In the Greek world, the Hellenistic era goes from the death of Alexander in 323 BCE to the Roman conquest in 69 BCE. For much of this period, due to its enviable position in the Eastern Mediterranean, the island lay at the centre international conflicts between Alexander’s successors, most notably the Ptolemies (who managed to establish an autonomous republic at Itanos in the third century
[1]
), the Seleucids, Macedonia, and Pergamon.
[2]
This in turn exacerbated conflicts between the island’s chief city-states, with few periods of respite, until Crete was conquered by the Romans
[3]
.
Population and political organization
In terms of the island’s population at this time, estimates vary for a minimum of 200,000 to a maximum of 1,000,000 people; however, the most likely estimate is of 450,000-500,000 people.
[4]
Political, military and religious control in Cretan city-states was exercised by the Kosmoi (Κόσμοι), a board of 3 to 10 nobles, annually elected by the Ecclesia, the body of free male citizens. One of the Kosmoi, known as protokosmos or stratagetas, was the president of the board. The council of elders, the Gerousia, whose members were chosen among the best Kosmoi, had legislative and juridical authority.
[5]
[6]
[1]: (Spyridakis 1970) Stylianos Spyridakis. 1970. Ptolemaic Itanos and Hellenistic Crete. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[2]: (Van Effenterre 1948, 114) Henri van Effenterre, H. 1948. La Crète et le mondes grec de Platon à Polybe. Paris: E. de Boccard.
[3]: (Chaniotis 1987, 236-246) Angelos Chaniotis. 1897. ’Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη’, in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, edited by N. Panagiotakis. Heraklion: ΣΥΝΔΕΣΜΟΣ ΔΗΜΩΝ & ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ.
[4]: (Chaniotis 1987, 194-195) Angelos Chaniotis. 1897. ’Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη’, in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, edited by N. Panagiotakis. Heraklion: ΣΥΝΔΕΣΜΟΣ ΔΗΜΩΝ & ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ.
[5]: (Willetts 1965, 56-75) Ronald F. Willetts. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
[6]: (Chaniotis 1987, 196-199) Angelos Chaniotis. 1897. ’Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη’, in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, edited by N. Panagiotakis. Heraklion: ΣΥΝΔΕΣΜΟΣ ΔΗΜΩΝ & ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ.
| Year Range | Hellenistic Crete (gr_crete_hellenistic) was in: |
|---|---|
| (323 BCE 69 BCE) | Crete |
Crete is the core territory of the Hellenistic city-states and state-federations. The most important city-states of the period were these of Knossos, Gortys, Kydonia and Lyttos. Around these cities, a number of fragile unions of smaller cities was formed. None of these centers thought was seat of a political authority that controlled the island. [1]
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 236-46.
Inhabitants. The largest urban center was Gortyn (24,000 inhabitants) followed by Knossos (11,000 inhabitants). [1] [2]
[1]: Raab, H. A. 2001. Rural Settlement in Hellenistic and Roman Crete (BAR I.S 984), 9-8
[2]: Whitelaw, T. 2004. "Estimating the population of Neopalatial Knossos," in Cadogan, G., Hatzaki, E. and Vasilakis, A. (eds), Knossos: Palace, City, State: Proceedings of the Conference in Herakleion organized by the British School at Athens and the 23rd Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Herakleion, in November 2000, for the Centenary of Sir Arthur Evans’s Excavations at Knossos (BSA Studies 12), London, 147-58.
Km2. In this period Crete was divided into regional city-states and state-confederations that controlled well-defined regions. There seem to have been about 35-40 city states, of which most survived up to the early 2nd century BCE, as is shown by the treaty signed by Eumenes II with 30 individual Cretan states in 183 BCE. [1] The area of the whole island is 8,336 square kilometres, yielding a range of c. 210-240 square kilometres if divided up into 35-40 polities.
[1]: Sanders, I. F. 1982. Roman Crete. An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminister, 11.
people. Estimates for the population of the whole island vary between 200,000 and 1,000,000 people. The most likely estimate, however, is that of 450,000 - 500,000 people. [1] The range coded here was arrived at by dividing the 200,000-1,000,000 range among the 35-40 city-states that occupied Classical Crete. [2]
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 194-95.
