Early Greece

by Oswyn Murray

  In two other crucial areas the evidence is less good. The first colonists will not have brought women with them: did they find them from among the local population, or summon them later from Greece? The practice of child exposure in Greece may have kept the proportion of women in the home population artificially low, and it is likely that the taking of native women by capture or otherwise was common, until the colony was well established and began to discourage or prohibit intermarriage. The existence of non-Greek names among the citizens of Thasos may perhaps relate to such intermarriage with Thracian women in the early period, which became a source of pride to the old colonial families. But it is only in the case of Cyrene that the evidence is unambiguous: certain native tabus on diet were practised by the women there as late as Herodotus’ day (4.186), and there are signs of native influence on the religious cults of the colonists; the third century Alexandrian poet, Callimachus, who came from Cyrene, describes how the colonists, ‘the belted men of war, danced with the fair-haired Libyan women’ (Hymn to Apollo 85). This is the sort of evidence which we would expect elsewhere, but it is curiously absent; and in fact the earliest graves discovered seem to suggest that the women were Greek. At Naxos for instance, among the graves of the first generation settlers there is no sign of non-Greek burial rites. One grave contained a woman and her newborn baby carefully buried in the Greek fashion with her personal possessions; near her were later graves containing her husband and an older child. A single family group is no safe foundation for a general theory, but we may perhaps draw the conclusion that in some cities at least the women were brought out from the original home-city, perhaps in subsequent voyages soon after the first foundation. Many of the western Greek sanctuaries are outside the city walls, an unusual feature which has suggested to some that they may be positioned in relation to earlier native cults; but no archaeological evidence has been found to support this theory, and there is no obvious sign of non-Greek practices in the cults themselves.

  An equally fundamental question is that of the labour force used by the settlers. Again it is highly likely that some at least of the agricultural colonies made use of the natives as peasant serfs. The destruction of many native settlements in and around Greek-controlled areas supports this, and there is a little evidence of separate cemeteries of poor and partially Hellenized groups. But there are only two certain cases of the existence of a class of serfs in the early colonies. At Syracuse the estates of the Gamoroi were worked by a group called Killyrioi (perhaps ‘donkey-men’?), who were compared by Aristotle to other enslaved peoples, and who joined with the Syracusan lower classes in driving out their aristocratic masters for a short period from about 491 to 485 (Herodotus 7.155): but the fact that these two groups could combine suggests that they were not racially distinct; the Killyrioi may for instance have been the descendants of an early practice of mixed liaisons, surviving like the Anglo-Indians from the period of the East India Company into the more rigid age of the British Raj. The second case is rather different: at Heraclea on the southern Black Sea coast a local tribe, the Mariandynoi, had allegedly voluntarily placed themselves in servitude to the Greek colonists, and worked their fields in return for keep and protection, with the explicit proviso that none of them should be sold overseas; this looks like a form of self-protection against attacks from either Greeks or other more powerful local tribes (Athenaeus 6.263; Plato Laws 6.776). These two cases certainly emphasize the dangers of generalization; but they also suggest that such forms of servitude were rare enough to cause comment, at least in relation to groups which managed to retain a sense of identity or a specific legal status distinct from slavery. It may be that the agricultural labour force in other colonies was more diverse in origin and regarded as ordinary slaves; it may also be that it was essentially a citizen labour force, for in this new environment where land was unlimited the richest man was he who could breed most sons to increase his family wealth, and the most powerful city was that which could increase its citizen body fastest.

  Among the Greeks themselves the equality of the new foundations cannot have lasted long, for it belonged only to the original settlers; later comers may have received citizenship and land, but no longer on a basis of equality. These were the individual immigrants whom Archilochos calls ‘the dregs of the Greeks’; lacking the group power to assert themselves against those who were already established, they received peripheral land and were excluded from positions of privilege. A class structure was quickly re-established, though one which because of its novelty was more nakedly based on wealth rather than hereditary status. Most cities prospered, and within a generation many were sending out subsidiary colonies; a hundred years later the largest had surpassed their home cities in power and wealth, and possessed their own histories.

  Neither written documents nor the oral traditions recorded by Herodotus reach back beyond about 650, to the earliest foundations; the individual stories of these are either lost or unreliable. But by a fortunate chance, tradition and documents combine to give a detailed account of the foundation of Cyrene, about 630.

  Thera (modern Santorini), inhabited by Dorian Greeks, is the most spectacular of the Aegean islands; for it is the remaining section of a huge volcano crater, which erupted and largely disappeared beneath the sea during the Minoan period (about 1500 BC) in what seems to have been the largest eruption known on earth; remains of the settlements destroyed there have been excavated thirty feet below ground level, and many have thought that it may have been the tidal waves of this eruption which destroyed the power of Minoan Crete. In the period since the coming of the Dorians, however, Thera had been a backwater, isolated from the mainstream of Greek progress because of its remoteness, but doubtless profiting from its rich volcanic soil. It was not until the second half of the seventh century that the pressures which had operated on the states of central Greece began to be felt in Thera. Herodotus describes the result, on the basis of the stories told to him first by the men of Thera, and then by the men of her colony, Cyrene.

