The sixth century BCE was certainly one of the most important periods in the history of Ancient Greece. This period witnessed major developments such as the growth of urban settlements, an increase in monumental temples, the expansion of maritime trade, the beginnings of what would later be called “philosophy,” a greater number of laws preserved on stone, the invention of the trireme, the spread of coinage, three new Panhellenic festivals at Delphi, Nemea, and the Isthmus, and innovations in political organization. This volume brings together contributions by well-known experts in twenty‑seven chapters with an introduction and conclusion to provide a valuable overview of this remarkable century.
The volume is divided into three parts: “Acteurs et pratique” (13-220), “Espaces et circulations” (221-378), and “Écarts et systèmes” (379-620). There is however no historical outline of the period nor any chronological list of major events, which may leave some readers disoriented. The first part begins with three chapters about the economy. The chapter “Le paysan et la terre” (15-32) by J. Zurbach contains several of the problematic features of his book on land and debt noted by reviewers: uncritical use of late sources, neglect of archaeology, and no analysis of the concept of ownership.[1] For instance, too much trust is placed in the fragment of Theopompus about slavery (FGrHist 115 F. 122), and there is no reference to the important survey work of H. Lohman on Atene or to the major study of animal husbandry by Chandezon.[2] Zurbach reviews agricultural practices such as ploughing, the use of mills, types of grain, and olive cultivation (which he downplays),[3] but holds outdated views about the rise of slavery in Attica after Solon. There is a brief discussion of the Solonian census classes (27-28) and the increase in the export of agricultural goods, later facilitated by coinage (28-31), but the contrast between agricultural systems is probably overdrawn. More reliable is the discussion of craft-production by F. Prost in “L’artisan et la commande” (33-74). Prost begins with a careful analysis of one of the pinakes from Penteskouphia,[4] then examines the names for craftspeople (by product and not by skill) (37-40), primary materials such as marble, silver and wood (other metals are omitted) (40-46), tools (46-52), workshops (52-57), signatures (57‑64), and clients (64‑78).
One small error “Agrizéla” should be “Agriléza” (43). In “Le marchand et le risque” (75-99) Bresson studies the activities, status, and religious cults of merchants and rightly rejects outdated views about “illiterate traders” with brief analysis of some lead letters.
I. Chalaonitis gives a good overview of “Le soldat et le métier des armes” (101-122), starting with a lucid review of the hoplite panoply and the role of cavalry and light-armed troops (102-110). He is less clear about the innovations in tactics between the Homeric period and the Persian Wars and adumbrates two incompatible views about the “origin of hoplite tactics,” that of Hanson, who stresses the influence of middle class farmers defending their land, and that of Hale, who emphasises the contribution of mercenaries fighting abroad for pay and booty. There is no reference to the valuable study of R. Konijnendijk[5]. One is relieved to find no mention of Vidal‑Naquet’s fantasies about le chasseur noir.
J.-M. Roubineau looks at the révolution agonistique in “L’athlète et la couronne” (123-141). Roubineau sees the growth of gymnasia and athletic competitions as an attempt by the elite to preserve aristocratic values when their powers were being reduced. According to Roubineau, the “pédérastie” of the gymnasia was associated with the elites, a controversial view promoted by T. Hubbard. The rise of sports led to a special training and a distinctive ethos. The chapter ends with a list of Olympic victors in the sixth century, which shows that participation at athletic festivals was widespread and united the Greek world.
F. Prost repeats several traditional views about “Le tyran et le politique” (143-166) in seeing tyranny as a new phenomenon differing from earlier forms of power but does not analyse the methods by which tyrants seized and gained power. As a result, he does not see the continuities with the practices of the Homeric basileis (military leadership, bands of hetairoi, distributing largesse, funding sacrifices, dynastic marriages, support from xenoi, the use of the skeptron) and does not place the hostility to tyranny in the context of the rise of the eunomia of Solon and the other lawgivers. Readers should consult J. Taylor[6].
In “Le magistrat et la loi” (167-180) Gagarin has fortunately abandoned his earlier view that early Greek laws were concerned primarily with procedural matters and now sees that these statutes dealt with a wide range of substantive matters.[7] Yet he still misses some of the distinctive features of laws in the Archaic period such as decentralising power and creating checks and balances and does not place these measures in the context of the growing hostility to tyranny and does not contrast the Greek lawgivers with the approach of the Near Eastern monarchs like Hammurabi and Lipit-Ishtar.[8] As a result, there is no connection with preceding chapter of Prost. In “Le sage et la nature” (181‑200) L. Iribarren starts with some general remarks about the beginnings of science, philosophy and rational thought with good criticisms of the views of J.-P. Vernant about the relationship between political practices and intellectual activities. He then surveys the work of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Xenophanes, Pythagoras and Heraclitus with brief discussions of key passages.
