On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay

f the trib

owing with milk and honey. Their movements were erratic and various, and took place at very different times. Several partial migrations are described in Homer, and others are referred to as having taken place only a few genera

ibal system, wherever it is examined, so inherent in its structure as to seem almost indelible. A new civilisation was not formed to fit into the angles of city w

orm the subject

ly with city life, among the Greeks in historical times, and by comparison with analogous survivals in known tribal communities,

political and

who was at war with his own people, cut himself off. Such an one is described in Homer as being, by his very act, "clanless" (?φρ?τωρ), "out-law" (?θ?μιστο?), and "hearthless" (?ν?στιο?).1 In the camp of the Greeks before Troy the ships and huts of his followers were congregated by the hut of their chief or leader. Each sacrifi

ace in front of the chief's hut or palace was generally considered available for su

aneum an

r village of Attica had its hearth or Prytaneum of its own, but looked up to the Hestia and Prytaneum in the city of Athens as the great centre of their larger polity. In just the same way the lesser kindreds of a tribe would have their sacred hearths and rites, but would look t

r civilisation, the chief's dwelling, called the [pg 004] Prytaneum, acquiring vitality from the indelible superstition attaching to the hearth within its preci

r or

ith, if not an absolute origin in the domestic hearth of the chieftain. The Lares and Penates worshipped in the Temple of Vesta, he says, were originally the Lares and Penates o

together, and of the responsibility thus devolving upon the chieftain unfailingly to provide fire for his people. Whether this was the origin or not, before the times that come within the scope of this

share in religious

ticipation, as one of a kindred, in the common religious ceremonies, from which the blood-polluted and the stranger-in-blood were so strictly shut out.10 It is

influence of one or other of the greater gods, whose protection and guidance were claimed in times of need by all members of the household. Secondary influences, though none the less strongly felt, were those of the past heroes of the house, sometimes on

ship not obv

re so nearly descended from the gods themselves, are in such immediate relation each with his guardian deity, and are so indefatigable in their attentions thereto, that it would surely be [pg 006] extremely irrele

of food to

he offerings to the manes or household gods, and relieved the luxurious craving for suste

o the

ir tombs, no mention of the occurrence is to be found in Homer. That the dead were believed

with water, and sprinkle white meal thereon.... and promise thou wilt offer in thy halls13 a barren heifer, the best thou hast, a

name quite as importa

n his drunken haste to join his already departed [pg 007] comrades, and who had therefore received no burial at their hands, demands no libations or sacrifices

r meed of tears; for the times are so out of joint, "this is now the only due w

valent later was introduced or revived under their successors? Or is it that the aristocratic tone of the poet did not permit him to bear witness

ence displayed towards the hearth and the respect for seniority in age, it may perhaps be justifiable to suppose that domestic religious observances, other than those dire

he dead in the

, unless they are held to refer only to importations from outside religions and not to relapses in the Israelites themselves to former supers

the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither

are described in the Psalms:-"They joined themselves al

as thought to haunt tomb or hearth, and to keep his connection thus with his family in the upper world, he required nourishmen

een Homer and th

ovided for the dead, yet the stress laid on the permanence of the family, lest the name of the dead be cut off from his place,

the gathering of the kindred of Jesse to their family ceremony17 may bear witness to the presence of a survival of ancestor-worship in some equivalent form, underlying the all-absorbing religion of the Israelites. At this day the spirits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are considered by the

ter origin amongst the Greeks, but rather that the constitution of society did not afford it the s

rship in In

nce of ancestor-worship among the Greeks, drawing illustration both from Indian

ere clearly connected with their family life. The protection of Zeus was specially claimed under the title of γεν?θλιο? or even σ?ναιμο?18 and as ?ρκε?ο? he received worship upon the altar that

f food for

rather with the intent of soothing a troubled spirit with care and attention, and of providing

r distiller's dew-clear honey; the virgin spring's refreshing draught; and undefiled from its wild mother, the liquid gladness of the time-honoured

me in

ugh shared with the other gods, determines th

Place me with vases of milk and wine, with cakes and l

the geese, the fabrics, the incense, the oil, and al

dea a claim upon the produce of the land which nourished them whilst

e products of the ground are for me. I eat them; I am favoured with them