the taming of the aristoi

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THE TAMING OF THEARISTOI

AN ANCIENT GREEK

CIVILIZING PROCESS?

Jon Ploug Jrgensen

Abstracte aim of this paper is to discuss how the increasing social control of violence andaggression, which characterized the period from archaic to classical times in ancientGreece, can be explained as an Eliasian civilizing process. Particularly crucial for thisdevelopment is the question of how the city states distinctive urban-political struc-tures were the locus of this civilizing process. Accordingly, it is argued that Elias' keyconcepts not only are analytically relevant to the ancient Greek civilizing process, butis to be reassessed in light of the ancient Greek city-state culture. By thus advancingthe argument that the civilizing process is not a unique Western phenomenon, whichoccurred in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the end of the th century, the

analytical relevance of Elias is re-evaluated and augmented.

IntroductionWithin historical sociology there only exists few and tentative aempts to applyNorbert Elias' theory of the civilizing process on the ancient Greece. In light of this,the aim of this contribution is to show and discuss how the increasing social controlof violence and aggression that characterized the period from archaic to classicaltimes, can be explained as a civilizing process. is is in turn achieved through an

analysis of a wide array of sources, from literary to archaeological and iconographic.By arguing that the civilizing process is not a uniquely Western phenomenon that

occurred in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the end of the th century, theanalytical relevance of Elias is challenged and extended, Which, in turn, also has thepotential to counter parts of Hans Peter Duerrs criticism: at civilization is a socialconstant in all cultures across time and space. us, it is by extending Elias' theory toantiquity that the theory has a wider analytical potential - an application that Eliashad not even considered as being possible.

Since Elias, and his successors, did not include antiquity in the development of

the theory of the civilizing process, it is argued that the theory's basic concepts mustbe revised in light of the results of the newest research in ancient history. Particularly


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important for this is the question of how the city-states peculiar urban-political struc-tures were the locus of this civilizing process, by being conducive to these processes.us it is argued that Elias' key concepts, the royal mechanism, chains of interde-pendence, internalization of morality, etc. are not only analytically relevant to the an-

cient Greek civilizing process, but that these theoretical concepts also must be situat-ed in and reformulated in relation to the ancient Greek city-state culture.

Bearing armsAccording to Elias, the monopoly of violence is a signicant factor in the civilizingprocess, since it entails a greater degree of self-control for the individuals who live inpacied spaces.1 To argue for a civilizing process in ancient Greece it is therefore es-

sential to demonstrate that a similar monopolization of violence took place there.at the Greeks societies experienced a gradual monopolization of violence was rstargued convincingly by the British/Dutch ancient historian Hans van Wees, in thearticle "Greeks Bearing Arms: e State, the Leisure Class and the Display of Weap-ons in Archaic Greece" (), where he documented how the Greek aristocracygradually went from being armed to completely cease to bear arms in public which, I

will argue, is an indication of the states monopolization of violence. In the followingchapter I will present these results and incorporate them into my other ndings so asto support my claim that the Greeks went through an Eliasian civilizing process.

Literary sources

In the period from the early archaic to the classical period (ca. - BC.) Greekculture underwent signicant changes. One of the most important of these regardinga given civilizing process was the gradual decline in weapon possession, which can beidentied in a variety of sources, including here the literary.

In works like the Iliad and the Odyssey, which reect the social conditions in theEarly Archaic period (ca. - BC.), the heroes for example, puts on their weap-ons before they are dressed, and they wear them in war as in peacetime, both swords

and spears.2 In stark contrast to this is the aitude of armament in classical times.Here, for example a comedy writer as Aristophanes can parody how soldiers are car-rying weapons around inside of Athens in a comedy as Lysistrate,because it apparent-ly seemed oensive, even though the Athenians at that time was involved in e Pel-oponnesian War:

LYSISTTE: First and foremost, if we only could stop them geing to the square,splintering mad and in full armour.

OLD WOMAN: Yes, by Aphrodite!

