Lives of the Poor in Archaic Greece
By: Andrew Thornebrooke
Tags: Work, Society, Culture, Politics, History

Lives of the Poor in Archaic Greece

Civilization, built on the backs of nameless workers

Written by Andrew Thornebrooke

In the centuries occupying Greek history form the Late Bronze Age and so called Dark Ages until the Archaic Age of the Aegean, some large strides in innovation were made both in technology and communication. However, despite this overall advancement of weaponry, arts, and writing systems, the life of a Greek peasant not only did not see any rise in quality of life, but in all probability grew drastically worse.

During the Late Bronze Age on the island of Crete, Minoan civilization had grown into a stable and regimented structure. Common villagers lived relatively close to economic and religious centers which occupied the most important parts of the surrounding territory. Though well taxed and living an arduous life of manual agricultural labor, this effort was not without some rewards. Namely, through an apparently complex and multi-ethnic economic system utilizing the written language of the time (now known simply as Linear A) the opulent heads of government saw fit to redistribute some modicum of food to the people of the area, protecting them from out and out starvation, as guarantees of defense against military threats from the outside.

Linear B tablets offer invaluable insight to the governmental structure of proto-Greek civilizations

Surviving takeover first from the Mycenaeans and later by an unknown group of Greeks, the language of government changed and the titles of the ruling class most likely shifted from favoring the old Chiefs to a more monarchical system. The life of a peasant remained the same, though. They continued to pay taxes (albeit to a different ruler) and reside in small mud brick homes, feeding themselves with food they grew after giving an precisely exacted amount in tax to the ruler.

Following a period of intense violence, the complicated relationship of intercultural economic influence fell apart and whole societies found themselves much more secluded. Real change in the daily life of the poor was slow in coming. Despite the shift to Linear B writing and the decrease in export goods, no real break in the types of crafts being made or crops being sown was had. Life remained familiar for the peasant in this new Dark Age.

The popularity of Homer’s heroes did little to reinforce empathy for the lower classes

Towards the end of the age, with societies becoming small, close-knit villages who espoused the values of Homeric epic, life finally began to take a turn for the lower class. A turn for the worse. Those without much property quickly found themselves downcast in a society which worshiped the heroes of Homer, who had no qualms about hurtling crushing abuse at those wretched and weak enough not to wield power. The nonchalant slaughter and rape of those without value or means to protect themselves became common, and the appropriation of fertile soil by wealthy elites an every-day occurrence.

Eventually, increased contact with the east was renewed and, borrowing from the Phoenicians, Greek language and culture was born and flourished. This literary milestone on the cusp of the Archaic Age, however, did little to increase the quality of life for the poor. By the time of the Archaic Poleis, possibly as much as 80 percent of the population found themselves in dire straits, with no means of gaining land and no wealth with which to emigrate, the poor were slowly lowered into a class of Thetes: Workers forced to labor on the land for the elite, earning only enough food for their own subsistence.

During this structuring of the Greek Poleis, the implementation of exclusive citizenship ensured that the poor had no means of becoming well off members of the city, or even having any chance at social worth. This would become an entrenched state of affairs until the introduction of different styles of government, particularly democracy, in the 6th century BCE. Though even this would not see a radical shift in the power wielded by peasants for centuries to come.

As a whole, the life of a peasant on the Aegean was always one of hard work and little reward. Over the course of centuries however, through the advancement of Homeric ideals, the widening of class barriers, and the implementation of formal citizenship, life for the lower class Greeks grew excessively harsher in the years between the Dark and Archaic ages, and it would prove to be a long term affair, seeing the near slavish subjugation of lower class Greeks until the turn of the millennium.