  The Theran story tells how Delphi advised them to found a city in Libya; they took no notice, ‘for they did not even know where Libya was, and dared not send out a colony into the unknown’. There followed a seven-year drought, and Delphi repeated her advice. Investigations in Crete produced a purple dye merchant who had once been blown off course to Libya, and a small party set off with him as guide. A suitable island off the coast was found, and the guide was left there; he ran out of food, but was replenished by a passing Samian merchant vessel on its way to Egypt (this ship under Kolaios was subsequently blown by contrary winds through the straits of Gibraltar, to discover Tartessus! p. 224). Meanwhile ‘the Therans decided to send men drawn from all the seven areas of the island, brother from brother, chosen by lot; and Battos was to be their leader and king. Two pentekonters then got under way’.

  The Cyrenean version concentrates on the figure of the founder Battos: it is a typical folktale of wicked stepmothers and spontaneous signs from Delphi, which reveals that Battos was illegitimate and only half Theran. For the actual colonization the two accounts agree: ‘the expedition sailed to Libya, but did not know what to do next, so returned to Thera: but the Therans stoned them as they were putting in and would not allow them to land, telling them to sail back again. So under compulsion they sailed back and established a settlement on an island off Libya, called Platea’. The colony did not prosper, and after further prompting from Delphi they moved to the mainland. Finally they were guided by local inhabitants to the site of Cyrene: ‘the Libyans led them out starting in the evening, so timing the hours of daylight that they passed the best piece of country (called Irasa) at night, so that the Greeks would not see it. Finally they brought them to the fountain called Apollo’s Fountain, and said: “Men of Greece, this is the place for you to settle, for here there is a hole in the sky”’ (Herodotus 4.150–8).

  More than two centuries after the foundation of Cyrene, in the fourth century, the Therans asked their now prosper
ous colony to grant Therans resident there the right of citizenship; they rested their claim on the original agreement between the men of Thera and the settlers. A decree was set up recording the granting of this privilege in the shrine of Apollo Pythios (Apollo of Delphi, elsewhere in the document given also the colonizing title Apollo Archagetas). On the same stone, after the fourth century decree, the alleged original oath was inscribed; it runs thus:

  Oath of the Settlers

  The assembly decided: since Apollo spontaneously ordered Battos and the Therans to colonize Cyrene, the Therans resolve to send out Battos to Libya as leader and king, with Therans to sail as his companions. They are to sail on fair and equal terms, according to households, one son to be chosen [from each family?] of those who are in the prime of life; and of the rest of the Therans those free men [who wish?] may sail. If the colonists establish the settlement, any of their fellow citizens who sails later to Libya is to share in citizenship and honour, and to be allotted unoccupied land. But if they do not establish the settlement, and the Therans cannot help them, and they are driven by necessity for five years, let them return from the land without fear to Thera, to their own property and to be citizens. But whoever is unwilling to sail, when he has been sent by the city, shall be liable to the death penalty, and his property shall be made public; and whoever receives or protects another, whether father his son, or brother his brother, shall suffer the same penalty as he who is unwilling to sail.

  On these conditions they swore a solemn agreement, those who stayed at home and those who sailed to found the colony; and they placed a curse on those who broke the agreement and did not abide by it, either those living in Libya or those staying at home. They moulded wax images, and burned them with curses, all of them coming together, men and women, boys and girls:

  ‘May he who does not abide by these oaths, but breaks them, melt away and dissolve like the images, himself and his offspring and his property. But for those who abide by these oaths, for those who sail to Libya and those who remain in Thera, may there be abundance and prosperity for themselves and for their offspring.’

  (Greek Historical Inscriptions no. 5 = 18F)

  Despite obvious difficulties, the inscription seems a reliable conflation of genuine documents with explanatory insertions: a forgery would have emphasized far more the privileges for later arrivals, and would have played down the forced expulsion of the settlers. Thus three reasonably detailed versions of the foundation of Cyrene exist, two from Herodotus giving a Theran and a Cyrenean account, and one constructed on the basis of the documents in the fourth century decree. It would be wrong in method to attempt to combine the different accounts, or to search among them for a narrative of what actually happened; they are genuine alternative versions, which have originated in the same set of events, but have undergone the typical transformations involved in independent oral traditions. Thus the version from Thera concentrates on the situation there and the difficulties of the mother city, whereas the Cyrenean version emphasizes the compulsion on the colonists, and weaves a folktale around the figure of their founder: like other founders of colonies, Battos was worshipped as a semi-divine hero at his tomb in the Gathering Place of Cyrene. So rather than trying to reconstruct the actual colonization of Cyrene, it is perhaps better to see these accounts as typical of the founding of any colony.