1 Elias () ; Cf. Elias () -.2 Cf. van Wees () -.


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e Taming of the Aristoi

LYSISTTE: ey are presently walking around fully armoured among the poeryworkshops and herb stands in the square, as if they were Corybants!3

In the literary sources we not only see, that the Greeks in classical times considered it

unthinkable to carry weapons in public. Great thinkers such as ucydides and Aris-totle were aware that the Greeks must have had undergone a signicant change frombeing armed in archaic times to showing such disapproval towards wearing arms inclassical times. ey even came with some interesting explanations of the causes ofthis development. In the following passage ucydides makes just such an observa-tion of how the Greeks went from being armed to completely ceasing this practice,and he explains it with the gradual increase in security and an appropriation of luxu-rious manners from the east:

For throughout Greece everyone was once carrying weapons as people's homes were

unprotected and their contact with each other insecure. To walk around with weap-ons was a normal part of your lifestyle, and it remains so among the foreigners. eareas of Greece where people still live in the same way are a witness that all lived in asimilar manner at that time. e Athenians were the rst to lay down their arms andadopt a more luxurious style by relaxing their lifestyles. It is also not long ago that theolder generation of aristocrats there stopped to wear linen coats and tying up theirhair into a knot by aaching it with gold grasshoppers, what the orientalizing lifestylehad led to.4

In this passage it is not only interesting to note that ucydides explains why theGreeks stopped carrying weapons: Because their society was largely characterized by

a lack of protection and mutual uncertainty between people (the monopoly of vio-lence), but that he adds a kind of sociological observation: at the Athenians inter-estingly enough, went from carrying weapons to have a more luxurious lifestyle. Aphenomenon which somehow corresponds to the process that took place in modernEuropean history where, according to Elias, the aristocracys renements of mannersin the court society was a crucial element in the civilizing process. Likewise, ucydi-des seems to connect a progressive civilization in the form of disarmament with asimilar transformation from a warrior aristocracy into a luxurious and Eastern orien-tated.

Interestingly enough, we not only have ucydides observation of the evolutionfrom archaic to classical times. Another great ancient thinker, Aristotle, was alsoaware that the Greeks once had carried arms, but now had abolished it completely, asthey had done with similar antiquated customs:

e Greeks used for instance to carry arms and buy their wives from each other. Onthe whole, all the remnants of old customs that still exist around are completely fool-ish.5

3 Aristophanes,Lysistrate -. (is and all subsequent translations are my own.)4 ucydides ..5 Aristotle, Politics, book , b.


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For Aristotle, writing in the second half of the fourth century BC., it was just as bar-baric and uncivilized behaviour to bear arms, as it was to buy a wife. is dramaticshi in aitude must therefore have been a product of a similar dramatic social devel-opment, a development which we can best grasp through a variety of diverse sources,

from funeral goods to poetry.

Grave goods

One good sources to illuminate the evolution of the possession of weapons is gravegoods. rough an analysis of excavated tombs in the period from to BC,Hans van Wees was able to demonstrate how the Greek aristocrats in the early archaicperiod (geometric time) were buried with weapons for thereaer gradually over time

being buried completely without them. As you can see from the following table buri-

als with weapons peaked in the period - BC. but shortly hereaer, around BC, the use of this praxis dropped drastically.

Table : Graves and grave goods in Athens6

Period Funerals Weapons Other valuablesin all per year in all per grave per year in all per grave per year

PG-

. . . . .

EG-MGI-

. . . . .

MGII-LGI-

. . . . .

LGII-

. . .

PG = Pregeometric, EG = Early geometric,

MG = Middle geometric, LG = Late geometric

is tendency becomes more pronounced when one compares it with other types ofsources but it is in itself worth noting how clearly the changes in funeral practices heredemonstrates a marked shi in the perception of what it seemed appropriate to burymen with. And from this material it appears that, where weapons were a natural statussymbol for men in early archaic/geometric times, it completely ceased to have thisfunction when we reach the th century BC.

6 e table is from van Wees () .


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Legislation

What were the specic reasons why the Greeks ceased to bear arms? In some city-states it happened because of legislation, such as in Lokroi where Zaleukus is said to

have draed a law that banned weapons from the Council Chamber (bouleuterion).Charondas of Katane, whose laws were used in city-states as Naxos, Leontinoi, Zan-kle, Rhegion and Kyme, prohibited the carrying of weapons in public assembly. InSyracuse in BC a commiee, led by the democrat Diocles, draed a code of law

who among other things forbade the people to bear arms in the agora under pain ofthe death penalty, and this code was used in many other city-states in Sicily. Finally,there is an anecdote about the famous lawgiver Lycurgus, who aer being woundedduring a meeting forbade citizens to bring stas with them to the Peoples assembly.7

As van Wees notes, many of these laws are only known from anecdotes and are

dicult to date, but nevertheless, they provide a glimpse of a widespread phenome-non in this period in Sicily, southern Italy and possibly in Sparta: at weapons were

banned in the public spaces.8 On the other hand, there is no certied law from Athens

prohibiting the possession of weapons. is seems paradoxical since, one might ex-

pect, that the reason for disarmament was an adjustment made by the State, since it

would probably be in its interest, and the way it could do it, was simply to prohibit the

nobility to bear arms. erefore, one must, in the case of Athens, suppose that the

laws are either not passed down to us, or the aristocracy put their weapons away for

other reasons and thus contributed to the promoting of state-formation. In this man-

ner, people got used to the situation where the state and its servants had the monopo-

ly on violence, and not some self-employed individuals arbitrarily exercising justice

with sword, spears or stas.