[2]: Sanders, I. F. 1982. Roman Crete. An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminister, 11.
levels. 1-2, 5 Crete is divided into regional city-states and states-confederations which controlled a well-defined region. In the early Hellenistic period, there seem to have been about 35-40 city states of which most survived up to the early 2nd century BCE as is shown by the treaty signed by Eumenes II with 30 individual Cretan states in 183 BCE. [1] The settlement hierarchy within city-states is centered upon the city where all the government, public and religious buildings were located, and villages and hamlets scatted throughout its rural countryside. State-confederations, located mostly on mountainous regions, are formed by villages and hamlets centered upon an important regional sanctuary. Knossos, Gortyna, and Kydonia were cited by Strabo as the most powerful city-states. [2] Between 260-240 BCE the power of Knossos seems to have been dominant. [3] Knossos and Gortyn were the principal political centers of the island until the Roman conquest.
[1]: Sanders, I. F. 1982. Roman Crete. An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminister, 11.
[2]: Strabo, Geography, 10.476.
[3]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 153-54.
levels. Religious control was exercised by the Kosmoi (Κόσμοι), a board of 3 to 10 nobles, annually elected by the Ecclesia (Εκκλησία), the body of free male citizens. Kosmoi were responsible for the construction and maintenance of the sanctuaries, the organization of large religious festivals, and the offering of sacrifices. Cult was performed by priests annually elected by the Ecclesia (Εκκλησία). [1] [2]
[1]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 56-75
[2]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 196-99.
levels. Military control was was exercised by the Kosmoi (Κόσμοι), a board of 3 to 10 nobles, annually elected by the Ecclesia (Εκκλησία), the body of free male citizens. [1] [2]
[1]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 56-75
[2]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 196-99.
levels. Political, military and religious control in city-states was exercised by the Kosmoi (Κόσμοι), a board of 3 to 10 nobles, annually elected by the Ecclesia (Εκκλησία), the body of free male citizens. One of them was the president of the board (he was called πρωτόκοσμος, στραταγέτας, κόσμος ο επί πόλεως). The council of elders, the Gerousia (Γερουσία), whose members were chosen among the best Kosmoi, had legislative and juridical authority. The most senior member of the Kosmoi bore the title of "protokosmos." [1] [2] Kosmoi were assisted by a secretary, the μνάμων or γραμματεύς των κόσμων.
[1]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 56-75
[2]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 196-99.
Cretan mercenaries were especially valued in foreign armies. [1] [2] Cretan soldiers were remarkably well-trained in ambushes, raids, surprise attacks and nigh fighting. The difficult economic conditions forced many young men to found employment as mercenaries in foreign armies especially during the Hellenistic period. They were exclusively citizens who could provide their own arms. Recruiting campaigns organized by the foreign states were regularly conducted in the Cretan cities. Negotiations had to be managed by the governments of the city-states. Cretan mercenaries were hired in the armies of Egypt, Syria, Sparta, the Achaen League, Pergamon, Macedonia, Syracuse and Rome. The number of hired mercenaries sometimes was very high; Perseus forces, for instance, during the Third Macedonia War (171 BCE) included 3,000 Cretans. Apart from the economic benefits, Cretan mercenaries brought new ideas that changed the conservative communities of the Cretan cities considerably. Cretans were also widely recognized as the best archers. [3] According to the tradition, it was Apollo who taught archery to Cretans. Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca Historica said that "as the discoverer of the bow he [Apollo] taught the people of the land all about the use of the bow, this being the reason why the art of archery is especially cultivated by the Cretans and the bow is called ’Cretan’. " [4] They fight exclusively for the profit. A Cretan archer said to Julius Caesar "Profit is our target, and every one of our arrows is short for money, both on land and sea." [5]
[1]: Griffith, G. T. 1935. The Mercenaries of the Hellenistic Wolrd, Cambridge
[2]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 145-48.
[3]: McLeod, W. 1968. "The ancient Cretan bow," Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries 11, 30-31.
[4]: Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, V.74.
[5]: Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, ....
Μilitary and religious control in city-states was exercised by the Kosmoi (Κόσμοι), a board of 3 to 10 nobles, annually elected by the Ecclesia (Εκκλησία), the body of free male citizens. One of them was the president of the board (he was called πρωτόκοσμος, στραταγέτας, κόσμος ο επί πόλεως). [1]
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 236-46.
The most important government buildings were the senate or council house (bouleuterion), the town-hall set of prytanes (prytaneion), the men’s hall used for public meals (andreion), the official court of justice (dikasterion), and the place of assembly (agora). [1] There was also a building where the public archives of the city were held.
[1]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 74-5.