Gods and religious rituals were pervasive through all levels of Greek society, but V. Pirenne-Delforge is given only a few pages to discuss “Le dieu et l’offrande” (201-220). She analyses religion along two axes, the vertical (humans and divinities) and the horizontal (rituals as a social practice) and discusses perceptively “le passage cultural des cités” (202-205), inscribed offerings (205-206), calendars (207-209), the Panhellenic Twelve Gods (209-212), gods at Naucratis (212-214), and hero-cults (214-219). In general, she follows the polis religion approach, which has recently been criticised as narrow and reductive, and excludes personal aspects of piety. Topics like the Mysteries at Eleusis, the debate about sacrifice, supplication, the role of seers, oracles (Delphi and its Amphictyony are absent), oaths in inter‑state treaties, and curses find no place, but this may be due to the limitations placed on her.
After a brief chapter on “Paysages et territoires” by Zurbach (223-232), there are four chapters on architecture and urban planning. In “Colonnes, colonnades, et paysages urbains,” (233-258) J.-Y. Marc discusses what he calls the stylomanie of Greek architecture, which set Greek buildings apart from those of Egypt and the Near East. There is an analysis of columns both free-standing and placed in temples and stoas, but too much knowledge is assumed for the non-specialist reader: terms like stylobate, Ionic vs. Doric order, entablature, and dipteral are left unexplained. The editors should have added a diagram of the parts of a Greek temple with explanatory labels. In “Marqueurs urbains: l’acropole” (259-279) R. Étienne finds it difficult to identify a single function for the acropolis in Greek cities. There is a brief discussion of this feature at Athens, Assos, Kythnos, Karthaia, Azoria and Amathus, but there is no common theme linking these sites, which are all very different. There is more unity in the chapter of E. Greco on “Marqueurs urbains: l’agora” (275-300), which begins with the remark of Cyrus in Herodotus (1.153.1-2) about the agora as a place where the Greeks gathered to cheat each other. Half of the chapter is devoted to the Athenian Agora and the date of its move to the location in the Classical period. Greco is probably right to retain the attribution of the Southwest Fountain House to Peisistratus, but his attempts to connect Building F to the tyrants and to find seats for an orchestra are very speculative. There are brief discussions of agoras at Thasos, Sparta and in Western Greece, but nothing about the early agora at Eretria or Herodotus (3.57.4; 5.67.1) on the agoras at Siphnos and Sicyon. The map on p. 277 depicts the Agora in the second century CE and is out of date (it was published in 1972).
One of the most striking developments in the period was the construction of city‑walls at some sites, a topic examined by N. Kourou in “Marqueurs urbains: le rempart” (301-317). Kourou starts with sites in Asia Minor such as Miletos, Ephesos, Samos, and Assos, then moves to the best preserved circuit on Thasos with its twenty two towers and gates with elegant reliefs. Kourou then surveys city-walls in the Cyclades and reasonably concludes that one cannot give a definitive answer about the walls of Athens before 480 BCE.
Another significant development in the seventh century BCE was the separation of burials from the main settlement, which in some cases was associated with the construction of city-walls, a phenomenon discussed by R.-M. Bérard in “La tombe et l’espace funéraire” (319-338). With well chosen illustrations, Bérard provides a clear introduction to the types of burials (inhumation and cremation), the placement of sculpted korai and kouroi, the first funeral stelai, the earliest commemorative inscriptions, and the laws about funerals.
One of the best chapters is the “La mule et le bateau” about land and sea transport by the late P. Pomey and by G. Raepsaet (339‑377), which challenges several primitivist assumptions about the topic. The authors review the evidence for wagons, chariots and roads and show how large blocks of stone were carried over long distances for building. The construction and dimensions of warships and commercial vessels are clearly explained. The chapter contains several excellent illustrations.
The analysis of “Libres et esclaves” (381-395) by P. Ismard repeats several outdated ideas about the paternalistic nature of slavery in the Homeric poems, which has been demolished by M. Ndoye, the “collective” nature of the enslavement of the helots, which has been refuted by Ducat, and the alleged “rise” of chattel slavery linked the invention of coinage.[9] Ismard also has nothing to say about the slave societies of the ancient Near East[10].