Iconography

A major source for the development of armament is the Greek vase painting. Here itis possible to follow a gradual development from a state of total weapon possession toa state where none are wearying them. is development follows an interesting ad-

vancement from men carrying swords, then spears, then stas and then eventuallynothing. During this process there is an interesting period in which Greek aristocratsare depicted with parasols.

On the geometric vases one sees numerous men armed with swords in war scenes.But apart from outright armed warriors one also nds images of civilians who wearswords when for example greeting warriors going on an expedition, and later, in ar-chaic times, one nds images of civilians carrying swords when aending or partici-

7 For Zaleukos: Hansen () n. ; Kharondas: Diod. Sic. ..; Diokles: Diod. Sic. ..-.8 Van Wees () -, nn. -.


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pating in religious and secular events.9 at it is not only men who are armed forbale, can be seen from the fact that armed men are depicted naked until the begin-ning of the th century, from which we have a few examples of vases, where men car-rying a sword are depicted wearing a chiton and a long cloak (chlaina), which is clearly

a civil suit.10From the middle of the th century the depiction of men with swords ceases

completely. One reason for this could be that the aristocracy now placed more em-phasis on highlighting its own position by displaying conspicuous leisure through anew style of dress, the cloak (himation), which signalled a relaxed and idle distance tophysical work, and who came to stand in the way of the more bellicose style, where it

was the activity and being armed, which was emphasized.11Besides these reasons, one might also add that a change in the nature of warfare

may have played a large role. Men probably ceased to carry swords and instead use

spears, due to the fact that Greek warfare at that time had developed completely intohoplite warfare, whereby the more fence-oriented warfare had died out. Even for theHomeric heroes the spear were also their main weapon,12 and unlike modern times

where the sword has been the preferred melee weapon and still have a place in theocial parade features for the militarys ocers, the spear completely took over thisrole in Greek warfare.

e depiction of civilian men armed with spears on Greek vases lasted from about to BC.13 ere is a big dierence in the amount of images from vase painter to

vase painter. Some painters, such as the so called Heidelberg Painter, the Amasis

Painter and the Aecter oen depicted civilian men carrying spears. But around theend of the th century vase painters depicts still fewer of these. ere had thus been ashi, from a time where men considered it appropriate to walk around armed with aspear as part of their civil suit, the cloak (himation), to either being fully armed warri-ors, hoplites, when going abroad on military campaigns, or civilians with nothing buttheir cloak and a sta when walking around the city and its surroundings.

e sta can be seen as the last stage of bearing arms, for a sta is more than just ameans to support oneself. As orstein Veblen showed, it both functions as a tool tosignal the user's dissociation from physical labour, that is, as a display of conspicuous

leisure, and at the same time it also has an association with sport and play a part intypical hunting and sports clothing. us, it displays active and warlike qualities, ra-ther than being a symbol of a weak mans need to support himself.14

e sta can therefore be seen as the nal step towards full disarmament. It is in asense an amputation of the last violent feature of the outt of men. From having car-

9 Van Wees () .10 Van Wees () -.11 Van Wees () -.

12 Van Wees () .13 Cf. van Wees () .14 Veblen () .


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ried swords and spears the nobility now becomes civilized to the extent that it hadsublimated its arms to a mere symbol. e sta as a masculine and potent symbol

would be worn for a while yet into the classical period, and one still sees the sta inmany scenes depicting the aristocracys hobbies, such as discussions and courtship of

boys. In these scenes the persons oen have a sta to lean on. It makes their bodieseven more immobile for work, and when aristocrats simultaneously are depicted

watching sports, it conveys the impression of relaxation and superiority, achievedthrough total leisure.15