  The most important factor in the Theran move to colonize is certainly the drought, leading to famine: nothing else would have forced an agricultural community to send settlers overseas so clearly against their wishes. But behind the immediate crisis there must be something more long term: the land was no longer perhaps capable of supporting the population, except in the best years. So the assembly of male citizens takes communal action to solve the problem, action which each individual household would not take alone; the foundation is a sovereign act of state. The colonists are to be chosen by lot, brother from brother – that is, one son from all those families which have two or more male heirs: it is a consequence of the usual equality of inheritance that the son to be sent out is chosen by lot, and therefore not necessarily the youngest. In the oath the possibility of volunteers is mentioned, but the majority are conscripts. The element of compulsion is the strongest possible: anyone who tries to evade the draft, or helps another to do so, is to be executed and his property confiscated. The curse and ritual enhance the solemnity and sense of fear in the proceedings. Similarly the settlers try to return, and are stoned: return will only be allowed if the colony fails completely. These are the acts of an agricultural society on the borderline of starvation.

  Many other elements are typical. The leader is an aristocrat, but one whose physical defects, or dubious birth, make him expendable – and a man perhaps with a grievance against the authorities. There are no traders who have been to Africa on Thera; but in Crete one is found as guide: as a dealer in purple dye, a product of the Phoenician coast and one of the principal luxury goods of antiquity, he may have been plying a route to the Phoenician colony of Carthage. The original site chosen is an island, safe from attack by mainland tribesmen. The island, however, is too small and the natives appear less hostile than at first. The settlers go out on terms of absolute equality. They travel in two pentekonters: the total number of men involved is perhaps between 100 and 150. Nevertheless they are all fighting men: fitness and youth are prerequisites.

  There are other striking elements in the stories. The most obvious is the importance of Delphi and the cult of Apollo the Leader; the careful positioning of Cyrene between Egypt and the Phoenician sphere of Carthage suggests better understanding of the factors important in founding a colony than existed on Thera. Other elements are peculiar to Cyrene. We might attribute the emergence of a monarchy to local Libyan influence: Herodotus says that ‘Battos’ was Libyan for ‘king’. But it is possible that the situation in Cyrene was influenced by contemporary Greek models – the tyrants who sprang up in many cities from the mid seventh century onwards. Perhaps because of intermarriage, the relationship with the natives appears initially very friendly. One phrase in the account of the foundation is strange: the expression ‘there is a hole in the sky’ is obviously a proverbial saying; but it is not Greek, and has been paralleled only in Semitic areas (Malachi 3.10; compare Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28) – there are other signs that the Libyan tribes had been influenced by Phoenician contacts. But these local variations serve only to emphasize the extent to which Cyrene can be seen to be typical of even the earlier stages of colonization.

  Herodotus goes on to describe the later history of the colony. It remained small until the reign of the founder’s grandson, when Delphi supported an offer of new land to all comers. The massive influx was the beginning of friction both within the city and with the Libyans; it came to a head in the next generation with the founding of a subsidiary city at Barca, in the course of which a Cyrenean army of 7000 heavy armed troops was destroyed – a very large force indeed for the mid sixth century: the full levy of the three leading Greek cities at the battle of Plataea in 479 was 5000 each for Sparta and Corinth and 8000 for Athens. The subsequent political unrest caused another appeal to Delphi, who appointed an arbitrator from Arcadia, Demonax of Mantinea. His solution is interesting: ‘he arrived in Cyrene and, after investigating everything, divided them into three tribes, the first of the Therans and dwellers-about, the second of Peloponnesians and Cretans, the third of islanders’ (4.161). The second two groups are essentially the Dorian and Ionian later comers; the first group includes the privileged original settlers, but there has been some discussion as to who the ‘dwellers-about’ are: I would prefer to see them on the analogy of the secondary villages in the western colonies, as those Therans or others who had arrived between the foundation and the great redistribution, and had been given peripheral land. Demonax also defined the royal privileges, and the monarchy lasted with various vicissitudes until about 460.

  Such political and military troubles are not untypical of other colonial cities,
but they could not affect the prosperity of Cyrene: it was famous for corn, oxhides, wool, horses. The traditional symbol on its coinage was the mysterious silphium plant, whose medicinal root was an ancient panacea, at the same time seasoning, purgative, and antiseptic. So valuable was it that the Romans later stored it in the public treasury with the gold and silver: in the early period it was a royal monopoly. What kind of plant it was, no one knows; for by late antiquity it had virtually died out. Its importance for the economy of Cyrene may perhaps be seen in the Arkesilas cup, painted in Sparta only some seventy years after the foundation of Cyrene (plate 6a). It shows Arkesilas, the fourth king, seated under an awning, supervising the weighing and storing of a commodity packed in white sacks. The unromantic call it wool; but the whole scene looks like the supervision of a royal monopoly, and there is no sign that the kings controlled the wool trade. The names written above the figures show the official nature of the proceedings. There is a guard; one man is called ‘sliphomachos’ (silphium handler?), another ‘oruxos’ (digger?). The animals and birds in the composition are those typical of Cyrene; it is hard not to see the product too as Cyrene’s most famous export, silphium: why should a Spartan painter paint anything more common?