Pathways to Archaic Citizenship

Referring to the main primary sources, this introductory chapter explores some of the pathways that have been taken by historians and archaeologists over the last century in investigating Greek citizenship. Through selected topics—the Aristotelian model, law and institutions, economy, terminology, and material culture—the chapter offers an overview of landmark studies. It acknowledges both the advances made in a century of scholarly research on archaic Greece and the many different schools of thought that are still debating the very nature of archaic citizenship. Arguing against the old trend of observing archaic Greece through the eyes and with the concepts of a classical scholar, it opens new pathways to archaic citizenship by advocating a more respectful approach to the peculiarities of archaic societies and the diversity of ancient documents, from texts to material culture.