On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay

nquorum: ab illa enim immensa societate huma

ce

Blood-Relationsh

ere not equal

ns, if possible, to obtain some idea of how this responsibility became narrowed and limited to the nearest

pon survivals in Athens by comparison with the customs of other communities, which were undergoing earlier stages of t

g

ty of t

rtyn Laws

m.... As long as they (the parents) are alive, there is no necessity for division.... If a man o

, unless they wished it, the sons need not divide up amongst themselves, but could live on with joint ownership in the one ο?κο? of their deceased father.

sister in marriage (no doubt with her proper portion), and lived separately but without dividing their inheritance (τ?ν ο?σ?αν ?ν?μητον). Even aft

rimony is implied in another passage in Demosthenes, where, however

arried wives and begat children and [pg 048] children's children. Thus five ο?κοι sprang up out of the one of Bouselos, an

held very closely together, and often probably live

τρ?φειν) our parents (γονε??): these are-parents, gr

heir estate descends to their offspring (?κγονοι): wherefore i

of inheritance from him, and this common debt towards their living forebears could not help further c

late for the Greeks anything of the same limitations in the incidence o

nship in Wes

kindred existing in Wales and elsewhere. Whether this subdivision finds its raison d'être in the worship of ancestors or not, the groups [pg 049] thus formed serve as units for sustaining the responsibilities incid

n of the gr

ice, it will be seen that the position of great-grandson as at once limiting the immediate fa

Wal

reat-grandsons to make the final division of

ps already divided up in each generation between) from their great-grandfa

ch and Olwen, in the Mabinogion, the father of Olwen, before betrothing her to Kilhwch, declares that "her fou

feudal

ons proceeded, and the relationships within the family diverged beyond the degree of second cousin, a natural breaking up seems to have taken place, though in the direction of subinfeudation under the feudal enforcement of the rule of primogeniture, instead of the practic

tom of

thod of land-holding, called parage. It consists of an undivided t

ge, until the relationship comes to the sixth degree inclusive (i.e. second cousins). When the lineage is beyond the sixth degree,

of rights, and no question would arise of finding heirs. But when it became a question of [pg 051] finding an heir to the group, failing heirs in

tage in

kin shall not inherit as heir to his deceased kinsman, but as heir to the ancestor, who,

shall have died without leaving an heir of his body: but by claiming it as heir to one of his own parents, who had been owner of that land until his

egrees to the founder. And we may infer that emphasis was thus laid on the proof of relationship by direct descent, in order to prevent shares in the inheritance p

relationshi

inances of Manu is div

owe the funeral

as, who pour the wate

ral cake is prepared; the fourth (descendant or generation) is the giver (of the

put in tab

ers of

dfather's gre

andfather's

randfather

ers of

t-grand

andfa

Fat

of cake

Exc

nver

cake or

seh

ot

co

co

water or

co

co

co

ot marry.137 Outside the Sapinda-ship, a wife or widow, "commis

son, but the relationship of a Samānodaka (en

das who offer the cake

ns share in th

ther. And if this passage is taken in conjunction with the one quoted just above, the number sharing in the cake-offering, limited as in the text at the seventh p

sing the great-grandfather to pass from the receivers of the cake-offering to the receivers of the water libation, and admitting the great-grandson's son into the number of Sapi

f the pourers of t

f the water libation appear t

proper name in kin further than that"-i.e. fifth cousins.139 And this tallies exactly with the previous quotation from Manu limiting the wa

eat-grandsons of the great-grandsons of their common a

cludes four

e his death. And it might also occasionally occur in times of war or invasion that a man's sons and gra

: and thus, especially in cases where the property was held undivided after the father's death, we can easily see that second cousins (i.e. all who traced back to the common great-gran

her's father,140 and would carry on the name of the [pg 055] eldest branch of his great-grandfather's house, and would be responsible for the proper maintenance of the rites on that ancestor's tomb. He woul

d-relations closely drawn together by ties which only in

στε?α at

responsible to each other for succession, by inheritance or by marriage of a daughter; for vengean

members were called ?γχιστε?? i.e. any one upon whom

substance amongst them, and each started a new ο?κο? and begat children and children's children.142 The action, which was the occasion of the speech, lay between the great-grandsons of two of these

s clear from this speech of Demosthenes, that too many generations had already passed to admit of Bouselos being considered as still head of an unbroken ο?κο?, and that his great-great-grands

ct Of Succession Outside

mited to the great-grandch

d above in the previ

ildren shall have the property. If there are none of these, the deceased's sisters, their children or grandchild

scendants [pg 057] down to his great-grandchildren inherited his estate. In dealing with inheritance through a brother of the deceased the heirship terminates with the grandchild of the broth