Tyrants, aristocrats and citizensIn the few wrien sources that speak of the aristocracys armament, we also nd de-

scriptions of men armed with clubs as well, which adds to the picture of the develop-ment of bearing arms. Around the year BC, for example, we hear about incidentsin which some aristocrats in the city-state Mytilene on Lesbos went through thestreets armed with clubs (korynai), beating up innocent people.16 A story that also ts

with what we know about the tyrant Peisistratus's rst coup in the year BCE

e Athenian people, who had thus been deceived, gave him [sc. Peisistratus men, chosen from the city. e men were not spear-bearers for Peisistratus, but club-bearers, for they carried clubs of wood, whither they followed him.17

is story seems to indicate that the tyrant's bodyguards before Peisistratus were

spearmen, and Aristotle also tells us, that the tyrant Periander of Corinth used spear-men (doryphoroi), which must mean as bodyguards, and Plato also consideredspearmen the instrument with which tyrants used to seize power. Of other tyrants

who had spearmen as guards, Aristotle mentions eagenes of Megara and Dionysusthe Elder.18

e development we are witnessing at Peisistratus' seizure of power can thus beseen as part of the civilizing process as a shi from a more violent and direct exerciseof power to a more corrective and civilized. For when Peisistratus got a force of mencarrying clubs assigned this can be seen as an expression of an development towards a

more civilized form of justice. As McGlew writes about the club: "It has its place ratherin situations where the intention is to correct and reform, to hurt without necessarily inict-ing permanent harm."19 Hereby the guards got a new role as a kind of police force thatcould punish and correct the citizens using their clubs.

Another interesting aspect of Peisistratus and other tyrants seize of power is thefact that you can view the transition from an aristocratic rule to a tyranny, as a mo-

15 Van Wees () -.

16 Arist. Pol. b-.

17 Hdt. .; Cf. Arist. Ath. Pol. .; Plut. Solon .18 Aristotle fr. , Rose.; Plato Rep. b.19 McGlew () .


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nopolization of power. One can thus see how the power of the city-state became morecentralized by their takeover. e reason for this lay in the tyrants entrenched ani-mosity against the former ruling class, the aristocrats. e animosity arose from thefact that it was from the aristocracy the main competition to the tyrant's power came,

and that it was from here the conspiracies against the tyrant's life was formed.20 Ty-rants therefore had to secure their power by making sure that they and only they wereable to exercise it. For instance, In Peisistratus' case, Herodotus explains, even thesons of his political opponents were expelled.21

When the ruler thus starts to monopolize the power, the process called the 'mo-nopoly mechanism' starts, according to Elias. A mechanism, which Elias views as theother major factor in the civilizing process, besides the 'royal mechanism'. Where theroyal mechanism relates to the power struggles between the aristocrats, the monopolymechanism relates to the overall concentration of power in the hands of one person

or group. According to Elias the monopoly mechanism works in a major social unit,where the competition for the resources with probability will result in still more beingexcluded from the competition and becoming directly or indirectly dependent on anever-dwindling number of victors who control more and more opportunities. ismonopoly can again at a later stage be transferred to a larger social group.

For our purpose here, it is relevant that Elias (in addition to tax collection) de-scribes the monopoly mechanism's main eect as the monopolization of violence.e process begins, when a whole class controls unorganized opportunities and thedistribution is determined in open competition and by violent means. Next, the op-

tions are more and more centrally organized and gets out of reach for a single class.e benets from said monopoly of opportunities will thus be equally distributed

with respect to the mutual interdependence between the classes, and will not be con-trolled for the sole interests of a single individual or class. ereby, there is no longerle any place in society for a single classs or individuals violent struggle.22

We have not yet reached the last steps in the civilizing process; however, as it re-quires the people to increasingly have their share in power. But the transition from amore loose monopoly which Elias simply calls the 'monopoly potential' to an actualmonopolization of violence has a clear parallel in the archaic era of tyrants seizing

power. Tyrants came from the ranks of the aristocracy.23

It is also clear that their take-over was in erce competition with other aristocrats. An important eect of this mo-nopolization of power was a monopoly of violence. From an initial state where allaristocrats were free to compete for inuence and resources, their options were in-creasingly curtailed, and where all the heads of the large families took part in thestruggles for power in the beginning, in a short span of years, in the case of Athens, a

20 Cf. Aristotle, Politics. a-.

21 Hdt. ..22 Elias () -.23 Arist. Pol. b; cf. Murray () -.


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single aristocrat, Peisistratus, eventually possessed the monopoly of violence, andthus eectively limited the other aristocrats exercise of power.

