PERIOICOI
“ Dwellers Around”
“ With all the admiration lavished by Xenophon and others on Spartan
military virtue, it is important to remember how much of it actually
belonged to the Perioikoi” Andrews
Who were the perioeci
Identification
• Larson has given the best definition in
saying that they were subjects of a Greek
state, living in the outlying districts, who
possessed their own communities, local
self government and local rights of
citizenship, but were always under the
dominion of a greater state, to which they
were obliged to render various services.
ORIGIN
• The greatest single problem is that of their origin.
• Isocrates tells us that when the Heraclids divided the land among
the three tribes there were internal dissensions between the nobles
and the peoples which ended in a victory for the nobles. The victors
retained for themselves the richest lands and drove the mass of the
people to the outlying and less fertile tracts.
• However according to Ephorus they were the conquered tribes not
dorians.
• Ehrenburg points out that the absence of common action between
perioicoi and helots shows conclusively they were not of the same
race. However the perioieci did share in the original distribution of
Lycyrgan land lots
Military role
• Herodotus prone to numerical exaggeration, in describing the Battle
of Plataea notes the contingent of Spartan forces contained 5,000
perioiecoi..
• Later when dwindling numbers reduced the available Spartan
manpower there were many more perioiecoi than Spartans
• Whether or not the Sciritai a picked regiment of men from Sciritus on
the borders of Arcadia were perioicoi is not easy to determine
Economic role
• Unlike the Spartans, they engaged in commerce and manufacture,
probably enriching themselves at the expense of the aristocratic
homoioi.
• We hear of them making shoes, purple garments, objects of wood
and iron.
• Herodotus tells us that “ Their heralds, musicians and cooks
succeeded their fathers” professions.
• Those who lived on the seacoast were doubtless fishermen and
were the best sailors.
• We may also infer that the shipwrights in the navy yard at Gythium
were perioicoi.
THE Economy of the Perioeci
• Chrimes says that they possessed raw materials in particular
iron…without which the Spartans could not make war.
• Sparta also seems to have been rich in stone, blue grey and yellow
marble. Iron ore came from Skiritas.
• Lead workings are known and the abundant presence of lead
figurines were revealed by Dawkins’ excavation of the Temple of
Artemis Orthia.
Ancient texts
• In primary sources the perioikoi are mentioned only
incidentally, but again the reasoning is a process of
elimination. Only they are left to carry out such work
under the Lycurgan system.Now it is evident that the
perioikoi engaged in some agriculture since Lycurgus is
said to have allotted 30,000 kleroi for them. Has
geography something to add here. It is well known that
the periokoi towns were concentrated in the the
Taenaron ( iron ore)and Malea ( marble ) promontories
and other mountain and coastal areas. Strabo mentions
100 perioikoi towns.
R T Ridley
• “What can be concluded from the scattered
evidence is that the territories of the periokoi
certainly contained resources, notably stone
which invited working. They certainly had
land, although not of good quality, which
could have supported herding and fishing.
One important point, often forgotten is that
the evidence for social classes within the
perioikoi, hints at some kind of aristocracy.”
Brennan
• “ We must be wary of accepting any
assertion that craft objects that date
from the 7th and 6th century BC were
made by perioikoi.”
• Pausanius mentions Telestas and his
brother Ariston as the
Lakedaimonians who made a
monumental statue of Zeus at
Olympia. There is no other suggestion
in the passage that they were anything
other than citizens
Graham Shipley
• Distance from Sparta was a limiting factor to the degree of
active intervention and control Sparta could exert on
communities
• Cartledge suggests that political relations between Sparta and
perioicic communities were governed by unequal treaties,
committing them to “ follow the Spartans wherever they led.”
• Overall the sites seemed to form a hierarchy status, ranging
from small tertiary places, typically without much arable land,
through secondary and satellite centres, either in the vicinity of
major towns or dominating a distinct amount of arable land to
major centres eg Gytheum.
• The size of these centres was nothing like the typical Attic demi
and it seems as if Sparta successfully restrained the
development of these communities so that they never reached
the stage where they might erect civic buildings or monuments.
• When Spartan power waned after Leuctra, clear signs of urban
development was seen in these communities
Why did the Perioieci remain loyal?
• Sheer distance between towns made a concerted rebellion
impracticable
• Perioikoi were culturally speaking not homogeneous. There
may have been no sense of class solidarity
• It may be that Sparta cultivated these class differences.
Cartledge notes the existence of a wealthy group among
Perioikio in the 4th century and believes that those who served in
the Spartan army belonged to an elite group.
• To this extent the Periokoi cannot be seen so much as one of a
large oppressed minority ( or majority ) but as collaborators with
the military ruling class who shared in the profits of the Spartan
system.
• The profits lay , not so much in the craft production and
commerce but in military service and in the possibility of booty at
the end of successful campaigns
• Cartledge says that to some degree the Perioikoi can be seen
as partly responsible for the oppression of their fellow Greeks-
The Cinadon Conspiracy
• Xenophon relates the story of the
conspiracy in which Cinadon, an inferior
attempted to overthrow the Spartiate class
at the beginning of the 4th century.
• It reveals how the number of Inferiors,
Helots and Perioeci were much greater
than Spartiates and how Cinadon
assumes willing support from the Perioeci
• See attached source
Summation
GROWING DEBATE ON THE NATURE AND ROLE OF THE PERIOICOI
SHIPLEY
•Hierarchy of status within communities. Those who served in the army
may have had higher statusNot identifiable as class
•Distance from Sparta gave autonomy
•Seen as collaborators not oppressed class
RIDLEY
•geography suggests some agriculture and use of resources
like marble, iron ore and lead
•argument of elimination not a strong one
•Question of inferiors?
•7th and 6th century crafts???????????????
MICHEL
•Greatest single problem is origin
•Engaged in commerce enricing themselves at the expense
of the homoioi
PLUTARCH
ISOCRATES
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YOUR CONCLUSION Who were the Perioikoi ?
Under Lycurgus given 30,0000 plots of
land
After Lycurgan ban on manuel crafts, fell
to perioikoi
Called on to fight in army
Part of the original dorians who rebelled
and became outcasts
Ephorus- says conquered tribes, not
Dorian