Middle Class-Imperial Relationship in the Example of Ancient Greece

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 11 Sayı: 22, 99 - 112, 30.06.2025

Berkay Gürel

https://doi.org/10.25306/skad.1700270

Öz

This article analyses in detail the relationship between the ‘middle class’ and ‘empire’ in the Ancient Greek context. The basic proposition is that empire gains strength with the weakening of the middle class. From this point of view, the article analyses the relationship between the existence of a middle class in Ancient Greece, the absence of a bureaucratic structure controlling agricultural production, and the military structures of Greek states before they became bureaucratic states. These structures enabled the middle class to maintain its economic independence by preventing the bureaucracy from exploiting the surplus value of small farmers. However, the loss of economic independence of the middle class led the state to become more centralised and to adopt an expansionist policy over time. This transformation accelerated especially with the transition from an agricultural economy to an economic model focusing on war and maritime activities. These developments further limited the economic and political influence of the declining middle class. In this context, the article examines the relationship between the class structures of ancient Greek society and the processes of political expansion from a historical perspective through economic and ideological dynamics in relation to the institutional foundations of empires.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Ancient Greece , Empire , Middle Class , Military Structure , Small Farmer

Kaynakça

• Aristotle. (1984). The Athenian constitution. P. J. Rhodes (Trans.). Penguin Classics.
• Aristotle. (2009). Politics. E. Barker (Trans.). Oxford University Press.
• Aristotle. (2011). Problems, Volume II: Books 20-38. Rhetoric to Alexander. R. Mayhew & D. C. Mirhandy (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Asheri, D. (1963). Laws of inheritance, distribution of land and political constitutions in ancient Greece. Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, 39(3), 1–21.
• Bennet, E. L., & Olivier, J. P. (1973). The Pylos tablets transcribed: Texts and notes (Vol. 1). Edizioni dell’Ateneo.
• Bury, J. B. (1967). A history of Greece: To the death of Alexander the Great (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Connolly, P. (1998). Greece and Rome at War. Stackpole Books.
• de Ste. Croix, G. E. M. (1972). The origins of the Peloponnesian War. Duckworth Books.
• de Ste. Croix, G. E. M. (1981). The class struggle in the ancient Greek world from the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests. Cornell University Press.
• Demosthenes. (2011). Demosthenes, Speeches 1-17. J. Trevett (Trans.). University of Texas Press.
• Diodorus Siculus. (1954). Library of history, Volume VI: Books 14-15.19. C. H. Oldfather (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Donlan, W. (1985). The social groups of Dark Age Greece. Classical Philology, 80(4), 293–308.
• Donlan, W. (1989). Homeric temenos and the land economy of the Dark Age. The American Journal of Archaeology, 46(3), 129–145.
• Finley, M. I. (1982). Economy and society in ancient Greece. B. Shaw & R. P. Saller (Eds.). The Viking Press.
• Funke, P. (2023). Stasis und politischer Umsturz in Rhodos zu Beginn des IV. Jahrhunderts. V. Chr. In Von Städten, Staatenbünden und Bundesstaaten, 425–435.
• Gat, A. (2006). War in human civilization. Oxford University Press.
• Green, P. (1990). Alexander to Actium: The historical evolution of the Hellenistic Age. University of California Press.
• Halstead, P. (2003). Agriculture in the Bronze Age: Towards a model of palatial economy. In B. Wells (Ed.). Agriculture in Ancient Greece, 105–131.
• Hamilton, C. D. (1991). Agesilaus and the failure of Spartan hegemony. Cornell University Press.
• Hanson, V. D. (1999). The other Greeks: The family farm and the agrarian roots of Western civilization. University of Chicago Press.
• Herodotus. (1922). The Persian Wars, Volume III: Books 5-7. A. D. Godley (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Hesiod. (2009). Theogony and works and days. M. L. West (Trans.). Oxford University Press.
• Hutchinson, J. S. (1977). Mycenaean kingdoms and mediaeval estates (an analogical approach to the history of LH III). Historia: Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte, 26(1), 1–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4435539
• Isocrates. (1928). To Demonicus. To Nicocles. Nicocles or the Cyprians. Panegyricus. To Philip. Archidamus. G. Norlin (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Isocrates. (1929). On the Peace. Areopagiticus. Against the Sophists. Antidosis. Panathenaicus. G. Norlin (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Kagan, D. (1987). The fall of the Athenian empire. Cornell University Press.
• Kartledge, P. (1977). Hoplites and heroes: Sparta’s contribution to the technique of ancient warfare. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 97, 11–27.
• Lazenby, J. F. (2012). The spartan army. Stackpole Books.
• Lysias. (1930). Lysias. W. R. M. Lamb (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Meiggs, R. (1982). Trees and timber in the ancient Mediterranean world. Clarendon Press.
• Mossé, C., & Stewart, J. (1973). Athens in decline: 404-86 B.C. Routledge Revivals.
• Ober, J. (1985). Fortress Attica: Defense of the Athenian land frontier, 404-322 B.C. Brill.
• Pausanias. (1918). Description of Greece. W. H. S. Jones & H. A. Ormerod (Trans.). Robert Hale Ltd.
• Plato. (1927). Charmides. Alcibiades I and II. Hipparchus. The Lovers. Theages. Minos. Epinomis. W. R. M. Lamb (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Plutarch, & Perrin, B. (1916). Lives, Volume III: Pericles and Fabius Maximus. Nicias and Crassus. Harvard University Press.
• Schmitt, C. (1997). Land and Sea: A World-Historical Meditation. S. Draghici (Trans.). Plutarch Press.
• Simonton, M. (2017). Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History. Princeton University Press.
• Tainter, J. A. (1988). The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge University Press.
• Thucydides. (2009). The Peloponnesian War. M. Hammond (Trans.). Oxford University Press.
• Xenophon. (1918). Hellenica, Volume I: Books 1-4. C. L. Brownson (Trans.). Harvard University Press.
• Xenophon. (1921). Hellenica, Volume II: Books 5-7. C. L. Brownson (Trans.). Harvard University Press.