Individual and Community: The Rise of the Polis, 800-500 B.C.

by Chester G. Starr

Overview

During the three centuries from 800 to 500 B.C., the Greek world evolved from a primitive society—both culturally and economically—to one whose artistic products dominated all Mediterranean markets, supported by a wide overseas trade. In the following two centuries came the literary, philosophical, and artistic masterpieces of the classic area. Vital to this advance was the development of the polis, a collective institution in which citizens had rights as well as duties under the rule of law, a system hitherto unknown in human history. In this study, the first systematic exploration of the forces that created the political framework of Greek civilization, Chester Starr shows how the Greeks emerged form a Homeric world of individuals to the polis of 500 B.C. The age-old conflict between the self-serving demands of human beings and the less vocally-expressed needs of the community serves as the backbone of Starr's interdisciplinary analysis of the rise of the polis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195039719
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/20/1986
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

University of Michigan (Emeritus)

Table of Contents

I	Land, Sea, and Sun	3
	Geography and Climate	4
	A Rural World	6
	The Shining Sea	9
	Rise and Fall of the Early Aegean World	10
II	An Age of Chieftains	15
	Tribes and Chieftains	16
	Political Procedures in the Iliad	18
	The Power of the Basileus	21
	The Beginnings of Change: The Odyssey and Hesiod	24
	Social Structure and Values	27
III	Crystallization of the Polis	34
	Appearance of the Polis	35
	The Physical Evidence	37
	Anthropological Models	42
	The Early Polis	46
IV	Patriotism and Divisiveness	52
	The Demands of War	53
	Consolidation of Government	55
	The Aristocratic Way of Life	59
	Aristocratic Search for Wealth	63
V	Upheaval and Reform	67
	Cities, Coins and Thinkers	69
	Reforms: Sparta and Athens	74
	Tyrants	80
VI	The Polis World in 500 B.C.	87
	Athenian Democracy	89
	Greek Oligarchies	93
	The Perfected Polis	97
	Notes	101
	Bibliography	127
	Index	131

Editorial Reviews

"A concise attempt to pin down the historical development of the Greek polis from its 'initial crystallization' in the eighth century to the attainment of its classic form in 500....for graduate students and serious undergraduates the book is an ideal vademecum through the dim, formative period of the early city-state."—The Classical World

"An admirable essay...The book is a useful guide to what has been done on the history of the polis and raises issues suitable for investigation in seminars or individual research."—Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher