Synoecism
Encyclopedia
Synoecism or synecism (icon ; , sunoikismos, syːnɔi̯kismós), also spelled synoikism (s ), was originally the amalgamation of villages in Ancient Hellas into poleis, or city-states. Etymologically the word means "dwelling together (syn) in the same house (oikos)." Subsequently any act of civic union between polities of any size was described by the word synoikismos. The closest analogy today is the incorporation of a city; in fact, "incorporation" is often used to translate synoikismos, in addition to the Latinized synoecism. Synoecism is opposed to Greek dioecism (διοικισμóς, dioikismos), the creation of independent communities within the territory of a polis.
Synoecism is the result of a few major factors, mainly an increase in population density of adjacent settlements, with an incorporation proposed for economic, political or ideological advantages, such as the synoecism of the communities of Attica
into Athens
, or by imposition of a ruling power, such as the synoecism of Messenia
into the newly built city of Messene
. A dioecism was undertaken for similar reasons, such as the settling of new and independent communities within territory of Constantinople
abandoned due to a contraction of population, or the contraction of Thessaloniki
out of its former neighborhoods outside the city walls due to the occupation of the countryside by the Turks.
A conqueror might break up a polis for various reasons. For example, as part of the settlement of the Third Sacred War
in 346 BC, the Amphictyonic League
was commissioned to destroy 21 or 22 cities of Phocis
, many of which had already been burned. They chose the method of dioecism, returning the poleis to their constituent kōmai, or villages. The city fortifications were then dismantled. This relatively mild destruction was reversed by Athens and Thebes several years later. They were sympathetic to Phocis but their hands had been legally tied. The cities were re-synoecized. The larger states assisted Phocis to rebuild the fortifications.
, or settlement of dependents in the vicinity of a base; the pagus
, a rural village; the gens, a tribal canton; the saltus, a settlement of coloni (farmers) on a large estate, part of which they were renting or leasing from the conductor, the manager; and the colonia
, a settlement of colonists from Rome.
, ancient society was split between the "demos
", (δημοι, κωμαι); meaning the "country people" or the "country villages" and the "asty" or "polis
" (πολις); the seat of the princely (nobility
, the gentry, the aristocracy), the sacerdotal and military families. The distinction between the πολις and the δημοι was of great political importance in the ancient states. There was much antagonism between these two bodies; the country and city and where commerce and trade became the dominant cultural and ideological force, it collected many men together promoting larger towns and democracy. In the city states of Classical Greece, synoecism occurred when the "demos" combined with, usually by force, and submerged the "politiea" to form one political union.
, the villages of Attica
combined with the asty of Athens proper. The πολις and the δημοι became identical in Athens and the later word was used by preference to signify the whole community. It was the wealthy and populous cities of the Greeks in the Ionia
n territory that popular government was first established. This is how the word "democracy" was formed and its form of government
. This synoecism was one of the primary causes of the kyklos in ancient Hellas.
This principle is witnessed in the history of Mantineia
. In the fifth century, after its synoecism it became a democracy; in the fourth century, it was again split apart, (dioikismos) and an oligarchy
was formed. Later on more political upheaval caused a synoecism to recur thus creating another democracy. This occurred in the other Arcadia
n towns of Tegea
and Heraea.
and Sparta
kept the "polis" separate from the "demos". As late as the second century of the common era, Cretan towns continued to use the word "polis" to denote themselves. The Spartan community, however, deviating from this usage of the word, calls itself δãμoς in ancient laws; because it never thought of opposing itself as a body to the Perioeci.
Müller
states: "In oligarchical
states, as in Elis, the people in later times remained almost constantly in the country; and it frequently happened that grandfathers and grandchildren had never seen the town: there were also country courts of justice, and other regulations intended to make up for the advantages of a city life. Where the courts of justice were at a distance, and there was no inducement to mechanical industry and internal commerce, (see the term banausos
), the ancient habits of life continued much longer in existence."
, this term refers to the political process by which a group of villages and settlements are synchronized to form a polis
. In the poleis, the synoikistes was the person who, according to local tradition, performed the synoikismos, either through his personal influence or by conquest, and subsequently was worshipped as a demi-god. The most notable synoikistes was the mythic or legendary Theseus
, who liberated Attica from Cretan
hegemony and gave independency back to Greece under leadership of Athens
.
Synoecism is the name of an ancient Cretan
archaeological site on the western fringes of Troullos
. Artifacts found at the site include a terracotta bull figurine, a bronze statuette and Late Minoan I pottery
.
Synoecism is the result of a few major factors, mainly an increase in population density of adjacent settlements, with an incorporation proposed for economic, political or ideological advantages, such as the synoecism of the communities of Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
into Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, or by imposition of a ruling power, such as the synoecism of Messenia
Messenia
Messenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011...
into the newly built city of Messene
Messene
Messene , officially Ancient Messene, is a Local Community of the Municipal Unit , Ithomi, of the municipality of Messini within the Regional Unit of Messenia in the Region of Peloponnēsos, one of 7 Regions into which the Hellenic Republic has been divided by the Kallikratis...
. A dioecism was undertaken for similar reasons, such as the settling of new and independent communities within territory of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
abandoned due to a contraction of population, or the contraction of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
out of its former neighborhoods outside the city walls due to the occupation of the countryside by the Turks.
A conqueror might break up a polis for various reasons. For example, as part of the settlement of the Third Sacred War
Third Sacred War
The Third Sacred War was fought between the forces of the Delphic Amphictyonic League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of Macedon, and the Phocians...
in 346 BC, the Amphictyonic League
Amphictyonic League
In the Archaic period of ancient Greece, an amphictyony , a "league of neighbors", or Amphictyonic League was an ancient association of Greek tribes formed in the dim past, before the rise of the Greek polis...
was commissioned to destroy 21 or 22 cities of Phocis
Phocis
Phocis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth...
, many of which had already been burned. They chose the method of dioecism, returning the poleis to their constituent kōmai, or villages. The city fortifications were then dismantled. This relatively mild destruction was reversed by Athens and Thebes several years later. They were sympathetic to Phocis but their hands had been legally tied. The cities were re-synoecized. The larger states assisted Phocis to rebuild the fortifications.
Greek and Roman synoecism
The Greek word synoecism is applied by scholarship beyond the limits of the Greek world to all of Europe, which universally practiced it, although not under that name. Any binding union of villages conducted in a definite act of incorporation with all due oaths, sacrifices and other ceremonial invocation of the gods and heros was a synoecism. The Romans and other Italians used it as anciently as the Greeks; however, the Greek language is slightly more conducive to the formation of an abstract noun in this case. The infinitive, synoikidzein, is in the imperfective aspect, meaning literally "to live continuously in the same house." This meaning is not the single act of union. In order to make it into one, the Greeks formed an abstract noun from the perfective aspect, converted from the imperfective by the aorist tense marker -s-: synoikis-mos. The Roman verb for the same event is already in the perfective aspect: condere, literally "to accomplish the single act of putting together." The Romans used an adjectival construction not conducive to the formation of an English noun, as in the name of Titus Livius' work on Roman history, Ab urbe condita, literally "from the city founded," meaning "from the foundation of the city." That foundation was a formal, ceremonial act uniting formerly distinct villages, a synoecism in every way.Institution of a commonwealth
Although there were differences between Greek and Roman synoecisms they all had the same general features. Before the union the future population of the commonwealth was distributed to smaller settlements not obligated to each other in any way, or at least not by the contract that was to create the new state. A settlement or bloc of settlements might belong to some other state, from which they were being transferred. Some of the types of settlement incorporated by the Romans were the prefecture (praefectura), a non-autonomous village administered by a prefect; the oppidum, a fortified, autonomous town; the castellum, a small fortified place under or previously under the jurisdiction of the army; the forum, a marketplace; the conciliabulum, a meeting place; the vicus, a small settlement placed on a strictly private basis with no government; the canabaeCanabae
Canabae or Canabae legionis was a civilian settlement in the vicinity of a Roman castra for the purpose of housing military dependents and civilian contractors who serviced the base. Many of these communities became cities through synoecism with other communities, some in use today...
, or settlement of dependents in the vicinity of a base; the pagus
Pagus
In the later Western Roman Empire, following the reorganization of Diocletian, a pagus became the smallest administrative district of a province....
, a rural village; the gens, a tribal canton; the saltus, a settlement of coloni (farmers) on a large estate, part of which they were renting or leasing from the conductor, the manager; and the colonia
Colonia (Roman)
A Roman colonia was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city.-History:...
, a settlement of colonists from Rome.
Interplay between "demos" and "polis"
In early GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, ancient society was split between the "demos
Deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or demos was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in...
", (δημοι, κωμαι); meaning the "country people" or the "country villages" and the "asty" or "polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
" (πολις); the seat of the princely (nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, the gentry, the aristocracy), the sacerdotal and military families. The distinction between the πολις and the δημοι was of great political importance in the ancient states. There was much antagonism between these two bodies; the country and city and where commerce and trade became the dominant cultural and ideological force, it collected many men together promoting larger towns and democracy. In the city states of Classical Greece, synoecism occurred when the "demos" combined with, usually by force, and submerged the "politiea" to form one political union.
In democratic states
For AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, the villages of Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
combined with the asty of Athens proper. The πολις and the δημοι became identical in Athens and the later word was used by preference to signify the whole community. It was the wealthy and populous cities of the Greeks in the Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
n territory that popular government was first established. This is how the word "democracy" was formed and its form of government
Form of government
A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government".-Empirical and conceptual problems:...
. This synoecism was one of the primary causes of the kyklos in ancient Hellas.
This principle is witnessed in the history of Mantineia
Mantineia
Mantineia was a city in ancient Greece that was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history. It is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat...
. In the fifth century, after its synoecism it became a democracy; in the fourth century, it was again split apart, (dioikismos) and an oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
was formed. Later on more political upheaval caused a synoecism to recur thus creating another democracy. This occurred in the other Arcadia
Arcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...
n towns of Tegea
Tegea
Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat was the village Stadio....
and Heraea.
In oligarchical states
States not under democratic government used the word πολις in their public documents to signify the sovereign power. The Doric states of CreteCrete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
and Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
kept the "polis" separate from the "demos". As late as the second century of the common era, Cretan towns continued to use the word "polis" to denote themselves. The Spartan community, however, deviating from this usage of the word, calls itself δãμoς in ancient laws; because it never thought of opposing itself as a body to the Perioeci.
Müller
Karl Otfried Müller
Karl Otfried Müller , was a German scholar and Philodorian, or admirer of ancient Sparta, who introduced the modern study of Greek mythology.-Biography:...
states: "In oligarchical
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
states, as in Elis, the people in later times remained almost constantly in the country; and it frequently happened that grandfathers and grandchildren had never seen the town: there were also country courts of justice, and other regulations intended to make up for the advantages of a city life. Where the courts of justice were at a distance, and there was no inducement to mechanical industry and internal commerce, (see the term banausos
Banausos
Banausos is an epithet of the class of manual laborers or artisans in Ancient Greece. The related abstract noun – banausia is defined by Hesychius as "every craft [conducted] by means of fire", reflecting the folk etymology of the word as coming from "furnace" and "to dry"...
), the ancient habits of life continued much longer in existence."
Archaeology
In the history of ancient GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, this term refers to the political process by which a group of villages and settlements are synchronized to form a polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
. In the poleis, the synoikistes was the person who, according to local tradition, performed the synoikismos, either through his personal influence or by conquest, and subsequently was worshipped as a demi-god. The most notable synoikistes was the mythic or legendary Theseus
Theseus
For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...
, who liberated Attica from Cretan
Knossos
Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
hegemony and gave independency back to Greece under leadership of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
.
Synoecism is the name of an ancient Cretan
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...
archaeological site on the western fringes of Troullos
Troullos
Troullos is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan settlement on Crete. The Troullos site is the eastern-most section of the ancient settlement at Archanes.-Archaeology:...
. Artifacts found at the site include a terracotta bull figurine, a bronze statuette and Late Minoan I pottery
Minoan pottery
Minoan pottery is more than a useful tool for dating the mute Minoan civilization. Its restless sequence of rapidly maturing artistic styles reveal something of Minoan patrons' pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists to assign relative dates to the strata of their sites...
.
See also
- Classical GreeceClassical GreeceClassical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...
- DemeDemeIn Ancient Greece, a deme or demos was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in...
- MunicipiumMunicipiumMunicipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
- PolisPolisPolis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
- SynoikiaSynoikiaThe Synoikia was an ancient Greek festival held in Athens commemorating the political unification of the Attic....
- XenelasiaXenelasiaXenelasia was the title given to a set of laws in ancient Doric Crete and Lacedæmonia that proscribed the inclusion of foreigners and any foreign arts and music into their respective commonwealths.-In Lacedæmonia:...