Between Polis and Ethnos: A Network Approach to the Development of the Polis

Classical Athens was a unified political entity, with a common identity, based on a shared belief in a common ancestry. But this had not always been the case. If the territory of the Athenian polis in Classical times happened to conform to the geographical expanse of the Attic peninsula, this was the outcome of a process that saw several nascent polities (“proto-poleis”) vying for control of various parts of the chora. Although certain environmental features may eventually have favoured integration, such an outcome was not a given from the outset. In fact, the peninsula’s size and natural division into several separate plains originally gave rise to distinct local identities. Most importantly, these local identities hinged on a specific set of local cults that included worshipping the gods, the heroes, and the dead, as well as rituals that were centred on the dwellings of local elites; they defined how society was structured, from the smallest level to the regional networks connected with the larger sanctuaries. Taking a longue durée approach, this paper traces such local identities from the rise of Athens as a Mycenaean palatial centre to the final dissolution of local political autonomy with the rearrangement of the geo-political map of Attica by Cleisthenes (c. 1250-500 BC).