J. Wilgaux “Époux et épouses” (397‑411) provides a lucid overview of marriage practices, inheritance and the structure of the oikos (one misses a discussion of dowry). Wilgaux follows the analysis of the term genos by F. Bourriot and rejects assumptions of earlier scholars about large, rigid kinship groups.[11] There is a good analysis of two Archaic vases, and Wilgaux stresses the importance of marriages between wealthy families from different communities, a practice ended by Pericles’ citizenship law of 451 BCE.
S. Boehringer “Erôs et culture” (413‑439) looks at sexual practices and their links to poetry with an emphasis on reciprocity. N. Bernard examines the evidence for “Jeunes et vieux” (441-454) and analyses the different roles for various age groups, parents and children, though much of the evidence is drawn from later sources such as Plutarch and the Attic Orators. On the krypteia one should now consult P. Psoma.[12]
In “Agathoi et kakoi” (455-473) E. Scheid-Tissinier studies tensions between social classes. She prefaces her account with a sketch of class relations in the Iliad and Odyssey and claims that the elite secured its power mainly through the ownership of land but does not indicate who worked the land and misses the surplus produced by slaves. Even though Hesiod in the Works and Days (405, 458-61, 469‑71, 502-3, 571-3, 597-99) owns and uses many slaves and produced enough to export goods from time to time, Scheid-Tissinier mistakenly thinks that he was at subsistence level. On Solon’s seisachtheia she follows the Aristotelian Constitution of the Athenians in thinking that the removal of the horoi was a cancellation of debts, but this interpretation must be anachronistic.[13] She also claims that debt was the main cause of the stasis Solon attempted to end but does not observe that for Solon the crisis was caused by violence and a breakdown of law and order; Solon never mentions debt in his poems. In footnote 90 she cites “Luraghi 2002,” which cannot be found in the bibliography.[14]
P. Schmitt Pantel examines “Sociabilités et communauté” (475-500) and focuses on the groups involved in social practices and their forms of expression. She starts with two passages from The Shield of Hesiod, then relies on a law of Solon found at Digest 47.22.4, which unfortunately is a forged text.[15] Schmitt Pantel reviews the social practices of hunting and its link to eros, feasts, choral dancing, marriage, athletic contests, funerals, and types of commensality including the symposion and the sacrificial meal. Several illustrations from Greek vases enrich the analysis, but there is much overlap with several other chapters.
In “La monnaie et la dette” (501-513) R. Descat outlines the origins of electrum coinage in Lydia in the seventh century, the introduction of gold and silver issues by Croesus in the middle of the sixth century and the spread of silver coinage in the Greek cities in the late sixth century. This is followed by much speculation about a shift from an economy with separate spheres of exchange in the Homeric period to an economy with a general standard and its alleged impact on the concept of debt. Descat concludes with an assertion about coinage becoming the “signe de la liberté” and “le signe de l’interdiction” because “acheter un bien n’est pas acheter un homme,” which is hard to reconcile with the sale of human beings as slaves during this period (513). The editors should have given this chapter to a specialist in numismatics.
There follow two chapters on writing by D. Viviers, “Le texte et l’autorité” (515-545) and “L’ écrit et la voix” (546-577). The first begins with the role of the scribe Spensithios and goes on to discuss the inscription of laws on Crete and at Athens. Viviers attempts to explain the decision of the Spartans not to inscribe their laws by a preference for moral education and suggests that laws were preserved as oracles in public archives, a suggestion for which there is no evidence. He rightly draws attention to the use of writing to draw up lists of citizens and to the high status of scribes at Athens seen in two dedications from the Acropolis. The next chapter “L’écrit et la voix” (545-577) reviews the relationship between written and oral modes of communication and makes judicious comments on the levels of literacy in different communities like Crete and Attica. Viviers rightly rejects the pessimism of W. V. Harris and R. Thomas. Writing is found in various contexts such as funeral monuments, pottery and letters exchanged by merchants.
In “Rencontres et face-à-face” (579‑598) P. Rouillard and D. Agut‑Labordère examine Greek contacts with Egypt, Etruria, and the Iberian peninsula. Unlike several other chapters, this one starts with a useful historical outline. The nature of interactions with the native populations differed in each place with the Greeks segregated in Egypt but mingling more freely in Etruria and places like Ampurias. The phrase terrace icognita (579) appears to be an error, and I cannot find a Greek word for prosokoi at Strabo 3.4.9 (593).
