Status Warriors: War, Violence and Society in Homer and History

466 Pages·1992·13.459 MB·English

by  Hans Van Wees

STATUS WARRIORS

DUTCH MONOGRAPHS ON ANCIENT HISTORY
AND ARCHAEOLOG Y
EDITORS
F.J.A.M. MEIJER - H.W. PLEKET
VOLUME IX
HANS VAN WEES
STATUS WARRIORS
STATUS WARRIORS
WAR, VIOLENCE AND SOCIETY
IN HOMER AND HISTORY
BY
HANS VAN WEES
J.C. GIEBEN, PUBLISHER
AMSTERDAM 1992
CIP-DATA KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG
Wees, Hans van
Status warriors : war, violence and society in Homer and
history / by Hans van Wees. - Amsterdam : Gieben. -
(Dutch monographs on ancient history and archaeology,
ISSN 0924-3550 : vol. 9)
Also published as thesis Leiden, 1992. - With index, ref.
ISBN 90-5063-075-8
Subject heading: violence and society ; history ; Greek antiquity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has benefited from the incisive criticism and helpful suggestions of a
number of British and Dutch scholars. My work was supervised initially by the late
prof. A.B. Breebaart (Amsterdam), whose enthusiasm and kind assistance were an
important stimulus and are much missed. Later, profs. C.J. Ruijgh (Amsterdam)
and H.W. Pleket (Leiden) acted as joint supervisors, while in Britain, where the
actual research took place, prof. S.C. Humphreys (now of Ann Arbor, Michigan)
and dr. T.J. Cornell (London) agreed to supervise the work in an unofficial capacity.
All four, if I may say so, have been model supervisors : efficient, sharp and willing
to make available for me a great deal of time in their busy schedules. In addition,
much valuable advice was offered by dr. P.A. Cartledge (Cambridge) and prof.
M.M. Willcock (London), who read and commented upon a substantial part of the
manuscript, and by prof. H.S. Versnel (Leiden) and dr. H.W. Singor (Leiden), who
did the same for the whole of it. Versions of part of the text were delivered as
seminar papers at the Institute of Classical Studies (London), and benefited from
subsequent discussion with fellow participants, among whom I should like to single
out Philip de Souza. Those mentioned have helped to make this a far better book
than it would otherwise have been; its remaining failings are entirely my
responsibility.
Other kinds of debts I owe to Floris Cohen, whose timely encouragement made ail
the difference, and to Jonathan Brown and Ewan Campbell whose computer-
expertise and readiness to help saved me many weeks of work.
Financial support came from a variety of sources. The British Council awarded
me a scholarship in 1984-5, which enabled me to get started on my dissertation, and,
what is more, to do so in Britain, which despite the present harsh financial climate is
still an excellent place to do Ancient History. From April 1987 to July 1989, my
research was funded by a subsidy from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research (N.W.O.). I produced the final version of the book while employed as a
Tutorial Fellow in the School of History and Archaeology at the University of Wales
College of Cardiff. In between, the generosity of the Department of History at
University College London, the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at
Leicester University and especially the Department of Mediterranean Studies at
Queen Mary & Westfield College (London) in offering me part-time employment
enabled me to continue work. I can only hope that this book will be regarded as
added proof that the decision to close the Department of Mediterranean Studies was
wholly unjustified.
Although all of the above deserve great credit, I wish to dedicate this book to
those whose influence on me and my work has been more fundamental still : to my
parents, my brothers and my sister; to my teachers and fellow students at the
University of Amsterdam, among whom René van Royen and Eelco Beukers deserve
particular mention; and, finally, to Yoshie Sugino, whose ideas on the wider issues
involved in the subject of this book have deeply influenced mine.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER ONE HISTORY IN POETRY
ON RECONSTRUCTING THE HOMERIC WORLD
1. Fact and fantasy : the fourth race
2. Tradition : old poems or the latest songs ?
(i) Compositional technique 12
(ii) Subject matter 13
(iii) Social function 14
3. The case of the Big Round Shield
4. History in poetry : points of method
CHAPTER TWO LIFE IN TOWN
THE ORGANISATION OF HOUSEHOLD, COMMUNITY AND STATE
The hidden society : reconstructions and models
E
D
Buildings and people

Ὁ
Government : the princes and the people
Ο
Β Beyond the town
A hero's home
α
σ Friends : the men who come to dinner
The economy of the estate
N
Life in town : fact and fiction
S
CHAPTER THREE THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ANGRY
STATUS, PERSONAL POWER AND VIOLENCE
1. Explanations of violence
(i) The fragmentary society 63
(ii) The heroic impulse 66
(iii) The shame-culture 67
(iv) Assumptions and questions 68
2. The meaning of honour and excellence 69
3. Princes and bad men : ideals and exploitation 78
(i) Proper beatings 83
(ii) Unjust violence 85
(iii) Undeserved gifts 85
(iv) Fighting over plunder 87
4. Competition I : personal excellence 89
5 Competition II : power and wealth 101
6. Competition III : the struggle for respect 109
(i) The Benvolio-syndrome 110
(ii) The attraction of Aybris 115
(111) The bullying tendency 118
(iv) Questions of superiority 122
The ethics of anger 126
(i) The moral boundaries of anger 128
(ii) Pity 130
(iii) Reconciliation 131
(iv) Self-control 135
(v) The authorities 137
8 The might of men : strength, connections and justice 138
9 The importance of being angry : fact and fiction 153
CHAPTER FOUR PILLAGE AND DESTRUCTION
PREDATORY AND STATUS WARFARE 167
1. Warriors at peace 168.
Troy I: the insult that launched a thousand ships 172
n Troy II : the ideal of annihilation 183
u Private conflicts, brawls and wars 191
(i) The War of Men and Kentaurs 191
(ii) The War of Kouretes and Aitolians 192
(iii) The First Sack of Troy 193
(iv) The War of the Seven against Thebes 194
(v) The War of the Pylians and Epeians 195
Communities in competition : dangerous games 200
(i) Champion-combat : Trojans versus Akhaians 200
(ii) Games : the humiliation of communities 202
Predators 207
a
Booty and the Homeric economy 218
n
(i) Subsistence economy : autarky and fair exchange 219
(ii) Treasure economy : greed and generosity 222
(iii) Convertibility of goods 223
8. Gift-exchange : the hospitality-racket 228
9. Trade and plunder : profit and prestige 238
10. Pillage and destruction : fact and fiction 249
CONCLUSION 261
(i) Homer 261
(ii) History 262
(iii) Violence 264
APPENDICES 267
Appendix One Towns And Townsfolk 269
1. The size of the population 269
2. Terms for towns and townsfolk 271
Appendix Two Princes And Sceptres 274
1. Princely families and their elders 274
2. Symbolic and procedural functions of the sceptre 276
Appendix Three Monarchs, Dynasties, Temenea 281
1. Kings versus Big Men 281
2. The royal estates 294
Appendix Four Booty : Prizes And Portions 299
1. The mechanism of distribution 299
2. The principles of distribution 304
NOTES 311
Notes to Preface 313
Notes to Chapter One 314
Notes to Chapter Two 322
Notes to Chapter Three 345
Notes to Chapter Four 379
Notes to Appendix One 406
Notes to Appendix Two 407
Notes to Appendix Three 410
Notes to Appendix Four 413
BIBLIOGRAPHY 417
INDICES 44]
Subject index 443
Index of passages 451