But even when Peisistratus assumed power, it was assisted by means of clubs andnot by the more deadly spears. Society must therefore already have developed a majorrestraint in relation to the performance of violence, a restraint, which was largely dueto the royal mechanism that changed aristocrats' behaviour towards each other from amore violent, competing form to a more courtly. is trend was further reinforced bythe monopoly mechanism, which cut more and more aristocrats of from the oppor-tunity to gain power and resources aer rst being dependent on a group of ever few-er and ever more powerful leaders.

Although there are on the one hand many dierences between the period andgeographical area, Elias describes, namely Europe from the Middle Ages to the thcentury, and Archaic Greece on the other, it still seems plausible that the royal mech-

anism and monopoly mechanism can be transferred to ancient Greece. e modelseems to explain why the aristocracy in ever lesser degrees carried weapons while theypursued a more luxurious lifestyle. is lifestyle Elias associates with the court socie-ty, but regarding the Greeks we nd the same dynamics in their symposium culture.

Where Elias court society is the space, where the aristocracy restructured its habitsfrom warlike to civilized, the symposium, I will argue, represents the same space inthe case of ancient Greece.

On the whole it seems as if the tyrants limitation of the aristocracys violent life-style went quite well with the common people, when we for instance consider the

behaviour of the aristocratic Penthelidai, and how they had the habit of walkingaround in the streets of Mytilene beating up common people with clubs ( korynai).24It does not seem surprising then that Piakos' of Mytilenes law, that stipulated thatcrimes commied in drunkenness should be punished twofold, was directed againstthis violent and drunken behaviour by these aristocrats. A measure, which according-ly, was greatly appreciated by the common people.25

e aristocracys more physical activity was no longer possible in a complex so-ciety, where it only was one man who held power. e tyrant's power was only as-sured as long as he could out-manoeuvre the aristocrats by gaining the people's fa-

vour, and it was especially at the expense of the people, that the aristocracies in thepast had wielded power. e limitation of the aristocracys freedom evolved, then, asan interaction between the disarmed aristocracy and the reigning tyrant. e moretheir inuence in the city was limited, the more dependent on the tyrant they becameand the greater impact his demands had. According to Elias, is process also causesthe eect that the external monopolizing of the violence gets internalized so that peo-ple's self-control develops:

e monopolization of physical violence, the concentration of arms and armed

24 Arist. Ath. Pol. b-.25 Regarding Piakos' law: Arist. Pol. b-; cf. McGlew () n. .


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troops under one authority, makes the use of violence more or less calculable, andforces unarmed people in the pacied social spaces to restrain their own violencethrough foresight or reection; in other words it imposes on people a greater or lesserdegree of self-control.26

"Know yself"

In this context it is interesting that the famous inscriptions at the temple at Delphi,"Know thyself"(gnothiseauton) and "Nothing to excess" (medenagan), perhaps wereset up at this time and maybe even by one of the tyrants among the Seven Wise, if wedare trust Diogenes Laertios.27 ese famous maxims can thus be seen in the light ofthe civilizing process. e self-control which they commanded the visitors to exerciseappears to be an innovation in the archaic period. By comparison, in the Iliad byHomer we hear, for instance, how Achilles needs an external force in the form of

Athena to hold him back from aacking Agamemnon. e external control of theimpulses were at this period, the archaic period, replaced gradually by an internalized

brake in the form of self-control (soosyne) and this type of self-control seems pre-cisely to have emerged because of an increased monopolization of violence in thecity-states. Besides self-control, the phrase "Nothing in excess" (meden agan) alsoshows that people had begun to become more aware of civility itself. e messagethat these maxims convey seems all in all to respond quite closely seems to what Eliasdescribes as civility .28

is move to a more civilized self-understanding within the aristocracy can per-

haps also be discerned in the changes that occur from the heroes being called "beauti-ful and strong" (kalostemegas)29 in the Iliad and Odyssey to aristocrats calling them-selves "beautiful and good" (kaloskagathos) in the archaic and classical period.30

ese telling signs are only some of many from this period showing how cultureand education began to play an increasingly important role for the aristocracys self-consciousness, and how conduct and correct behaviour had an increasingly importantrole in the aristocracys self-understanding.