ccording

he then-existing (c. 350 B.C.) law o

roperty" (i.e. property wi

ther's children, for these are related

same father, or

as cousin's children (δ?δωσι τ?ν ?γχιστε?αν

) and the law makes those related through the mother of the deceased, masters (κ?ριοι) of

n, can only inherit on behalf of her issue, present or prospective.146 If she has married again and has a son (half-brother to her deceased son) he wou

to be found on the father's side, o

ording to D

y Demosthenes147 co

artake: males and children of males shall have preference (over females) if they are born of the same (parents), even if they are further off by birth (γ?νει) [i.e. are a generation lower down]. If there are none on the father's side as far as cous

usins, who inherit from their first cousins once removed (oncle à la Brétagne, or Welsh uncle as this relation has been called). Occasionally the patrony

beyond grea

hey were considered to have begun a new succession. To put it differently, in case of the death of one of these second cousins, after the final division of their inheritance had taken place, the rest of the second cousins would have no right to a share in his portion; an heir would have to be found within his nearer relations. Thus, they s

9 where the plaintiff, who originally stands in that relationship to the deceased whose inheritance is in dispute, is adop

also without the pale is directly

lways rank

at the man who "inherited" took [pg 060] his place for the future as son of the deceased in the family pedigree, and rec

the inheritance a

ecessarily fall outside the former group and would be considered as forming the nearest relative in the next succeeding group. This, it seems, is the meaning of the language of the law which limits the ?γχιστε?α to the children of first cousins who could inherit from their parent's first cousins, and still retain their relationship as great-grandsons of the same ancest

must be sanctio

the following passage may b

ecute his purpose; but [pg 061] first of all he shall collect together his own kinsmen, extending to (first) cousins (μ?χρι ?νεψι?ν), and in like manner his son's kinsmen

only living representative and heir, and who might at some future time be dependent on him for the performance of ancestral rites. That this was in Plato's mind when he wrote is shown by the next sentence, in which he provides for the

can be seen they would have no place. They would be second cousins to the disgraced youth; they might have to share privilege or pollution with him, bu

te of Hagnias in Isa

os for the same property is the occasion of one of the speeches of Demosthenes. To fully understand the relationships referred to in these cases, the accompanying genealogical tree of the descendants of Bouselo

of the disputed property, it is represented that his father had got possession only by defeating another claimant, Phylomache II., by "surprise," as it was called, by stating that her grandmother through whom she traced her claim was only half-sister to Hagnias' father. But Phylomache's husband, having caused their son Euboulides III. to be adopted as the son of Euboulides II.-his wife's father and Hagnias' first cousin, a quite regular course

of a different ο?κο? altogether," and not at all related in such a way as to be heir of Hagnias (μηδ?ν προση

ession, but more especially by the fact155 that none of the other second cousins on a par with him, and with whom he ought to ha

se speeches other than confirmatory of the view stated a

sion Amon

amongst heirs o

ily, unless the paternal ο?κο? was [pg 065] voluntarily continued unbroken by his descendants, the natural course was for each son ultimately to live apart and found a separ

dead son taken

died, his heirs were either his sons, or his grandsons, or his greatgrandsons. If he

n the division amongst sons, the ο?κο? of any one of their number who had died before the di

f it is made in their laws, for it is inconceivable that any of the grandsons could be depriv

s, took place per capita, any deceased member of that grade being represented by his sons. Representation, of course, could not take place in the case of a division amongst cousins' sons,

grandsons probably

But if the foregoing account of the unity of the ο?κο? and its resemblance in its composition to the household of the Welsh tribal system be correct, it seems more reasonable to suppose that, all the intermediate gene

se of nephew

mongst lineal descendants. With regard to successions by relations outside of the direct line of descent,

uccession-the assumption can be made that, when there were several heirs related in the same degree to the former owner of the estate, one of their number would be set apart

with the tribal conception of the household as hanging closely together, its members always looking up to their venerable head, in whom the ownership of the property v

s For The Recognit

bal blood jea

re fully convinced of the blamelessness of its pedigree. In such circumstances it was no easy matter to acquire the privileges attached to the possession of tribal or citizen

ained in the fourth gene

women, and held land from generation to generation, [pg 068] the greatgrandsons became fully privileged tribesmen.158 Similarly if a stranger voluntarily assumed the position of serf to a Welshman, and

until the te

ribe the period of probation was three times as long-viz., the greatgrandson of the

ted son who shall be denied and his progeny, and evildoers of feder

d no longer be reckoned

ourth person by legitimate marriages.161 But the aillt or stranger, w

inver

ng his title as representative of his family seemingly [pg 069] extinguished, is to raise an outcry that from a proprietor he is becoming a nonproprietor, and the law will shelter him and adjudge him an

