On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An EssaySeebohm, Hugh E. (Hugh Exton)
History
On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay
Seebohm, Hugh E. (Hugh Exton)
Greece -- History; Greece -- Law -- Antiquities; Greece -- Social life and customs; Land tenure -- Greece; Tribes
(M101) There is little manuring; the light plough barely turns the surface
of the land. Land is usually allowed to lie fallow every other year,
sometimes two years out of three. Sheep and goats are the chief stock;
they of course graze in summer on the mountains; villages sometimes own
forests and waste lands in common.
(M102) In the islands of the Archipelago,(201) the holdings are frequently
divided into separate plots consisting of a quarter or half acre apiece or
even less, intersected by those belonging to other parties. Cattle are
pastured on the fallow, roadsides, &c., near the village.
In Cephalonia,(202) holdings consist of from five to twenty-five acres,
seldom in a continuous piece, but “cut up into patches and intersected by
other properties.”
In Corfu,(203) the holdings are similar—infinitesimally small and
intermixed pieces of land, especially in the olive groves, where however
there are no divisions on the land and the “oldest inhabitant” has to be
asked for evidence of ownership in disputed cases.
Throughout the Greek nation, the peasants live in their houses in villages
and not on separate estates. They help one another to avoid the expense of
hired labour, and themselves work for hire on the estates of the large
proprietors.
(M103) Professor Ridgeway has drawn attention to the knowledge of this
open field system in the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_;(204) and indeed the
division of the land tilled by occupants of villages into small pieces or
strips, in such a way that the holding of each consists of a number of
isolated pieces lying promiscuously amongst the strips of others, over the
whole area under plough, is a world-wide custom and is the habit alike of
the east as of the west.
Though the assertion cannot yet be made that the κλῆρος was thus arranged
on the soil, it can do no harm at any rate to bear in mind this ancient
and still used method of dividing land, whilst considering the question of
the relation of the ownership of the soil to the rank and status of the
tribesman.
§ 2. The Relation Of The Κλῆρος To The Οἶκος.
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