La formation des cités grecques (XIVe s. - VIIe s. av. n. è.) : approche archéologique à partir de quelques cas crétois

Abstract

Between the collapse of the Mycenaean palatial system and the recording of the first civic laws in the Greek alphabet, writing disappears from the Aegean world. Consequently this paper proposes to explore the formation process of the Greek cities that characterises this transitional period by studying contemporary archaeological sources. The study focuses in particular on an area in Eastern Crete and considers economic, social and political components of the changes that are attested by settlement patterns and site typologies, as well as by residential, funerary and religious remains. The evidence suggests that the emergence of poleis in the beginning of the 7th c. BC in this area of the island is primarily an economic process, and, although this represents a major political break in regional history, it is based on previous social structures which were inherited