The bureaucrats in a city-state were the manon (μάνων or γραμματεύς των κόσμων) secretary of the Kosmoi, the ippis (ιππείς) assistants to Kosmoi, the gnomon (γνώμων) who kept the public records, the titai (τίται), the epottas (επόττας), the damioi (δάμιοι) and the evnomiotai (ευνομιώται), supervisors of the public administration, the tamiai (ταμίαι), the prat ores (πράττορες), and the esprattais (εσπράτταις), low-rank officers responsible for the public finance, the agoranomoi (αγορανόμοι), who control the order in the market and public spaces, the karpodaistai (καρποδαισται), produce-dividers responsible for the common meals (sissitia), the spevdos (σπεύσδος), public messenger, and the nakoroi (νακόροι) responsible for the sanctuaries. [1] These bureaucrats were either annually elected by the free-citizens or appointed by the Kosmoi.
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 199
"Open-air areas that can specifically be tied to market transactions were not incorporated into the urban setting or at least market activities were not conducted on a large enough scale to warrant special facilities. [1] An exception may be the case of Gortys where an auditorium-type assembly place co-existed with an agora that may therefore have been given over to commercial activity. [2] [1] It may here noted that agora, a world used during the Classical and Hellenistic period to denote a commercial center, in Crete preserved its Archaic meaning i.e. the place of open assembly. [3]
[1]: Raab, H. A. 2001. Rural Settlement in Hellenistic and Roman Crete (BAR I.S. 984), Oxford, 12.
[2]: Sanders, I. F. 1982. Roman Crete: An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminister,65-6
[3]: Willetts, R. F. 1955. Aristocratic Society in Ancient Crete, Westport, 177, 196-200.
Evidence on port services is rather limited since extensive building activities during the Roman period has obliterated earlier facilities. [1] The harbor of Phalassarna, west Crete, a well-planned port ringed by stone quays with mooring stones and connected to the sea through two artificial channels, is an exception, although the port served more the needs of pirates than of traders. [2] [3]
[1]: Sanders, I. F. 1982. Roman Crete: An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminister, 144
[2]: Hadjidaki, E. 1988. "Preliminary report of excavations at the harbor of Phalasarna in West Crete," AJA 92, 463-79
[3]: Frost, F. and Hadjidaki, E. 1990. "Excavations at the harbor of Phalasarna in Crete," Hesperia 59, 513-27.
"Significantly, however, the oral transmission of the traditions of the past allowed Greek culture to survive this loss [the loss of writing] by continuing its stories and legends as valuable possesions passed down thought time. Storytelling, music, singing, and oral performances of poetry, which surely had been a part of Greek life for longer than we can trace, transmitted the most basic cultural ideas of the Greeks about themselves from generation to generation." [1]
[1]: Martin, T. R. 1996. Ancient Greece. From Prehistory to Hellenistic Times, New Haven and London, 37.
Pirros and another anonyme author, both from Gortyna, wrote hymns dedicated to the goddess Isis and the god Serapis (beginning of the 2nd century BCE). Ptolemy from Polyrenia (2nd century BCE) also wrote hymns dedicated to Isis. The most famous religious text is the Hymn of Kouretes (or the Hymn to Dictaean Zeus) inscribed on a marble stele during the 2nd century AD and placed in the sanctuary of Dictaean Zeus at Palaikastro. [1] [2] [3] The poetic style suggest that it was composed by a Cretan poet, anonyme to us, late the 4th - early the 3rd century BCE. The hymn is addressed to Zeus (the Greatest Kouros) upbringing and beseech him to bring peace, fruitful fields and flocks, happiness, good journeys for ships, just government for cities and protection for young citizens. THE HYMN OF KOURETES: Hail! Greatest Kouros, Son of Kronos master of all gone below ground return to Dikta for the changing year at the head of the divine pageant and rejoice in our happy hymn, which we blend with harps and pipes and sing as we stand round your well-walled altar. .... for here they took you from Rhea, babe immortal, the shielded wards and beat the dance with their feet. ... of Dawn’s fair light. ... and the seasons were fruitful when men served Justice and prosperous Peace swayed all creatures. ... and come now to fill our empty jars come for our fleece and crops and come to fulfill our fertile desires. ... and come for our people and cities come for our sea-faring ships and come for new citizens and good Law.
[1]: 2000. The Palaikastro Kouros. A Minoan Chryselephantine Statuette and its Aegean Bronze Age Context(BSA Studies 6), 148-62
[2]: Harrison, J. E. 2010. THEMIS. A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, Cambridge, 1-29
[3]: Verbruggen, H. 1981. Le Zeus crètois, Paris.