nine generations he is a stranger, and in the tenth a Cymro. Here for nine g

e amongst th

ualifications for admission as a full tribesman amongst

tory of their own ancestors. Their God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was in their conception the greatest of Gods-i.e., greater than the Gods of other peoples, the existence of which their own beliefs did not preclude. Thus where in Attic writers we have mention of the religious rites of the fami

and his family continued to do so for nine generations, the tenth generation would

r Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of

me in spec

kin already, and the Egyptian who was united to the Israelites by the mysterious bonds o

not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are b

and this is just one third of the length of time implied as required from the ordinary str

dren of Abraham, to whom the promise was [pg 071] made; Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, taking their

tizenship jealously

is a good deal of evidence showing how jealously the introduction of strangers to citizens

a holy office (?εροσ?νη); but their children can, if they are born from a citizen wife duly and lawfully betrothed.164 That is to say, t

ce of al

eld is illustrated by the Athenian law concerning marriage wi

efore the judges. And if he is convicted, he shall be sold for a slave and his property confiscated, and the third part shall belong [pg 072] to the person who has convicted him. And the like pr

conferred as th

erits, and even after formal acceptance by the people of Athens, if he failed to justify his claims at such a trial, his new honours were stripped from him and he remained an alien. This being so, it

a stranger chief, to whom honour was to be gi

dent on ancestry an

andfather's name and his deme, their mother's and her father's name and his deme;167 whether the candidate had an Ap

his grandparents, and, as further proof, [pg 073] assured themselves that he had a house and property of his own, and

to the rights of a citizen, it mattered little what a man's greatgrandfather was. He might have been an ali

acquired new pri

rm the position of the fourth generation as slave or citizen, or whatever the case might be. Oedipus assures Jokasta that her pedigree and status will rema

possession of three generations of privileged ancestors was in some places insisted on. There is an inscription t

enealogy, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted

the triumphant verse: "Thus I c

ion in the Ordi

the tenth and the fourth generations-namely, the seventh, or greatgrandson of the greatgrands

keeps reproducing itself by nobler (marriage) this ignobl

us

aste marries a B

is so

s gran

greatgra

is so

s gran

t last his family is restor

g

ns Of Liabilit

he ?γχιστε?α

other purposes, seems to be the unit in the case of pollution of

?τητο?), shall not prosecute the murderer when he ought and proclaim him outlaw, he shall take upon himself the po

hich did the deed has given life for life and has propitiated

ν?ται) and the kinsmen (συγγενε??) to cousins' children o

h ties that had inherited too much of the tribal sanct

was killed, might be fully protected and represented [pg 076] among the prosecuting kindred, the law of Draco seems to lay the necessity for action also on the father-in-law and the son-in-law. The phratria, being such a compact organisation and exacting such formal admission of its members, would naturally be concerned to see that justice was dealt to any of its n

aw of

(the degree) of a first cousin, and prosecution shall be made jointly by cousins and cousi

an inscription found at Athens belonging to the year 409 B.C., re

thenes thus refers to

rosecute as far as descendants of cousins; and in the oath

as regards pollution the group of relations to second cousins were treated en masse as under the st

urder within

στε?α itself, the double pollution of the bloodspilling and the

e male and female side (i.e. all his possible heirs) and shall elect not one of themselves, but a younger son of some other and pious family to bring in new blood with better fortune to counteract the curse, as heir to the house (κληρον?μο? ε?? τ?ν ο?κον), introducing him to the father of the banished (or

ine or gala

"Spearpenny," as it is called, only the inner kindred within fixed degrees contribute proportionally to the payment of the price. The group upon which this respo

tions who pay galanas as follows.181

and m

dfat

grand

r and

t co

d cou

d co

h cou

h co

sins share. "There is no proper share, no

wo parts by the relations of the father, one part by the relations of the

en the father (i.e. the fifth cousin) pays it, because his relationshi

ted upon the g

covered the same area of relationship at Athens-i.e. the ?γχιστε?α. The

o wit-mother, wife, sisters, and daughters; beside these not more than fi

the law of Solon

ose within ?νεψιαδο? (πλ?ν ?σαι ?ντ?? ?νεψιαδ?ν ε?σιν): no woman at all may enter

of kin assist

same area of relationship. In Wales the members of the family who received the galanas, did so in proportion to the importance of their position in the transmission of the kind

ions included in G

ecome a recognised possibility. A woman's sons might always be called upon under certain circumstances to take inheritance from her father or next of kin. They therefore quite fairly shared in the claims as well as the privileges of their position. And vice v

en and clerks who can swear that they will never have children, and so are useless for the preservation of continuity in the [pg 081] families to which they belong, are specia

g