Poetry

Another interesting source for a Greek civilizing process is the change in aitude onemight trace in poets' views on issues such as war and sex. For instance, when compar-ing Archilochus' descriptions of his own war experiences from the middle of the thcentury and Tyrtaeus' war admonitions with Anacreon's poems about wine and thesymposium's joys, one nds a sharp contrast. We can also include Alcaeus here, who

26 Elias () .27 Pausanias ..; Diog. Laer. .-.

28 Elias () -.29 Hom. Il. .; Od. ..30 E.g. Hdt. ..


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occupies a middle position, since he is both able to praise the joys of the symposiumwhile at same time being able to show great malice regarding the tyrant Myrsilos'death and displaying great pleasure over a home lled with weapons.31 Precisely thisphenomenon is important, since there is a clear development from Alcaeus describ-ing a home lled with weapons, that seem to be have been used to mobilize a group ofsupporters,32 to a poet such as Anacreon, who just two generations later insists ononly hearing about wine and love. It can be argued that already Archilochus singsabout wine in the poem about how his spear earn him his wine, which he in turndrinks while he is leaning on it.33 But it is not just the subject of wine, which indicatesthe degree of civility, rather the poem reinforces the point because he: "win his wine

by his spear".is martial style in turn completely disappeared when we reach Anacreon, who

writes:

I am not a friend of him who speaks of tearful strife and war, while reclining anddrinking by the full mixing vessel. But I am friend of him that while he mixes theMuses glorious gis with Aphrodites is aware of the wonderful celebration.34

Stimulus om the East

e sta is not even the height of leisure for in a period of approximately yearsfrom to BC we see men bearing parasols. A parasol bears no resemblance to a

weapon and can only signal a complete degree of preoccupation with anything else

than physical activity, a lifestyle of luxury that was linked with the rest of the wearer'slifestyle.35 e parasol was a part of the aristocracys garment at a time when you seethem in their most eye-catching outt, an outt that was inspired by the Persian andLydian nobilitys way of dressing. is distinctive style was in overall characterized byuering robes, long and decorated hair, gold, jewellery, perfume, wine, song and ageneral emphasis on everything sensual.36

e reasons for this apparent imitation of the splendour (habrosyne) of the Lydi-ans are explained by the art historian Richard Neer as a form of political manifesta-tion through fashion: By imitating the oriental fashion, the nobility could showcase

themselves as a second Croesus. is fashion was especially suited to the symposium,where the roles already were being negotiated, and where the concept of the multi-coloured character (poikilon ethos) was central, according to Neer. It should be under-stood in the sense that the symposium was a form of theatre where you could shape

31 Regarding Myrsilos, LP fr. ; om vben: LP fr. .32 Cf. van Wees () -.33 Archil. fr. (West).

34 Anac. fr. (West).35 Van Wees () -.36 Kurke () ; see Neer ()


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your character and behaviour by adapting it to the other participants and the circum-stances.37

is provides an interesting perspective on the question of bearing arms, since theGreek aristocracy took up this oriental way of lifestyle at the same period and to the

same extent as they lost their own autonomous power. And, as Elias points out, it is aclear example of the so-called royal mechanism when the nobility because of theirmutual contact with each other must give up their more explicit and martial behav-iour in favour of a more rened, urbane and civilized behaviour - especially when, ashere, it is inspired by a court society. Although the Greek aristocracy did not frequentCroesus' court, it seems, however, that they took over much of what one immediatelyassociates with the splendour of the eastern courts. Neer also suggests that it is strik-ing that most of the so-called Anacreontic vases with all their Lydian extravagance

were produced in the period during the Peisistratids and Cleisthenes' introduction of

democracy in Athens at a time when the aristocracy was weak politically. is sug-gests that the vase paintings in some way were designed to compensate for the loss ofpolitical inuence.38

All this leads to the conclusion that the Greek aristocracy under the impact ofchanges in society - power consolidation among fewer and fewer and the monopolyof violence - rened their ways and aained a less belligerent style. is style waslargely inspired by the Lydian/Persian culture as a way to take over their esteemedposition.

e people's imitation of the Aristocracy

e new aristocratic lifestyle that Alcaeus represented spread over time further out inthe community. We nd a good example of this in comedy-writer Aristophanes workWasps, where there is a scene with a culture clash between the peasant Philocleon andhis young, clever son Bdelycleon as they are heading to a symposium. First, there is adescription of how to dress and behave at a symposium: Bdelycleon focuses rst onthe clothes, and he gets his old father to take a cloth-like cape, some kind of thick Per-sian cloak, and Spartan slippers on. en he tells him he must learn to walk with theair of a millionaire and snobbish manner (v. -). Aer the dressing, Bdelycleonexplains how one should speak at a symposium. Philocleon suggests telling dirty

jokes while Bdelycleon tells him to talk about things that have to do with the man-agement of the household (v. -) or prestigious political positions (vv. -).Eventually Bdelycleon suggests that Philocleon should talk about sports in a know-ingly way (v. -). Bdelycleon tries to get Philocleon to tell about all the manlypursuits he followed in his youth but without much luck (v. -). At lastBdelycleon comes to a longer description of how you should act and behave duringthe symposium. He must learn to behave elegantly, urbane and socially (v. -).

