Homer's Entangled Objects: Narrative, Agency and Personhood In and Out of Iron Age Texts

Whitley, James

doi:10.1017/s095977431300053x

Cited by 28 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…(2009) 66-67;Osborne (1996) 70-88;Dickinson (2006a) 193-195;Hall (2007) 78-79; on the development of sanctuaries Snodgrass (1980) 52-64;Polignac (1984);id. (1996); Osborne (1996) 84-104, 202-214;Simon (1997); Morgan (1990); Whitley (2001) 134-164;Bintliff (2012) 228-230. This quickening of development has been often called the eight century ‚renaissance' (Cold stream [1977] 107ff; Hägg [1983]; Snodgrass [2000] 416-428; Bintliff [2012] 227) or ‚revolution' (Snodgrass [1980] 15-84; Morris [2009]; see Whitley [2001] 98-101).…”

Section: The Implications Of the Archaeological Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…(1996); Osborne (1996) 84-104, 202-214;Simon (1997); Morgan (1990); Whitley (2001) 134-164;Bintliff (2012) 228-230. This quickening of development has been often called the eight century ‚renaissance' (Cold stream [1977] 107ff; Hägg [1983]; Snodgrass [2000] 416-428; Bintliff [2012] 227) or ‚revolution' (Snodgrass [1980] 15-84; Morris [2009]; see Whitley [2001] 98-101). 29 On the Dipylon graves see Coldstream (1977) 109-114;Hurwit (1985) 93-106; Morris (2000) 297; Whitley (1991) 138-142; on the Argive graves below, with note 204.…”

Section: The Implications Of the Archaeological Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the growth of the 8 th century aristocratic display see Murray (1980) 38-56; Morris (1987) especially 183-196;id. (2000) 257-306; Osborne (1996) 81-104;Whitley (2001) 98-101;Hall (2007) 127-131. 30 On the tomb and hero cults (the distinction made by Antonaccio [1993]; id.…”

Section: The Implications Of the Archaeological Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Every community had its ruler -basileus -who usually was a famous figure of the Heroic world. Whitley (2013) 408-409. This shift might or might not have marked the establishment of com munal control over the elite, (see the discussion in Forsdyke loc.…”

Section: The Evidence From the Heroic Epicmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), but it certainly shows a growing importance of a communal context for the elite, who probably presented itself as the benefactor of the community (see Mitchell [2013] [45][46]. For the continuation of elite display in the sanctuaries see Whitley (2001) 134-164. 32 For which see especially Duplouy (2006).…”

Section: The Evidence From the Heroic Epicmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Basileus, tyrannosand polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece

Kõiv¹

2016

Klio

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The article scrutinizes the development of the forms of leadership in the Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece, questioning the traditional view that per sonal leadership as described in the Homeric epics (the ‚Homeric basileia') was the rule during the Early Iron Age, but was replaced in the Archaic period by col lective aristocracies, and by tyrannies as a principally new kind of monarchy. The article questions the strict distinction between the ‚constitutional' forms of government like basileia and oligarchy, and tyrannis as an illegal break of the con stitutional order. The Early Iron Age archaeology supplies no evidence for institu tionalised and permanent personal leadership, and the Homeric epic, presenting a controversial vision of an ostensibly distant past, cannot be accepted as a reli able guide to the sociopolitical order of the Early Iron Age. The terms basileus and tyrannos were used largely synonymously until ca 400, demonstrating that the Archaic Greeks did not distinguish between legitimate basileia and illegal tyrannis in their contemporary world. The evidence, including the halflegendary accounts concerning particular poleis, suggests that the more or less firmly established monarchies emerged from the eighth century onwards. On the other hand, it infers constant tensions between competing elite groups striving for power, and the consequent fluctuation of the forms of government in the Archaic. The situation could have been similar during the Early Iron Age, which suggests that Early Iron Age Greeks were familiar with both collective and personal lead ership. The emergence of tyrannies and collectively governed poleis can be seen as varying, alternative, ways of polity formation resulting from the quickening development and growing tensions from the eighth century onwards; the legiti macy of both depended on local circumstances. Tyranny appears not as a break of established aristocratic order, but as the monarchic form of elite leadership; the legitimacy of both depended on local circumstances. Tyranny appears as the monarchic form of elite leadership in the early polis, which proved, however, unaccept able in the long term as personal rule became increasingly regarded as an undesirable negation of consensual order.

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