 In a general pattern with regional variations, the chief basileus of a city fell from or faced greatly reduced power and was replaced by a council of aristocratic elders.  While some cities retained the titles and some limited functions of basileis, power was now held by an “oligarchy”, i.e. ruled by “the few” ( hoi oligoi ).  The “few”, naturally, thought of themselves as also “ hoi aristoi ”, “the best”, and thus an “aristocracy” emerged.  Royal clans (such as the Bacchids of Corinth) would for the most part be displaced by a broader oligarchy or by a “tyrant”.

 The emergence of polis structures and aristocratic control coincided with the beginning of an extraordinary emigration of the Greeks from the Aegean Sea to the far reaches of the western Mediterranean to North Africa to the Black Sea.  A “mother city” (literally a mētropolis ) chose a site for a “daughter” colony, obtained divine approval, planned the new settlement and its settlers, and chose an “ oikistēs ”, or founder.  The Foundation Oath of Cyrene (in Libya) reflects the sorts of pledges the colonists made to the gods and to the home city (in this case, Thera).  An “ apoikia ” (“a home away [from their old home]”) or colony would be settled, usually on coastal land, and form an independent political structure of its own.

 Greeks and Phoenicians  Greeks c  How and why?  1. Overpopulation  End of Dark Ages—period of great population increase. –Athens grew eightfold. Population outstrips land resources. Colonization as a safety valve

 Loss of land as gobbles up by the aristoi.  Difficult for free farmer to continue farming— even own plots too small—Greek tradition to divide up all lands amongst all sons equally.  Small plots could no longer support families.  Hesiod— Works and Days —only have one son.  Problems caused by land distribution

 Early Greek industries on coast of Asia Minor  Proto-industrialized items out of the blue:  Greeks make: wool, cloth dying, pottery, bronze for cooking, storage, jewelry. Of course export olive oil, wine.  Greece becomes exporter—but needs certain imports esp. metal and grain. Most new colonies were grain-based.

 Miletus by 8 th c. famous for textile industry— manufacturing and dyes—other cities follow its lead.  Esp. vases, pottery. Who did the work—some homecraft, rarely slaves, small outlet in industry.  Larger outlet in distributing the goods.  New trading class helps to found a trading post-empire.

 Age of oligarchs/tyrants and stasis in the polis.  Problems: growth of an urban proleteriat with no food; Oligarchs who try to hold on to power; new mesoi. Result: stasis.  Colonization = escape valve like “transport” to Australia.  Ethnic strife? Dorians/Messenians  Wanderlust/Profitmaking.

 N. Africa: Naucratis, Cyrene  First western Med.—Sicily, s. Italy repelled at Corsica—but s. Gaul, n.e. Spain.  New: not Minoan, Mycenaean, or Great Migration after Dorian Invasion.  --farmsteads.  Actually settled there—parceled out lands in advance.

 Greeks superior—but dependent on natives for necessities.  Also dependent on natives for land—how obtained?  Enslave/marry?  Most colonists—young men. Rate of intermarriage must have been high.

 Mother city— metropolis. Founder went to Delphi—then assessed new colony ( apoikia — home away from home).  Founder guided colonists there.  Fire brought from metropolis—founder established gov’t.  Sometimes, in a Panhellenic colony, invite friendly Greek neighbors.  Charter of incorporation

 Named founder (venerated as hero upon death)  Locate sanctuaries of gods  Arrange defense  Assigned homesteads  Regulated relations between colony and mother city. Tie in theory strong—kinship.— same religious festivals, same gov’t, same friends, reciprocal rights and privileges.

 In theory dependent on metropolis—but due to distances—almost independent.  Chalcis c. 750—Pithecusae in Naples Bay  Euboea—Cumae (757) near Naples; in Sicily Naxos (734) Leontini (729); Catana (729) and Rhegium (712).  S. Italy and Sicily = Magna Graecia

 First contact  Romans/Etruscans learn:  Cult of Apollo, writing, hoplite warfare, alphabet, Greek pottery.  Name— Grai —group who went out with colonists from Chalcis— Graeci –in Greek Hellenes.

 Sparta—Tarentum—most of Sparta’s colonies were on the mainland.  Corinth founds Syracuse  Other Greek settlements everywhere: Massilia, Neapoli, Nikea.  No noble idea of civilizing natives.

 Trade  Pottery, art.  Religion  Stories—Trojan War— Aeneid.  Writing  Self-gov’t.—different forms of gov’t.  Hoplite warfare

 Colonies in Africa, Spain.  Sail to Britain, hump of Africa.  Tin, furs, amber.

 The new poleis proudly proclaimed their Greekness by building monumental temples, patronizing Panhellenic religious and athletic institutions, and keeping abreast of cultural developments in the Aegean region.  Relations with the people in whose lands the Greeks settled (the putative “ barbaroi ”) were not always cordial or simple.  Nevertheless, sometimes cultural exchange occurred in both directions, as the Greeks incorporated some religious notions and practices from the people with whom they came into contact.

 Resentment of the haughty aristocrats and large landowners continued to mount, and sharp lines of division began to show between “the good” ( hoi agathoi ), “the middle” ( hoi mesoi ), and “the bad” ( hoi kakoi ) or “the many” ( hoi polloi ), i.e. everybody else.  Various degrees of unfree laborers and chattel (owned) slaves also began to appear, and popular anger spilled over into demands for a redistribution of the city’s land.  A representative of some of this resentment, Hesiod complains about the “crooked judgments” made by the wealthy to protect themselves and their cronies.  While not a champion of the oppressed, Hesiod in his Works and Days underscores a diminishing belief in the hereditary privileges of an unjust aristocracy.