11-28-2008, 03:40 AM
Sooo
Warning--I did my thesis on the effect of distraint of knighthood. For those unfamiliar with the thing, it means that the King of England passed a law allowing him to fine a man with more the 20 (it went up quite often) pounds movable property if he refused to accept knighthood and consequent military service. I'm pretty sure I can stop typing, because alll of you know where I'm going, but here it is for the newer hoplites:
Were Solon's laws 1) Enforced? (in what period?) and 2) were they assessed by FAMILY or by INDIVIDUAL? I'd hazard a guess that they were enforced, if at all, by household, which is a concept all its own.
Further, was the assessment ever re-evaluated? In other words, if my family met the 200 Amphorae limit to be Hoplites in 550 BC, and them do to lazy relatives, too many sons, and some poor investment in livestock, I end up producing only 150 Amphorae a year in 525 BC--do I slip into the Thetes class? Does anyone notice? What about 430 BC, when we're actually shoemakers living int he city and we dont' own land?
What public official is charged with maintaining the muster list? Is there a public assize (I'm using the English medieval terms I know) which judges the fitness of my arms and the size of my estate?
It there a "distraint of hoplite" where a magistrate shows up at my door (different scenario) and says--Look here, lad, your Thetes family produced 250 Amphorae of wine last year--buy an aspis and a helmet and show up for muster by Panathenaia or I come and seize all your moveable property?
These questions may be funny, but whether you're in Athens or Thebes or Plataea, the guy who counts your hoplites is a major part of your war machine. As Paul's article above indicates, financial status would be vital in indicating the size of your hoplite force. So--you'd expect that a state like Athens would have been meticulous in maintaining their musters--and in assessing the equipment of a hoplite.
Yet there isn't a single "Assize of Arms" (except, I think, a Cretan one from quite early and another for Athenian colonists, of all people) that covers a major state--where you'd expect them to come out every war. I'm not sure just what that tells us. it is possible that Herodotus and Thuc. are telling us that before the Pelop. War, the states just didn't pay that much attention to details of arms and numbers... which in itself would be informative.
Just some thoughts...
Warning--I did my thesis on the effect of distraint of knighthood. For those unfamiliar with the thing, it means that the King of England passed a law allowing him to fine a man with more the 20 (it went up quite often) pounds movable property if he refused to accept knighthood and consequent military service. I'm pretty sure I can stop typing, because alll of you know where I'm going, but here it is for the newer hoplites:
Were Solon's laws 1) Enforced? (in what period?) and 2) were they assessed by FAMILY or by INDIVIDUAL? I'd hazard a guess that they were enforced, if at all, by household, which is a concept all its own.
Further, was the assessment ever re-evaluated? In other words, if my family met the 200 Amphorae limit to be Hoplites in 550 BC, and them do to lazy relatives, too many sons, and some poor investment in livestock, I end up producing only 150 Amphorae a year in 525 BC--do I slip into the Thetes class? Does anyone notice? What about 430 BC, when we're actually shoemakers living int he city and we dont' own land?
What public official is charged with maintaining the muster list? Is there a public assize (I'm using the English medieval terms I know) which judges the fitness of my arms and the size of my estate?
It there a "distraint of hoplite" where a magistrate shows up at my door (different scenario) and says--Look here, lad, your Thetes family produced 250 Amphorae of wine last year--buy an aspis and a helmet and show up for muster by Panathenaia or I come and seize all your moveable property?
These questions may be funny, but whether you're in Athens or Thebes or Plataea, the guy who counts your hoplites is a major part of your war machine. As Paul's article above indicates, financial status would be vital in indicating the size of your hoplite force. So--you'd expect that a state like Athens would have been meticulous in maintaining their musters--and in assessing the equipment of a hoplite.
Yet there isn't a single "Assize of Arms" (except, I think, a Cretan one from quite early and another for Athenian colonists, of all people) that covers a major state--where you'd expect them to come out every war. I'm not sure just what that tells us. it is possible that Herodotus and Thuc. are telling us that before the Pelop. War, the states just didn't pay that much attention to details of arms and numbers... which in itself would be informative.
Just some thoughts...
Qui plus fait, miex vault.