After sketching the mytho-poetic conception of the world in Homer and Hesiod, P. Schneider looks at “Distances et confins” (599-620) and traces the origins of Greek ideas about geography and contacts with Egypt and the Persian Empire as well as the contributions of Anaximander and Hecataeus, one of the major innovations of this period.
At its best, this volume contains an embarras de richesses, which covers many different aspects of life during the sixth century BCE, but not all. There is inevitably some repetition, and one regrets that more space was not given to religion. One of the strengths of the volume is the use of archaeology to illuminate social history. Two weaknesses are the uncritical use of late sources and outdated ideas about the role of slavery. It is also puzzling that there are no chapters about vase painting, sculpture, choral and lyric poetry, and the vexed issue of tragedy’s origins, but the emphasis is on history and archaeology rather than on art and literature. The most significant omission is the lack of any chapter on political institutions: the reforms of Cleisthenes are not discussed in depth, and one cannot find the classic analysis of J. Traill in the bibliography.[16] Overall the standard of production is good, and the press is to be congratulated for including several colour illustrations.
Edward Harris, Durham University
Publié dans le fascicule 1 tome 128, 2026, p. 216-222
[1]. See J. Zurbach, Les hommes, la terre et la dette en Grèce. c. 1400-c. 500 a.C., Bordeaux 2017 with the reviews of C. Chandezon in REA 121, 2019, p. 143-169 and E. M. Harris in JHS 139, 2019, p. 253‑254.
[2]. See H. Lohman, Atene-‘Ατήνη: Forschungen zu Siedlungs– und Wirtschaftsstruktur des klassischen Attika, Cologne 1992 and C. Chandezon, L’ élevage en Grèce (fin Ve – fin Ier s.a.C.): l’apport des sources épigraphiques, Bordeaux 2003.
[3]. One misses a reference to the valuable analysis of Greek agriculture by P. Halstead, Two Oxen Ahead: Pre-Mechanized Farming in the Mediterranean, Malden-Oxford-Chichester 2014.
[4]. See now E. Hasaki, Potters at Work in Ancient Corinth: Industry, Religion and the Penteskouphia Pinakes, Princeton 2021.
[5]. Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History, Leiden 2018.
[6]. «Tyrannoi in Archaic Greece: A New Phenomenon or a New Name for an Old Phenomenon?» in J. Bernhardt, M. Canevaro, eds. From Homer to Solon, Leiden 2022, p. 301-328.
[7]. See M. Gagarin, Early Greek Law, Berkeley 1986 with the detailed critique of K.-J. Hölkeskamp, Gnomon 62, 1990, p.116-128.
[8]. See E. M. Harris, Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens, Cambridge 2006, p. 3-28.
[9]. On the nature of slavery in the Iliad and Odyssey, which was not paternalistic, see M. Ndoye, Groupes sociaux et idéologie du travail dans les mondes homérique et hésiodique, Besançon 2010 and on Helots owned by individuals see J. Ducat, Les Hilotes, Athens-Paris 1990, both which are cited but whose conclusions are ignored. On slaves as the property of their masters in the Iliad and Odyssey see E. M. Harris, «Homer, Hesiod, and the ‘Origins’ of Greek Slavery» REA 114, 2012, p. 345-366 (not found in the bibliography).
[10]. For a more reliable account of the topic see D. M. Lewis, Greek Slave Systems in their Eastern Mediterranean Context, 800-146 B.C., Oxford 2018.
[11]. F. Bourriot, Recherches sur la nature du Genos:étude d’histoire sociale athenienne, periodes archaique et classique, Lille 1976.
[12]. «The Spartan Krypteia Revisited», REA 126, 2024, p. 125-153.
[13]. See E. M. Harris, «A New Solution to the Riddle of the Seisachtheia» in L. Mitchell, P. J. Rhodes eds., The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, London-New York 1997, p. 103-112.
[14]. This could be either N. Luraghi, «Helotic Slavery Reconsidered» in A. Powell, S. Hodkinson eds., Sparta: Beyond the Mirage, London 2002, p. 229-250 or N. Luraghi, «Helots Called Messenians? A Note on Thuc. 1.101.2», CQ 52, 2002, p. 588-592. In neither article does Luraghi hold the view Scheid-Tissinier attributes to him.
[15]. See I. Arnaoutoglou, «The Greek Text of D. 47.22.4», Legal Roots 6, 2016, p. 87-119.
[16]. J. S. Traill, The Political Organization of Attica: A Study of the Demes, Trittyes, and Phylai, and their Representation in the Athenian Council (=Hesperia Suppl. 14), Princeton 1975.