TY - CHAP

T1 - ‘Citizens' and ‘others' in archaic and early classical Crete

AU - Seelentag, Gunnar

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This chapter pursues the question of whether -and if so, to what extent -it is plausible to speak of a clearly contoured ‘citizenship’ as a catalogue of clear-cut criteria, consisting of set rights and obligations, for late archaic and early classical Greece. To do so, this chapter looks at four inscriptions from Cretan poleis, which seem to be of particular relevance to a discussion of what it might have meant to be a ‘citizen’ in a Greek polis around 500 BCE. These sources have in common that they granted individuals who had not been among the political agents of the respective polis up to that point participation in different circles of socio-political integration, like access to a plot of land and a house in the polis, access to privileged legal treatment, the possibility to contribute to the feasts held in the men’s mess halls, and to train in the gymnasion and others. The chapter aims to illustrate that these and other modes of socio-political integration, which were meaningful to individuals and groups, did not result from an already strong presence of the polis-community but rather were steps towards it: the participation of a man in a number of these circles and his herein reflected acceptance by his peers to be one among them were necessary preconditions for his participation in the polis. Communities in archaic and early classical Greece manifested themselves as the sums and intersections of various modes of participation. So if we want to find out what the origins of the notion of ‘citizenship’ were, we should not be looking at ‘participating in the polis’ but rather at ‘participating in various circles of socio-political integration’ -for taking part in the polis probably was not the most meaningful mode of every-day participation for a political agent.

AB - This chapter pursues the question of whether -and if so, to what extent -it is plausible to speak of a clearly contoured ‘citizenship’ as a catalogue of clear-cut criteria, consisting of set rights and obligations, for late archaic and early classical Greece. To do so, this chapter looks at four inscriptions from Cretan poleis, which seem to be of particular relevance to a discussion of what it might have meant to be a ‘citizen’ in a Greek polis around 500 BCE. These sources have in common that they granted individuals who had not been among the political agents of the respective polis up to that point participation in different circles of socio-political integration, like access to a plot of land and a house in the polis, access to privileged legal treatment, the possibility to contribute to the feasts held in the men’s mess halls, and to train in the gymnasion and others. The chapter aims to illustrate that these and other modes of socio-political integration, which were meaningful to individuals and groups, did not result from an already strong presence of the polis-community but rather were steps towards it: the participation of a man in a number of these circles and his herein reflected acceptance by his peers to be one among them were necessary preconditions for his participation in the polis. Communities in archaic and early classical Greece manifested themselves as the sums and intersections of various modes of participation. So if we want to find out what the origins of the notion of ‘citizenship’ were, we should not be looking at ‘participating in the polis’ but rather at ‘participating in various circles of socio-political integration’ -for taking part in the polis probably was not the most meaningful mode of every-day participation for a political agent.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179227120&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781003138730-15

DO - 10.4324/9781003138730-15

M3 - Contribution to book/anthology

AN - SCOPUS:85179227120

SN - 9780367687113

SP - 165

EP - 178

BT - Citizenship in Antiquity

PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.

ER -