Revolution and Society in Greek Sicily and Southern Italy

132 Pages·1992·3.068 MB·English

by  Shlomo Berger

Shlomo Berger
Revolution
and Society
in Greek Sicily
and
Southern Italy
Historia
Einzel-
schriften
71
Franz steiner Verlag stuttgart
SHLOMO BERGER
REVOLUTION ANDS OCIETY
ING REEK SICILY ANDS OUTHERN ITALY

CIP-Titelaufnahme derD eutschen Bibliothek
Berger, Selomo:
Revolution ands ociety in Greek Sicily andS outhern Italy /
Shlomo Berger. –Stuttgart: Steiner, 1992
(Historia: Einzelschriften; H.7 1)
Zugl.: Jerusalem, Hebrew Univ., Diss., 1987
ISBN3 –515–05959–8
NE: Historia / Einzelschriften
Jede Verwertung des Werkes außerhalb der Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist
unzulässig unds trafbar. Dies gilt insbesondere fürÜ bersetzung, Nachdruck, Mikrover-
filmung oderv ergleichbare Verfahren sowie fürd ieS peicherung inD atenverarbeitungs-
anlagen. © 1992 by Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Sitz Stuttgart. Druck:
Druckerei Peter Proff, Eurasburg.
Printed in Germany
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 9
Part I: Stasis in Sicily andS outhern Italy: Case Studies 15
1 Acragas 15
2 Catane 18
3 Croton 19
4 Cumae 22
5 Gela 23
6 Leontinoi 25
7 Locri Epizephyrii 27
8 Megara Hyblaea 27
9 Metapontum 28
10 Pithecoussai 28
11 Rhegion 29
12 Selinus 30
13 Sybaris/Thurii 31
14 Syracuse 34
15 Taras 52
16 Zancle/Messana 54
Part II: The Constituents of Stasis: Systematic Analysis 57
1 Causes of Stasis 57
2 Social, Political andE conomic Structures 62
3 Greeks, Natives andF oreigners 74
4 Violence andt he Armed Forces 88
5 The Stasis in Process 93
Conclusion 106
Bibliography 110
6 Contents
Tables 116
1 List of Staseis 116
2 Non-Civic Interference 117
3 Mercenaries 119
4 Exile 120
5 “Class Conflict” 121
6 Metabole 121
7 Ethnic Struggle 122
8 Economic Factors 122
ACKNOLEDGEMENTS
This book is the revised version of a Ph. D. thesis submitted to the Hebrew
University ofJ erusalem in 1987. Prof. David Asheri served asm yt hesis advisor, Prof.
Moshe Amita ndt hel ate Prof. Menahem Stern werem ye xaminers. Amita ndA sheri
also read thep resent manuscript andm adem any useful suggestions. I would like to
express my gratitude to them for all their help and support. Prof. Hans-Joachim
Gehrke (Freiburg imB reisgau) readt hem anuscript, commented oni t ando ffered his
help in thep rocess of completing the book. Prof. L. deB lois (Nijmegen) read the
manuscript and discussed it with me. Dr. H. Cotton (Jerusalem) and Dr. J. Price
(Middlebury, Vermont) shared with me their scholarly knowledge and offered a
friendly hand when necessary. Dr. D. Niederland and R. Lemm dedicated many
hours, helping mei nv arious ways. Prof. K. Raaflaub guided met hrough thel astp hase
and suggested useful changes. Dr. Loren J. Samons II assisted in preparing the
manuscript for publication, James Kennelly in reading the proofs. All deserve my
deepest thanks.
I would like to dedicate this book to myp arents.
June 1991 Shlomo Berger

INTRODUCTION
In 415 B. C. Alcibiades tried to persuade the Athenian demos to sail to Sicily.
Among hisa rguments inf avor of such ane xpedition, soT hucydides tells us,w ast he
following: “The Sicilian cities have swollen populations made up of all sorts of
mixtures, andt here arec onstant changes andr earrangements in thec itizen body ...
No one has adequate armor for his ownp erson, or a proper establishment on land.
Eachm ans pends hist imet rying tog etf romt hep ublic whatever het hinks hec ang et,
either byc lever speeches orb yo pens edition ... Thec hances aret hatt heyw ill make
separate agreements withu sa s soona s wec ome forward with attractive suggestions,
especially if they are, as weu nderstand thec ase, in a state of violent party strife.”1
Alcibiades’words are echoed by modern scholars. M. I. Finley suggests the
following asa reason for“ thef ailure of theS icilian Greeks tom akea success of the
city-state wayo f life”: “Their behavior wasp rofoundly influenced andd isturbed by
the fact that they lived in ana lien environment. The Carthaginians, Etruscans and
others wereo utside butt oon ear ath and; theS icels, Sicans andE lymians wereo nt he
island itself and,i nt hec aseo f Syracuse atl east, within their ownt erritorial sphere ...
Thent here wast hep eculiar heritage oft hef irst tyrants which Alcibiades hads tressed.
Toom anyS icilian Greeks wereu prooted, sometimes moret hano nce, andt here were
toom anym ercenaries. Tof unction properly asa ni ndependent self-governing body,
thec ity-state hadt o have a strong sense of community andh adt o maintain a delicate
equilibrium between the“ few”andt he“ many”, between ther icha ndt hep oor. These
the Sicilian cities failed to achieve.”2
Two factors prominently influencing the history of the Sicilian and southern
Italian city-states emerge from historical evidence as well as from contemporary
research. Oned erives fromt heu nique geographical, social ande thnic characteristics
of Sicily. The other is the unstable organization of the polis itself, which was
manifested in stasis. The analysis andd iscussion of these two factors will be the
subject of this book.
Revolution andc ivil strife were endemic to theG reek polis. Many historians and
philosophers in antiquity, Plato and Aristotle among them, devoted a substantial
portion oft heir workt ot hep roblem of stasis which wast heo utcome oft hei deological
ands ocial structure of thec ity-state. Thed evelopment of thep olis andi tsp olitics were
bound upw ithc ivil strife ande vena ccommodated itt oa d egree, ati rregular intervals,
as can be found in the Athenaion Politeia, where the history of the Athenian
constitution is periodicized according to stasis. Stasis wass ucha ni ntegral feature of
life in the polis that it not only survived the collapse of the “classical”polis, but also
resurfaced in the Hellenistic andR oman polis.
1 Thuc. 6.17.2–4.
2 Finley (1979) 48; seea lso Westlake (1958).