PERIOICOI

“ Dwellers Around”“ With all the admiration lavished by Xenophon and others on Spartan

military virtue, it is important to remember how much of it actually belonged to the Perioikoi” Andrews

Who were the perioeci

perioikoi

Perioiki

Identification• Larson has given the best definition in

saying that they were subjects of a Greek state, living in the outlying districts, who possessed their own communities, local self government and local rights of citizenship, but were always under the dominion of a greater state, to which they were obliged to render various services.

ORIGIN• The greatest single problem is that of their origin.• Isocrates tells us that when the Heraclids divided the land among

the three tribes there were internal dissensions between the nobles and the peoples which ended in a victory for the nobles. The victors retained for themselves the richest lands and drove the mass of the people to the outlying and less fertile tracts.

• However according to Ephorus they were the conquered tribes not dorians.

• Ehrenburg points out that the absence of common action between perioicoi and helots shows conclusively they were not of the same race. However the perioieci did share in the original distribution of Lycyrgan land lots

Military role• Herodotus prone to numerical exaggeration, in describing the Battle

of Plataea notes the contingent of Spartan forces contained 5,000 perioiecoi..

• Later when dwindling numbers reduced the available Spartan manpower there were many more perioiecoi than Spartans

• Whether or not the Sciritai a picked regiment of men from Sciritus on the borders of Arcadia were perioicoi is not easy to determine

Economic role• Unlike the Spartans, they engaged in commerce and manufacture,

probably enriching themselves at the expense of the aristocratic homoioi.

• We hear of them making shoes, purple garments, objects of wood and iron.

• Herodotus tells us that “ Their heralds, musicians and cooks succeeded their fathers” professions.

• Those who lived on the seacoast were doubtless fishermen and were the best sailors.

• We may also infer that the shipwrights in the navy yard at Gythium were perioicoi.

THE Economy of the Perioeci• Chrimes says that they possessed raw materials in particular iron…

without which the Spartans could not make war.• Sparta also seems to have been rich in stone, blue grey and yellow

marble. Iron ore came from Skiritas. • Lead workings are known and the abundant presence of lead

figurines were revealed by Dawkins’ excavation of the Temple of Artemis Orthia.

Ancient texts

• In primary sources the perioikoi are mentioned only incidentally, but again the reasoning is a process of elimination. Only they are left to carry out such work under the Lycurgan system.Now it is evident that the perioikoi engaged in some agriculture since Lycurgus is said to have allotted 30,000 kleroi for them. Has geography something to add here. It is well known that the periokoi towns were concentrated in the the Taenaron ( iron ore)and Malea ( marble ) promontories and other mountain and coastal areas. Strabo mentions 100 perioikoi towns.

R T Ridley

• “What can be concluded from the scattered evidence is that the territories of the periokoi certainly contained resources, notably stone which invited working. They certainly had land, although not of good quality, which could have supported herding and fishing. One important point, often forgotten is that the evidence for social classes within the perioikoi, hints at some kind of aristocracy.”

Brennan

• “ We must be wary of accepting any assertion that craft objects that date from the 7th and 6th century BC were made by perioikoi.”

• Pausanius mentions Telestas and his brother Ariston as the Lakedaimonians who made a monumental statue of Zeus at Olympia. There is no other suggestion in the passage that they were anything other than citizens

Graham Shipley• Distance from Sparta was a limiting factor to the degree of

active intervention and control Sparta could exert on communities

• Cartledge suggests that political relations between Sparta and perioicic communities were governed by unequal treaties, committing them to “ follow the Spartans wherever they led.”

• Overall the sites seemed to form a hierarchy status, ranging from small tertiary places, typically without much arable land, through secondary and satellite centres, either in the vicinity of major towns or dominating a distinct amount of arable land to major centres eg Gytheum.

• The size of these centres was nothing like the typical Attic demi and it seems as if Sparta successfully restrained the development of these communities so that they never reached the stage where they might erect civic buildings or monuments.

• When Spartan power waned after Leuctra, clear signs of urban development was seen in these communities

Why did the Perioieci remain loyal?

• Sheer distance between towns made a concerted rebellion impracticable

• Perioikoi were culturally speaking not homogeneous. There may have been no sense of class solidarity

• It may be that Sparta cultivated these class differences. Cartledge notes the existence of a wealthy group among Perioikio in the 4th century and believes that those who served in the Spartan army belonged to an elite group.

• To this extent the Periokoi cannot be seen so much as one of a large oppressed minority ( or majority ) but as collaborators with the military ruling class who shared in the profits of the Spartan system.

• The profits lay , not so much in the craft production and commerce but in military service and in the possibility of booty at the end of successful campaigns

• Cartledge says that to some degree the Perioikoi can be seen as partly responsible for the oppression of their fellow Greeks- the helots.

The Cinadon Conspiracy

• Xenophon relates the story of the conspiracy in which Cinadon, an inferior attempted to overthrow the Spartiate class at the beginning of the 4th century.

• It reveals how the number of Inferiors, Helots and Perioeci were much greater than Spartiates and how Cinadon assumes willing support from the Perioeci

• See attached source

Summation

SHIPLEY

RIDLEY

MICHEL

PLUTARCH

ISOCRATES

•Hierarchy of status within communities. Those who served in the army may have had higher statusNot identifiable as class

•Distance from Sparta gave autonomy•Seen as collaborators not oppressed class

•geography suggests some agriculture and use of resources like marble, iron ore and lead

•argument of elimination not a strong one•Question of inferiors?•7th and 6th century crafts???????????????

•Greatest single problem is origin•Engaged in commerce enricing themselves at the expense

of the homoioi

GROWING DEBATE ON THE NATURE AND ROLE OF THE PERIOICOI

YOUR CONCLUSION Who were the Perioikoi ?

Part of the original dorians who rebelled and became outcasts

Ephorus- says conquered tribes, not Dorian

Under Lycurgus given 30,0000 plots of land

After Lycurgan ban on manuel crafts, fell to perioikoi

Called on to fight in army