37 Neer () -.38 Neer () .


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is description of the required behaviour at a symposium is quite interesting inrelation to the overall theory of the civilizing process. For in Bdelycleons descriptionof how one should behave at a symposium one clearly sees how the aristocracy com-pletely had changed their lifestyle from a bellicose and externalized style to a renedand civilized. e most noticeable feature of this prescribed behaviour is the consid-eration to other persons feelings: Bdelycleon constantly try to get his old peasantfather to behave decently, so he will not cause oense. Here, dirty jokes are not ap-propriate. In sharp contrast, Philocleon shows a clear understanding of which man-ners and subject maers for discussion will be the most appropriate and civil in thecompany with the other guests.

In all, this passage also reveals another interesting fact, namely that the knowledgeof upper-class habits must had been quite widespread in Aristophanes time, and thatthe aristocracys habits had diused out to a larger proportion of the population in

democratic Athens.A good parallel to this description of the increasing demands to etiquee is Elias'

description of the various manuals for polite manners, which developed from the Re-naissance onwards, in which very specic rules are set out in regard to how oneshould eat, drink and especially what not to do such as picking the nose or eat withthe knife. ese handbooks of manners was for Elias the best source for his study ofthe civilizing process, and I will argue that there is a clear parallel here between thedevelopment of increasingly more rened manners at the court society from the Re-naissance onwards and the Greek aristocrats' development of a corresponding eti-

quee for good behaviour at the symposiums.

Aristocrats, citizens and the city-state

During the h century, two things happen with the eastern renement (habrotes)that the aristocracy had borrowed from the Lydians . Firstly, the aristocracy was nolonger the only group in the city-states practicing a luxurious lifestyle, the people wasalso increasingly imitating them. Secondly, from the time of the Persian wars (BC.) and onwards there was a development where the more explicit aspects of theLydian and Persian culture were more and more shunned. Again, it is well elucidated

by ucydides (.) who writes:

e rst who started to wear the simpler style of clothes, which are still in use today,was the Spartans. ere, the rich also changed their lifestyle in other respects, so thatthey thereby were equal to the people in the highest degree.

e ancient historian A.G. Geddes has in an interesting study () worked with thedevelopment the Greeks underwent from a more luxurious Ionic-Lydian style ofdress to a more 'Spartan' in the form of a short chiton with a large cloak (himation).Here he nds the reason in the fact that the Athenians by the th century now was

proud to be: [L]eisured, t ghting t one might say equal and like-minded, and that


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is the message that the clothes are meant to communicate."39 ese conditions werebrought about by internal changes in society and a general contempt for the Persians,Lydians and Ionians aer the Persian Wars.40 We can thereby imagine a process wherethe Athenians under the impression of the new democracy was about to change their

external habits, which pushed the upper class to change their clothes from a moreextravagant Lydian oriented style to a more egalitarian. is process was further rein-forced aer the victory over the once-dreaded Persians in the Persian Wars, becausenow, the ordinary Athenian looked with suspicion and contempt on everything thatthe aristocracy had adopted from the East because the East now was associated withdecadence and weakness; In short, all that the Greeks understood by the Other(barbarians, women, slaves and all other opposites, they could dene themselves inopposition to).41

One would thus be able to interpret the development as nished. e aristocracys

monopoly of opportunities was now transferred to the entire citizen population, andthe entire civil population had thus taken over large parts of the aristocratic ideologyand its characteristic claim to their civilized status: to be "kaloi kagathoi."42 e aris-tocracy preserved, however, an important role in the democracy, since its membersserved as rhetores and strategoi ("speakers and generals"), roles and oces, which gaveconsiderable inuence on the policy that was passed.43 us, it can be seen how thearistocracy itself adapted to the new political system. ey should act as good demo-crats and could no longer aord the conspicuous display of previous generations.

