta malsana delle élites di Roma imperiale
  10. Promoción municipal, condición estatutaria y flaminado: algunas consideraciones jurídicas sobre los flamines municipales y provinciales en Hispania
  11. Zenobia, the Great Jewish Queen? Re-analysing Zenobia’s Attitude to Monotheism, Judaism and Its Reasonings
  12. Literaturkritik
  13. Michael Streck, Altorientalistik. Einführung, Baden-Baden (Nomos) 2023, 290 S., ISBN 973-3-8487-8197-3 (brosch.), € 29,–
  14. Carolina López-Ruiz, Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean, Cambridge (Harvard University Press) 2021, 440 S., ISBN 978-0-674-98818-7 (geb.), $ 46,–
  15. Chiara Matarese, Deportationen im Perserreich in teispidisch-achaimenidischer Zeit, Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz) 2021 (Classica et Orientalia 27), XII, 318 S., ISBN 978-3-447-11594-0 (geb.), € 78,–
  16. Virginia M. Lewis, Myth, Locality, and Identity in Pindar’s Sicilian Odes, New York (Oxford University Press) 2020 (Greeks Overseas), XX, 284 S., ISBN 978-0-19-091031-0 (geb.), £ 96,–
  17. Gianluca De Martino, The Cult of Poseidoniate Hera and the Lucanians in Poseidonia/Paistom. An Ancient Story of Religion and Muticulturalism, Helsinki – Vaasa (Societas Scientiarum Fennica) 2023 (Commentiones Humanarum Litterarum 145), 329 S., ISBN 978-951-653-496-4 (brosch.), € 30,–
  18. Charlotte Schubert, Isonomia. Entwicklung und Geschichte, Berlin – Boston (De Gruyter) 2021 (Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 392), VIII, 329 S., ISBN 978-3-11-071796-9, € 139,95
  19. Stefano G. Caneva, The Power of Naming. Studies in the Epicletic Language of Hellenistic Honours, Liège (Presses Universitaires de Liège) 2023 (Kernos Supplément 41), 404 S., ISBN 978-2-87562-358-4 (brosch.), € 30,–
  20. Errington, R. Malcom (Hg.): Die Staatsverträge des Altertums, IV: Die Verträge der griechisch-römischen Welt von ca. 200 v. Chr. bis zum Beginn der Kaiserzeit. Unter redaktioneller Mitarbeit von Isabelle Mossong, München (C.H.Beck) 2020, XXI, 663 S., ISBN 978-3-406-02696-6 (geb.), € 128,–
  21. Julie Bothorel, Gouverner par le hasard: le tirage au sort des provinces à Rome (IIIe s. av. J.-C.–Ier s. ap. J.-C.), Rom (École française de Rome) 2023 (Collection de L’École française de Rome 604), 569 S., ISBN 978-2-7283-1579-6 (geb.), € 36,–
  22. Bradley Buszard, Greek Translations of Roman Gods, Berlin – Boston (De Gruyter) 2023, XII, 324 S., ISBN 978-3-11-107179-4 (geb.), € 119,95
  23. Claudio Vacanti, Lucio Elio Seiano. Il potere all’ombra dell’imperatore Tiberio, Rom (Carroci) 2022 (Studi Storici Carocci), 216 S., ISBN 978-88-290-1711-9 (brosch.), € 22,80
  24. Jack W. G. Schropp, Pugna litterarum. Studien zur kompetitiven Geschichtsschreibung in der griechisch-römischen Literaturelite der Kaiserzeit, München (C.H.Beck) 2023 (Vestigia 7), VIII, 439 S., ISBN 978-3-406-80676-6 (geb.), € 78,–
  25. Jonas Osnabrügge, Die epigraphische Kultur an Oberrhein und Neckar in römischer Zeit, Stuttgart (Franz Steiner Verlag) 2024, (HABES – Heidelberger Althistorische Beiträge und Epigraphische Studien 66), 33 s/w Tab., 4 s/w Grafiken, 27 farbige Tafeln, 702 S., ISBN 978-3-515-13556-6 (geb.), € 98,–
  26. Ulrike Babusiaux – Christian Baldus – Wolfgang Ernst – Franz-Stefan Meissel – Johannes Platschek – Thomas Rüfner, Handbuch des Römischen Privatrechts, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2023, 2 Bd., XCVI, 3707 S., ISBN 978-3-16-152359-5 (geb.), € 629,–
https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2024-0028
Keywords for this article
Hesiod; Archaic Greece; Archaic Greek Poetry; Polis Formation; Early Greek Society; Askra

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelseiten
  2. Dis manibus Manfred Clauss
  3. Aufsätze
  4. The Word of the King: Royal Truthfulness and some Cases of Royal Multilingualism in Ancient Eurasia
  5. Hesiod, Farmers, basilēes and polis: a Reconsideration