Beginning the Hellenistic period, there was a significant body of historiographic literature. Cretan authors who wrote historic texts are Rianos (2nd half of 3rd century BCE), Dosiadas from Kydonia (3rd century BCE), Echmenis, Laosthenidas, Petelids from Knossos, Antinor, Sosikratis, Xenios, Pirgion, and Nearchnos, the friend and admiral of Alexander the Great. We know very little about their work. [1]
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 279-81.
Cretans named each year after the president of the board of Kosmoi (protokosmos or kosmos o epi poleos). In Hellenistic times, years were also reckoned in quadrennial periods according to the Olympiads. The year, started in the summer solstice, was divided into twelve months: Agyios (December-January), Dioskouros (January-February), Theodosios (February-March), Pontos (March-April), Rabinthios (April-May), Hyperberetos (May-June), Nekysios (June-July), Basileios (July-August), Thersmofhorion (August-September), Hermaios (September-October), Metarhios (October-November), Eiman (November-December).
It has been generally argued that economic transactions were also based on fruitful barter. [1] [2]
[1]: e.g. Seaford, R. 2004. Money and the Eraly Greek Mind: Homer, Philosophy, Tragedy, Cambridge, 125-46
[2]: Tejado, R. and Guerra, G. 2012. "From barter to coins: shifting cognitive frames in Classical Greek economy," in Herrero-Soler, H. and White, A.(eds), Metaphore and Milles. Figurative Language in Business and Economics, Berlin/Boston, 27-48.
During the Hellenistic period, most Cretan cities started their coinage. [1] [2] The outburst of coining has been explained as the result of returning mercenaries, commerce, or difficult political situation in the Aegean. [3] [4] According the Stefanakis the outburst of coining indicates the change in the economic mentality of Cretans. Mercenaries and merchants who had become accustomed to money transactions while abroad might have contributed to the adoption of coinage in their home cities. Moreover, the high influx of foreign silver coins in the state treasuries led to the active participation in the monetary economy. "However, because transactions on foreign currency of different weight standards would have been difficult since an established weight standard had existed on Crete for over a century and a half, the cities found it necessary tp reming the silver in their possessions and therefore to developed their own mints and choose their own coin types." [5] Cretan city-states adopted a reduced Aiginetan standard which fluctuated between 6% and 12% below the Aiginetan standard of 12.20 gr. [6] The Cretan mints, therefore, were adjusting to a weight standard that dominated the southeastern Aegean. It is also likely that the adoption of a standard lower than that of the Aeginetan was due to the the scarcity of silver on the island. The standard weights of the Cretan coins are ±11.10 for stater, ±5.50 for drachm, ±2.75 for hemidrachm, and ±0.90 for obol.
[1]: Le Ride, G. 1966. Monnaies Crétoises du Ve au Ier Sicècle av. J.-C. (Études Crétoises XV), Paris
[2]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 259-64.
[3]: Kraay, C. M. 1984. "Greek coinage and war," in Heckel, W. and Sullivan, R. (eds), Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World (The Nickel Numismatic Paper), Waterloo (Ontario), 3-18
[4]: Petropoulou, A. 1985. Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- ind Gesellschaftsgeschichte Kretas in hellenistischer Zeit, Frankfurt, 61-68.
[5]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 260.
[6]: Garaffo, S. 1974. "Riconiazzioni e politica monetary a Creta: Le emission argentee del V al I secolo AC," in Antichita Cretesi. Studi in honore di Doro Levi, II, Catania, 59-74.
Foreign coins found in the island are Ptolemaic series issued in the 3rd century BCE, Hellenistic coins of Athens, coins from the Aegean islands, the cities of mainland Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria, Cyrenaica, and Carthage. [1]
[1]: Le Ride, G. 1966. Monnaies Crétoises du Ve au Ier Sicècle av. J.-C. (Études Crétoises XV), Paris, 265-67.
It has been generally argued that economic transactions were also based on fruitful barter. [1] [2]
[1]: e.g. Seaford, R. 2004. Money and the Eraly Greek Mind: Homer, Philosophy, Tragedy, Cambridge, 125-46
[2]: Tejado, R. and Guerra, G. 2012. "From barter to coins: shifting cognitive frames in Classical Greek economy," in Herrero-Soler, H. and White, A.(eds), Metaphore and Milles. Figurative Language in Business and Economics, Berlin/Boston, 27-48.