e monopoly of violence was thus transferred entirely to the civil population. It

was in turn expected of the hoplites that they had an entire set of equipment at home,and in case of an internal uprising in the city (stasis) they could pick up their weaponsand defend the democracy and thereby their monopoly of violence.44 e monopolyonly furthered the citizens' aitudes towards weapons. It was now seen as an absurdi-ty even for soldiers under a situation of crisis to walk around with weapons within thecity walls, and it became a hallmark of the civilized Greek citizen that he could walkunarmed in his town in reliance on the states laws, in contrast to the uncivilized bar-

barians. is process continued and was further strengthened with time so that Aris-totle, writing in the th century, could write with contempt about a time so barbaric

that the Greeks was bearing arms.45

39 Geddes () , see -.

40 Cf. Hdt. ..-.41 Cfr. Hall () -.42 Cf. Ober () -.

43 Cf. Ober () -; Hansen () -; cf. .44 Herman () -.45 Cf. p. .


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EliasCononting Eliass reservations

From these diverse examples it is argued in the following that Elias' theory of the civi-lizing process can be applied to ancient Greece and explain why the Greeks wentfrom bearing arms and show other expressions of external violence to become un-armed, more civilized and aware of themselves as moral subjects.

It is worth noting here that Elias not originally believed that the civilizing processcould be applied on the ancient world because it was too dierent in its social andeconomic structures compared to later periods and that the civilizing process onlyreally started to take eect at the end of the middle Ages.46 Eliass reservationsstemmed rst and foremost from his view that, in contrast to the Middle Ages, the

ancient economy was entirely built upon the use of slaves, which again made it im-possible for the citizens to acquire the same economic and social position as that ofthe later medieval burgher, which Elias saw as so important for the civilizing process inthe European towns. In antiquity the majority of the citizens had, according to Elias,not the sucient importance or position to be signicant enough in the eyes of thenobility, wherefore the laer did not had to mind the people and restructure theirhabits accordingly. Against this reservation, there are several things to object to. First-ly, Elias built his analysis of the ancient economy mainly on the Roman Empire,

which coloured his general analysis of antiquity.47 Additionally he subscribed to a

particular school within the study of ancient economies, the so-called "primitivists",who also counted Max Weber. According to these the basic features of the ancienteconomy were that the majority of the population were peasants who only strove forsubsistence and self-suciency. is picture of the ancient economy has since beendeveloped considerably, and today many ancient historians belong to the modernistschool, which sees the economy as more advanced and not so dierent from laterperiods.48

e main argument for transferring the civilizing process to the ancient world,however, is that even if the ancient citizens were not an equally signicant counter-

weight to the aristocracy by virtue of their economic position, so it seems that theyhad power by virtue of their great political inuence instead, which gave them a verystrong position in the city-states in regard to the aristocracy.49 A position that theyalready began to assert in the archaic period, especially in democratic city-states like

Athens, where the greatly challenged aristocracy increasingly had to develop theirsocial aitudes and manners in response to the more and more politically strong citi-zens.

46 Elias () -.

47 Elias () -.48 Cf. Wees () , n. .49 Cf. Ober ().


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Revaluating Eliass concepts in light of these ndings.

A persistent criticism raised by the German ethnographer Hans Peter Duerr, has beenthat Elias's theory of the civilizing process is not consistent with the ethnological

studies, which Duerr and others have made of various peoples through time andacross cultures. According to Duerr, civilization is a social constant in all culturesacross time and space, and he therefore dismisses the civilizing process as a myth.

In relation to this criticism, I think, that by extending and transferring the civiliz-ing process to ancient Greece we can address parts of this criticism, since on the onehand, the Greeks clearly showed a clear progression from a less to a more civilizedstate (contra Duerr). On the other hand this also shows that the civilizing process isnot a uniquely European phenomenon (contra Elias). Given this, it would be naturalto look closer at some of the peoples and nations which Duerr used for his arguments

and see if some of them actually havent experienced civilizing processes throughoutperiods of their history by using a more extended version of Eliass theory which notonly works out from the premise that the only situation where a civilizing process cantake place is as a result of a dynamic competition between a mercantile citizenshipand an aristocracy centralized around a monarch.

e Perspectives

By thus opening up for the possibility that factors other than those developed by Eliascan be instrumental in a civilizing process, it seems promising to try to apply a more

extended version of the theory of the civilizing process on other cultures. is canpartly counter the criticisms of Elias' theory that it is ethnocentric but most im-portant: it could perhaps explain yet unknown relationships between historical pro-cesses and the development of the individuals' psyche in other cultures, a work al-ready begun upon by Eiko Ikegami () for instance. e theory could hereby showits unique strength in connecting dierent heterogeneous source types together fromother nations over long periods of time and thus furthering the understanding of the-se nations. Nations which have yet to be studied in a broader, longer and truly Eli-asian perspective.


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the taming of the aristoi

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