  6. „Wie anwachsende Jahresringe“: Thukydides’ Kriegschronologie und ihr Kontext
  7. IG I3 89 and the Argead Family Tree
  8. Beyond the Constitutions of Marcus: Cassius Dio, Italian ‘Volksrecht’, and the Trouble with Law on the Books
  9. “Non penso sia giusto per un medico ignorare completamente l’ars coquinaria”: la dieta malsana delle élites di Roma imperiale
  10. Promoción municipal, condición estatutaria y flaminado: algunas consideraciones jurídicas sobre los flamines municipales y provinciales en Hispania
  11. Zenobia, the Great Jewish Queen? Re-analysing Zenobia’s Attitude to Monotheism, Judaism and Its Reasonings
  12. Literaturkritik
  13. Michael Streck, Altorientalistik. Einführung, Baden-Baden (Nomos) 2023, 290 S., ISBN 973-3-8487-8197-3 (brosch.), € 29,–
  14. Carolina López-Ruiz, Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean, Cambridge (Harvard University Press) 2021, 440 S., ISBN 978-0-674-98818-7 (geb.), $ 46,–
  15. Chiara Matarese, Deportationen im Perserreich in teispidisch-achaimenidischer Zeit, Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz) 2021 (Classica et Orientalia 27), XII, 318 S., ISBN 978-3-447-11594-0 (geb.), € 78,–
  16. Virginia M. Lewis, Myth, Locality, and Identity in Pindar’s Sicilian Odes, New York (Oxford University Press) 2020 (Greeks Overseas), XX, 284 S., ISBN 978-0-19-091031-0 (geb.), £ 96,–
  17. Gianluca De Martino, The Cult of Poseidoniate Hera and the Lucanians in Poseidonia/Paistom. An Ancient Story of Religion and Muticulturalism, Helsinki – Vaasa (Societas Scientiarum Fennica) 2023 (Commentiones Humanarum Litterarum 145), 329 S., ISBN 978-951-653-496-4 (brosch.), € 30,–
  18. Charlotte Schubert, Isonomia. Entwicklung und Geschichte, Berlin – Boston (De Gruyter) 2021 (Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 392), VIII, 329 S., ISBN 978-3-11-071796-9, € 139,95
  19. Stefano G. Caneva, The Power of Naming. Studies in the Epicletic Language of Hellenistic Honours, Liège (Presses Universitaires de Liège) 2023 (Kernos Supplément 41), 404 S., ISBN 978-2-87562-358-4 (brosch.), € 30,–
  20. Errington, R. Malcom (Hg.): Die Staatsverträge des Altertums, IV: Die Verträge der griechisch-römischen Welt von ca. 200 v. Chr. bis zum Beginn der Kaiserzeit. Unter redaktioneller Mitarbeit von Isabelle Mossong, München (C.H.Beck) 2020, XXI, 663 S., ISBN 978-3-406-02696-6 (geb.), € 128,–
  21. Julie Bothorel, Gouverner par le hasard: le tirage au sort des provinces à Rome (IIIe s. av. J.-C.–Ier s. ap. J.-C.), Rom (École française de Rome) 2023 (Collection de L’École française de Rome 604), 569 S., ISBN 978-2-7283-1579-6 (geb.), € 36,–
  22. Bradley Buszard, Greek Translations of Roman Gods, Berlin – Boston (De Gruyter) 2023, XII, 324 S., ISBN 978-3-11-107179-4 (geb.), € 119,95
  23. Claudio Vacanti, Lucio Elio Seiano. Il potere all’ombra dell’imperatore Tiberio, Rom (Carroci) 2022 (Studi Storici Carocci), 216 S., ISBN 978-88-290-1711-9 (brosch.), € 22,80
  24. Jack W. G. Schropp, Pugna litterarum. Studien zur kompetitiven Geschichtsschreibung in der griechisch-römischen Literaturelite der Kaiserzeit, München (C.H.Beck) 2023 (Vestigia 7), VIII, 439 S., ISBN 978-3-406-80676-6 (geb.), € 78,–
  25. Jonas Osnabrügge, Die epigraphische Kultur an Oberrhein und Neckar in römischer Zeit, Stuttgart (Franz Steiner Verlag) 2024, (HABES – Heidelberger Althistorische Beiträge und Epigraphische Studien 66), 33 s/w Tab., 4 s/w Grafiken, 27 farbige Tafeln, 702 S., ISBN 978-3-515-13556-6 (geb.), € 98,–
  26. Ulrike Babusiaux – Christian Baldus – Wolfgang Ernst – Franz-Stefan Meissel – Johannes Platschek – Thomas Rüfner, Handbuch des Römischen Privatrechts, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2023, 2 Bd., XCVI, 3707 S., ISBN 978-3-16-152359-5 (geb.), € 629,–
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 28.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/klio-2024-0028/html
Scroll to top button