Even more than the noise and the clouds of dust raised by men and horses, the flashing of bronze armour and weapons is characteristic of Homeric panoramas of battle. When the Greeks armed themselves with helmets, shields, corslets and spears, the brightness lit up the sky, and all around the earth beamed in the shine of bronze (19.359–63). It blinded eyes, the glare of bronze from shining helmets, newly-polished corslets and bright shields, as they advanced in their masses (14.340–3).
What decides the outcome of a Homeric battle? This may sound like one of those arcane problems only a devoted Homer-specialist would care to raise, but in fact the question strikes at the root of major issues in archaic Greek history.The orthodox answer is that Homeric battles were decided by single combats between champions, with the rest of the warriors only marginally influencing the fighting. It is added that these champions were aristocrats, ‘knights’. On this interpretation many have argued that the political dominance of archaic Greek aristocrats was largely based on their military dominance, and that their power was seriously impaired when, in the seventh century B.C., military prominence shifted to the mass, the ‘commoners’; this change in the balance of power contributed crucially to the rise of the polis and the emergence of tyrannies. In outline the theory derives from Aristotle(Pol. 1297 b) and is firmly entrenched in modern works.
Hans van Wees Solon's world was a simple place. For him, there were only two social groups: 'the people' (dêmos) and 'the leaders of the people'. 1 The leaders were 'greater and superior in force'; they 'had power and were admired for their wealth'. 2 Although Solon criticised this ruling class for its greed and hybris, he referred to it in time-honoured fashion as 'the good men' (agathoi, esthloi), while calling their lower-class victims 'the bad men' (kakoi, deiloi). 3 He was no more specific when, in defence of his reforms, he claimed that he had liberated 'the people' from 'slavery', and had given 'bad man and good man' equality before the law. 4 Later accounts agreed that a sharp dividing line ran through early Athenian society between a few rich and powerful 'notables' (gnôrimoi) and the 'enslaved' masses, and they fleshed out this picture with a range of colourful status terms not attested in the fragments of Solon's own work: the 'well-born' (eupatridai) on one side, 'sixth-parters' (hektêmoroi) and 'dependants' (pelatai) on the other. 5 At the same time, the Athenians were divided into four-rather than two-property classes, called, in descending order of wealth, 'five-hundred-medimnoi-men' (pentakosiomedimnoi), 'horsemen' (hippeis), 'yoke-men' (zeugitai) and 'hired men' (thêtes). 6 Modern studies usually assume that the highest two property classes corresponded to the elite while the 'yoke-men' and 'hired men' consti
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.